Michael Oldfield (born 24 November 1990) is a

Tonga Tonga (, ; ), officially the Kingdom of Tonga ( to, Puleʻanga Fakatuʻi ʻo Tonga), is a Polynesian country and archipelago. The country has 171 islands – of which 45 are inhabited. Its total surface area is about , scattered over in ...

international

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...

footballer who last played as a er and for the

Parramatta Eels The Parramatta Eels are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the Sydney suburb of Parramatta that competes in the National Rugby League. The Parramatta District Rugby League Football Club was formed in 1947, and their ...

in the

NRL The National Rugby League (NRL) is an Australasian rugby league club competition which contains clubs from New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, the Australian Capital Territory and New Zealand. The NRL formed in 1998 as a joint partnership ...

. He previously played for the

Penrith Panthers The Penrith Panthers are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the western Sydney suburb of Penrith that competes in the NRL. The team is based west of the centre of Sydney, at the foot of the Blue Mountains. Penrith ...

South Sydney Rabbitohs The South Sydney Rabbitohs are a professional Australian rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen pla ...

Canberra Raiders The Canberra Raiders are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the national capital city of Canberra, Australian Capital Territory. They have competed in Australasia's elite rugby league competition, the National Rugby ...

Sydney Roosters The Sydney Roosters are an Australian professional Rugby league, Rugby League Football Club based in the Eastern Suburbs (Sydney) and parts of inner Sydney. The club competes in the National Rugby League (NRL) competition. The Roosters have won ...

and the

Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles The Manly Warringah Sea Eagles are an Australian professional rugby league club based in Sydney's Northern Beaches. The team colours are maroon and white, while their namesake and logo is the sea eagle. They compete in Australia's premier rugb ...

in the

National Rugby League The National Rugby League (NRL) is an Australasian rugby league club competition which contains clubs from New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, the Australian Capital Territory and New Zealand. The NRL formed in 1998 as a joint partnership ...

, and the

Catalans Dragons The Catalans Dragons ( French: ''Dragons Catalans'', Catalan: ''Dracs Catalans'') are a professional rugby league club from Perpignan, Pyrénées-Orientales department, France. The team competes in the Super League and are the only team from ...

in the

Super League The Super League (officially known as the Betfred Super League due to sponsorship from Betfred and legally known as Super League Europe), is the top-level of the British rugby league system. At present the league consists of twelve teams, of wh ...

Background

Oldfield was born in

Manly, New South Wales Manly is a beach-side suburb of northern Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is north-east of the Sydney central business district and is currently one of the three administrative centres of the Local government in Australia ...

, Australia. He is of Tongan and

European descent White is a racialized classification of people and a skin color specifier, generally used for people of European origin, although the definition can vary depending on context, nationality, and point of view. Description of populations as " ...

Early years

He attended Harbord Public School as a junior and later attended Cromer High School. For years 11 and 12, Oldfield was offered a sport scholarship to The Scots College. During his time at Scots, Oldfield predominantly played

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

Playing career

Club career

Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles

Oldfield played 34 games for the

National Youth Competition team over the

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

and

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

seasons, scoring 23 tries. Oldfield made his debut for Manly-Warringah in round 23 of the

2010 NRL season The 2010 NRL season was the 103rd season of professional rugby league football club competition in Australia, and the thirteenth run by the National Rugby League. The season commenced on 12 March and ended with the Grand Final, played on 3 Octobe ...

against the

St George Illawarra Dragons The St. George Illawarra Dragons is an Australian professional rugby league football club, representing both the Illawarra and St George regions of New South Wales. The club has competed in the National Rugby League since 1999 after a joint- ...

. In 2011, in each of the games he played, he scored a try. Along with fullback Brett Stewart, Oldfield was regarded as one of the fastest runners not only at Manly but in the NRL. Oldfield traveled with the Sea Eagles to England and played in their

2012 World Club Challenge The 2012 World Club Challenge (also known due to sponsorship as the Heinz Big Soup World Club Challenge) was the thirteenth consecutive World Club Challenge and was contested by Super League XVI champions, Leeds Rhinos and 2011 NRL Premiers, the ...

loss to the

Leeds Rhinos The Leeds Rhinos are a professional rugby league club in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. The club was formed in 1870 as Leeds St John's and play in the Super League, the top tier of English rugby league. They have played home matches at Headi ...

before the start of the

2012 NRL season The 2012 NRL season was the 105th season of professional rugby league club competition in Australia, and the first run by the newly formed Australian Rugby League Commission. The main competition, called the 2012 NRL Telstra Premiership due to spon ...

. It was hoped that the flying winger would be the club's permanent replacement for long-time left winger Michael Robertson, who had left the club following the

2011 NRL Grand Final The 2011 NRL Grand Final was the conclusive and premiership-deciding game of the NRL's 2011 Telstra Premiership season. It was played between the Manly Warringah Sea Eagles and the New Zealand Warriors on the afternoon of Sunday, 2 October, and ...

victory. Despite scoring 6 tries for the Sea Eagles in 2012, Oldfield struggled to cement his place in Manly's first grade team and was soon replaced by powerhouse rookie

Jorge Taufua Jorge Taufua () (born 23 October 1991) is a professional rugby league footballer who plays as a er for Wakefield Trinity in the Betfred Super League. He has played for both Tonga and Samoa at international level. Taufua has previously played f ...

. This saw Oldfield only playing in 7 games for the 2012 season. On 19 June 2012, it was announced that Oldfield had signed a two-year contract with the

from 2013. Since the announcement, Oldfield was not selected in Manly's first grade team until called up due to an injury to David Williams just before the 2012 NRL Finals. Instead, finding himself in the Sea Eagles

New South Wales Cup The NSW Cup, currently known as the Knock-On Effect NSW Cup for sponsorship reasons, is a rugby league competition for clubs in New South Wales. The competition has a history dating back to the NSWRFL's origins in 1908, starting off as a reserve ...

squad for most of the season.

Sydney Roosters

Oldfield signed with the

for 2013. After making his club debut in a 22–24 loss to the

Canberra Stadium Canberra Stadium (GIO Stadium for commercial reasons) is a facility primarily used for rugby league and rugby union games, located adjacent to the Australian Institute of Sport in Canberra, the capital of Australia. It is the largest sports v ...

in round 5 of the

2013 NRL season The 2013 NRL season was the 106th season of professional rugby league club competition in Australia. The National Rugby League's main competition, named the 2013 Telstra Premiership after major sponsors Telstra Corporation, was contested by sixte ...

in which he scored a try, Oldfield found himself playing in the

NSW Cup The NSW Cup, currently known as the Knock-On Effect NSW Cup for sponsorship reasons, is a rugby league competition for clubs in New South Wales. The competition has a history dating back to the NSWRFL's origins in 1908, starting off as a reserve ...

for the

Newtown Jets The Newtown Jets are an Australian rugby league football club based in Newtown, a suburb of Sydney's inner west. They currently compete in the NSW Cup competition, having left the top grade after the 1983 NSWRFL season. The Jets' home ground ...

Catalans Dragons

In December 2013, Oldfield signed a two-year contract with the

. In the 2014 season, Oldfield scored 12 tries in just 17 games. On 14 June 2014 against

St Helens R.F.C. St Helens R.F.C. is a professional rugby league club in St Helens, Merseyside who compete in the Super League, the top tier for rugby league in Great Britain. They are the current Champions, having won the last 4 consecutive titles, and becom ...

, he scored a hat trick during

' 42–0 home win.

South Sydney

On 6 October 2015, it was announced that Oldfield had signed a one-year contract with the

. In 2016, he made his debut for South Sydney from which he scored two tries in his last three games. Oldfield also spent time playing for Souths feeder club side the

North Sydney Bears The North Sydney Bears is an Australian rugby league football club based in North Sydney, New South Wales. The club competes in the New South Wales Cup, having exited the National Rugby League following the 1999 NRL season after 90 years in the ...

in the

Intrust Super Premiership NSW The NSW Cup, currently known as the Knock-On Effect NSW Cup for sponsorship reasons, is a rugby league competition for clubs in New South Wales. The competition has a history dating back to the NSWRFL's origins in 1908, starting off as a reserv ...

making 5 appearances and scoring 5 tries.

Penrith Panthers

Oldfield then signed to the

signing a one-year deal. MICHAEL OLDFIELD Penrith

In the same year he was granted a release to join the

on a two-year deal.

Canberra Raiders

Oldfield made 8 appearances for Canberra in the

2018 NRL season The 2018 NRL season was the 111th season of professional rugby league in Australia and the 21st season run by the National Rugby League. The main competition, known as the 2018 Telstra Premiership due to sponsorship from Telstra, featured 16 team ...

and scored 6 tries including a

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three wic ...

against

North Queensland North Queensland or the Northern Region is the northern part of the Australian state of Queensland that lies just south of Far North Queensland. Queensland is a massive state, larger than many countries, and its tropical northern part has been ...

. Oldfield made 9 appearances for Canberra in the

2019 NRL season The 2019 NRL season was the 112th season of professional rugby league in Australia and the 22nd season run by the National Rugby League. The Sydney Roosters became the first team to win back-to-back Premierships since the Brisbane Broncos in 1992 ...

and scored 5 tries. Oldfield played six games for Canberra in the

2020 NRL season The 2020 NRL season was the 113th season of professional rugby league in Australia and the 23rd season run by the National Rugby League. Teams The lineup of teams remained unchanged for the 14th consecutive year. ; Notes : : : Pre-season ...

scoring no tries as the club reached the preliminary final but were defeated by Melbourne.

Parramatta Eels

In November 2020, he signed a contract to join Parramatta for the

2021 NRL season The 2021 NRL season was the 114th season of professional rugby league in Australia and the 24th season run by the National Rugby League. Teams The lineup of teams remained unchanged for the 15th consecutive year. Regular season Ladd ...

. In round 22 of the

, he made his club debut against one of his former sides, Manly. Oldfield played on the wing in Parramatta's 56–10 loss where he was caught out of position on several occasions leading to Manly tries. On 22 September 2021, Oldfield was released by the Parramatta club.

International career

On 20 April 2013, Oldfield, who is of Tongan heritage from his mother, made his international debut for

in the

Pacific Rugby League International The Pacific Rugby League International is a rugby league test match that has been played between two Pacific Island nations during the National Rugby League's annual representative weekend since 2013. The fixture was held at Penrith Stadium for ...

against

Samoa Samoa, officially the Independent State of Samoa; sm, Sāmoa, and until 1997 known as Western Samoa, is a Polynesian island country consisting of two main islands (Savai'i and Upolu); two smaller, inhabited islands (Manono Island, Manono an ...

Centrebet Stadium Penrith Penrith Stadium (known commercially as BlueBet Stadium) is a rugby league and association football stadium located in Penrith, New South Wales, Australia. The 22,500 capacity venue is the home ground for the Penrith Panthers who play in the N ...

. Oldfield earned a second cap in 2016, featuring on the wing against rivals

in the 2016 Pacific Rugby League test match at Pirtek Stadium.

References

External links

Canberra Raiders profileSydney Roosters profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Oldfield, Michael 1990 births Living people Australian sportspeople of Tongan descent Australian rugby league players Manly Warringah Sea Eagles players Sydney Roosters players Catalans Dragons players South Sydney Rabbitohs players Penrith Panthers players Canberra Raiders players Parramatta Eels players Newtown Jets NSW Cup players North Sydney Bears NSW Cup players Rugby league centres Rugby league fullbacks Rugby league players from Sydney Rugby league wingers Tonga national rugby league team players Tongan rugby league players