Mickey Paea (born 25 March 1986) is a former

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 played as a . He previously played for the Sydney Roosters,

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-ve ...

, Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs and the Newcastle Knights 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 played for Hull Kingston Rovers and

Hull F.C. Hull Football Club, commonly referred to as Hull or Hull F.C., is a professional rugby league football club established in 1865 and based in West Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England. The club plays in the Super League competition and were ...

in two separate spells 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

Paea was born in

Auburn, New South Wales Auburn is a Western Sydney suburb in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Auburn is located west of the Sydney central business district and is in the local government area of Cumberland City Council, having previously been the administrativ ...

, Australia. Paea is of Tongan descent and played his junior rugby league for the Minto Cobras, before being signed by the Sydney Roosters. Paea is the younger brother of former Sydney Roosters players Lopini Paea and Lelea Paea.

Playing career

Sydney Roosters

In round 15 of the

2005 NRL season The 2005 NRL season was the 98th season of professional rugby league football in Australia and the eighth run by the National Rugby League. The lineup of clubs remained unchanged from the previous year, with fifteen teams contesting the 2005 Telst ...

, Paea made his

début for the Roosters against the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks at Toyota Park. Although only playing 4 games for the Roosters in 2005, Paea went on to captain the Junior Kangaroos and claimed the Junior Rep Player of the Year at the Roosters awards night. In 2006, Paea made his international début 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 ...

. He played in the 2006 NSW Cup grand final for Newtown who were the Sydney Roosters feeder club at the time against Parramatta. Newtown would lose the grand final 20-19 at Stadium Australia. In August 2008, Paea was named in the Tongan training squad for the

2008 Rugby League World Cup The 2008 Rugby League World Cup was the thirteenth staging of the Rugby League World Cup since its inauguration in 1954, and the first since the 2000 tournament. The tournament was held in Australia from 26 October, culminating in the final b ...

, and in October 2008 he was named in the final 24-man squad.

St. George Illawarra Dragons

On 16 September 2008, Paea signed a one-year contract with the

starting in 2009. He made his Dragons début in Townsville, in Round 9 of the

2009 NRL season The 2009 NRL season was the 102nd season of professional rugby league football club competition in Australia, and the twelfth run by the National Rugby League. For the third consecutive year, sixteen teams competed for the 2009 Telstra Premiership ...

against the North Queensland Cowboys. On 23 May 2009, Paea was the subject of a controversial racial vilification dispute with Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks captain,

Paul Gallen Paul Gallen (born 14 August 1981) is an Australian professional boxer and former professional rugby league footballer who played as a and forward and captained the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks in the NRL to their maiden NRL Premiership in 2016. ...

, late in the local derby played between the Dragons and Sharks. Gallen, who took objection to Paea accidentally stepping on his hand in a tackle, got up and called Paea a "black cunt". Paea's angry response was caught by television cameras and microphones, but he did not wish to take the matter further after the match. After the match, Paea said, "But then something told me to just forget about it and to just move on. Things happen on the field and you don't want to get too personal about it. But I've been getting different kinds of reactions. After the game I had my church friends sending me messages saying, 'You handled it really well, it was very Kingdom the way you dealt with it'. Then I had other mates saying, 'You should have smashed him'." Nevertheless, the NRL decided to step in and issued a $10,000 fine to Gallen. mickeypaea

Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs

On 13 August 2009, Paea signed a two-year contract with the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs starting in 2010. He went on to make 16 appearances in 2010 and 12 appearances in 2011.

Hull Kingston Rovers

On 6 October 2011, Paea signed a two-year contract with the Hull Kingston Rovers to move to the

starting in 2012. In October and November, Paea played for Tonga in the

2013 Rugby League World Cup The 2013 Rugby League World Cup was the fourteenth staging of the Rugby League World Cup and took place in England, Wales, France and Ireland. between 26 October and 30 November 2013. It was the main event of the year's 2013 Festival of World ...

Hull F.C.

On 28 June 2013, Paea signed a 2-year contract with Hull KR's cross-town rivals

starting in 2014.

Newcastle Knights

On 22 May 2015, Paea signed a two-year contract with the Newcastle Knights starting in 2016, to return to the National Rugby League after four years in

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. Paea's two seasons at Newcastle saw the club finish with back to back Wooden Spoon's.

Return to Hull F.C.

In August 2017, Paea signed a signed a two-year contract with Hull F.C., to return to the

in 2018.

References

External links

Hull FC profileNRL profileSL profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Paea, Mickey 1986 births Living people Australian expatriate rugby league players Australian expatriate sportspeople in England Australian sportspeople of Tongan descent Australian rugby league players Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs players Expatriate rugby league players in England Hull F.C. players Hull Kingston Rovers players Junior Kangaroos players Newcastle Knights players Newtown Jets NSW Cup players Rugby league players from Sydney Rugby league props St. George Illawarra Dragons players Sydney Roosters players Tonga national rugby league team players