Mikaele Ravalawa (born 9 November 1997) is a Fijian

rugby league football 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� ...

er who plays as a er for 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 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 ...

(NRL) and

Fiji Fiji ( , ,; fj, Viti, ; Fiji Hindi: फ़िजी, ''Fijī''), officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists ...

at the international level.

Background

Ravalawa was born in

Galoa Island Galoa is an island of the Kadavu Group of Fiji. It is located in the south of Kadavu and can be reached only by boat. Kadavu Group Islands of Fiji {{fiji-geo-stub ...

, Fiji. From

Galoa Island Galoa is an island of the Kadavu Group of Fiji. It is located in the south of Kadavu and can be reached only by boat. Kadavu Group Islands of Fiji {{fiji-geo-stub ...

, Ravalawa originally 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 ...

and captained the Fijian Under-18's rugby sevens team.

Playing career

2017–2018

He joined

Burnside High School Burnside High School ( mi, Te Kura o Waimairi-iri) is a state co-educational secondary school located in the suburb of Burnside in Christchurch, New Zealand. With a roll of students, it is the largest school in New Zealand outside Auckland, and ...

on a scholarship as part of their international rugby programme. He played for the schools first XV and the

Crusaders The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and sometimes directed by the Latin Church in the medieval period. The best known of these Crusades are those to the Holy Land in the period between 1095 and 1291 that were in ...

' Under-18 team. He then switched to

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 ...

after being spotted by

Peter Mulholland Peter Mulholland ( 1953 – 16 December 2021) was an Australian rugby league football coach. He coached ARL premiership expansion club Western Reds in their first two seasons before moving to France to take up the coaching position of Super Lea ...

, joining the

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 ...

in 2017 and played for their Holden Cup (Under-20s) team. That season, Ravalawa scored 12 tries in 22 games and won Canberra's under 20s player of the year award. He was named in the

squad for the

2017 Rugby League World Cup The 2017 Rugby League World Cup was the fifteenth staging of the Rugby League World Cup tournament and took place in Australia, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea between 27 October and 2 December 2017. The tournament featured the national teams ...

2019

Ravalawa joined 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-ve ...

and made 19 appearances for the club during 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 finished as the club's top try scorer and became a crowd favourite at Kogarah and WIN Stadium.

2020

In 2020, Ravalawa was awarded a penalty try in the club's first match of the season against the

Wests Tigers The Wests Tigers are an Australian professional Rugby league, rugby league football team, based in the Inner West and South West Sydney. They have competed in the National Rugby League since being formed at the end of the 1999 NRL season as a j ...

. In that match, he injured his thigh, meaning he could not finish the match and play the next week. In June 2020, Ravalawa re-signed with the club on a three-year deal, keeping him at

St. George Illawarra 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 ...

until at least the end of the 2023 season. He ended the season as the club's tied top try-scorer alongside

Zac Lomax Zac Lomax (born 24 September 1999) is an Australian professional rugby league footballer who plays as a for the St George Illawarra Dragons in the National Rugby League (NRL). Early life Lomax was born in Temora, New South Wales, Australia. ...

and Matthew Dufty, scoring 13 tries in the process.

2021

On 27 April, Ravalawa was suspended for two matches after he was initially placed on report for an illegal shoulder charge during the club's loss to the

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 ...

in round 7 of 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 10 of the

, Ravalawa scored 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 ...

in the club's 44–18 loss against Melbourne, his first in the NRL. Due to an illegal shoulder charge during this game, he again received a two match suspension. On 22 June, Ravalawa was suspended for four games by 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 ...

after being placed on report for an illegal shoulder charge during the club's round 15 victory over Canberra. In round 24, Ravalawa scored two tries in a 26–38 loss 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 ...

2022

During the first round of the

2022 NRL season The 2022 NRL season is the 115th season of professional rugby league in Australia and the 25th season run by the National Rugby League. Teams The lineup of teams remained unchanged for the 16th consecutive year. This became the second longest s ...

the

defeated

New Zealand Warriors The New Zealand Warriors are a professional rugby league football club based in Auckland, New Zealand that competes in the National Rugby League (NRL) premiership and is the League's only team from outside Australia. They were formed in 1995 as ...

28-16 with Ravalawa scoring three tries. In round 15 of the

, Ravalawa scored two tries for

in a 32-12 upset victory over South Sydney. Ravalawa played 14 games for St. George Illawarra in 2022 as the club finished 10th and missed the finals.

Statistics

References

External links

St. George Illawarra Dragons profile2017 RLWC profileFiji profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ravalawa, Mikaele 1997 births Living people Fijian rugby league players Fiji national rugby league team players Fijian rugby sevens players Fijian rugby union players Rugby league wingers Rugby league centres People educated at Burnside High School St. George Illawarra Dragons players