Moeaki Fotuaika (born 16 November 1999) is a Tonga 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 plays as for the Gold Coast Titans 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 has previously played at representative level for

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...

in the State of Origin series.

Background

Born in Gisborne, New Zealand, Fotuaika moved to

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...

with his family in 2007 at age 7. He played his junior rugby league for the Greenbank Raiders and attended Keebra Park State High School before being signed by the Gold Coast Titans.

Playing career

Early career

In 2015, Fotuaika played for the

Souths Logan Magpies The Souths Logan Magpies, more commonly referred to by their former names Southern Suburbs Magpies, or South Brisbane Magpies, or often simply referred to as Souths, are a rugby league football club based in the southern suburbs of Brisbane, Au ...

in the

Cyril Connell Cup The Cyril Connell Challenge is an under-16 competition administered by the Queensland Rugby League. First run in 2021, the competition replaced the QRL Junior State Championships, which ran from 2017 to 2020. The 2020 competition was ultimately ca ...

. In 2016, he moved up to the club's Mal Meninga Cup side. In 2017, Fotuaika joined the Gold Coast Titans, playing for their under-20s side, winning the club's Under-20 Player of the Year award. On 6 May 2017, Fotuaika represented the Junior Kiwis against the Junior Kangaroos.

2018

On 11 January, Fotuaika re-signed with the Titans until the end of the 2021 season, joining the club's NRL squad. He began the season playing for the Tweed Heads Seagulls in the Queensland Cup. In Round 9 of 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 ...

, he made his NRL debut in the Titans' 18–32 loss to the Canberra Raiders. He played 16 games in his rookie season for the club, scoring two tries. On 19 September, he was selected in the

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 ...

29-man squad for their Test match against

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

, but did not play.

2019

On 27 August, Fotuaika extended his contract with the Titans for one season, until the end of 2022. He played 21 games for the Titans before his season was cut short due to knee and wrist injuries. On 13 September, Fotuaika won the Paul Broughton Medal for Titans' Player of the Year, becoming the youngest winner of the award.

2020

On 7 October, Fotuaika was named in

's 27-man squad for the

2020 State of Origin series The 2020 State of Origin series was the 39th annual best-of-three series between the Queensland and New South Wales rugby league teams. Before this series, Queensland has won 21 times, NSW 15 times, with two series drawn. Originally, the series ...

, Fotuaika would debut in Origin 2 of the series off the bench in the 34–10 loss, however Queensland would end up winning the series 2–1.

2021

He played 22 games for the Gold Coast in 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 ...

including the club's elimination final loss against the Sydney Roosters.

2022

Fotuaika played a total of 23 games for the Gold Coast in 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 ...

as the club finished 13th on the table. In October 2022 he was named in the Tonga squad for the

2021 Rugby League World Cup The 2021 Rugby League World Cup (RLWC2021) was a collection of world cups in the sport of rugby league, held in England from 15 October to 19 November 2022. England won hosting rights for the competition on 27 October 2016. The bid received £2 ...

Statistics

*denotes season still competing

Personal life

Fotuaika's older brother Mosese, who was a member of the Wests Tigers NRL squad, committed suicide in 2013. Another older brother, Feao, plays for the Queensland Reds in

Super Rugby Super Rugby is a men's professional rugby union club competition involving teams from Australia, Fiji, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands. It previously included teams from Argentina, Japan, and South Africa. Building on various Southern Hem ...

References

External links

Gold Coast Titans profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fotuaika, Moeaki 1999 births Living people New Zealand rugby league players New Zealand sportspeople of Tongan descent Gold Coast Titans players Queensland Rugby League State of Origin players Rugby league players from Gisborne, New Zealand Rugby league props Tonga national rugby league team players Tongan rugby league players Tweed Heads Seagulls players