Taniela Lasalo is an Australian professional

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 11 ...

footballer who plays as a forward or as a for the

Hills District Bulls The Hills District Bulls is a Parramatta District junior rugby league football club which play in at Crestwood Oval. They have played in the Parramatta District since 1964. They field teams in all age groups including C-Grade, A-Grade, Sydney ...

in the

Ron Massey Cup The Ron Massey Cup (formerly known as the Bundaberg Red Cup and Jim Beam Cup) is a semi-professional development level rugby league competition in New South Wales (NSW), Australia, run jointly by the New South Wales Rugby League (NSWRL) and the ...

Background

He is of Tongan descent.

Playing career

2009–14: Career at Parramatta

Lasalo was named the Eels Toyota Cup captain for the 2009 season. He also made his

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) debut against the

Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks The Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks are an Australian professional rugby league club based in Cronulla, in the Sutherland Shire, Southern Sydney, New South Wales. They compete in the National Rugby League (NRL), Australasia's premier rugby leag ...

in round 11 2009. In 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 ...

, Lasalo made 2 appearances for Parramatta. Lasalo played every game in the

2011 NRL season The 2011 NRL season was the 104th season of professional rugby league football club competition in Australia, and the fourteenth and last run by the National Rugby League's partnership committee of the Australian Rugby League and News Ltd. The N ...

for the Eels as the club narrowly avoided the wooden spoon, as well as re-signing with Parramatta until 2013. Lasalo made 12 appearances for Parramatta in 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 ...

as the club finished last for the first time since 1972. In the 2013 pre-season, Lasalo injured his arm and was ruled out indefinitely for 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 ...

. Due to his injury, Lasalo missed the entire season. In round 8, 2014 he made his NRL return on the bench for Parramatta against North Queensland. On 24 September 2017, Lasalo scored a try in Wentworthville's 38–4 victory over Auburn Warriors in the 2017

grand final. In 2018, Lasalo joined the

Guildford Owls The Guildford Owls are a rugby league club based in Guildford, New South Wales, Australia. They have previously competed in the Ron Massey Cup, the Sydney Shield and have also competed in the Sydney Metropolitan Women's Rugby League. History ...

. In 2021, he joined Hills District in the Ron Massey Cup. Lasalo scored a try for Hill District in their 2022 Ron Massey Cup grand final victory over

Glebe Glebe (; also known as church furlong, rectory manor or parson's close(s))McGurk 1970, p. 17 is an area of land within an ecclesiastical parish used to support a parish priest. The land may be owned by the church, or its profits may be reserved ...

Representative career

Lasalo was named in the Tongan squad for the 2008 Rugby League World Cup.

References

External links

Parramatta Eels profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lasalo, Taniela 1989 births Living people Australian rugby league players Australian sportspeople of Tongan descent Tonga national rugby league team players Tongan rugby league players Parramatta Eels players Rugby league second-rows Rugby league players from Sydney Wentworthville Magpies players