Teuila Fotu-Moala (born 29 November 1993) is a New Zealand

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 played for the

Brisbane Broncos The Brisbane Broncos Rugby League Football Club Ltd., commonly referred to as the Broncos, is an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Brisbane, Queensland. Founded in April 1987, the Broncos play in Australia's elite c ...

and

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

in the

NRL Women's Premiership The Telstra NRL Women's Premiership (NRLW) is Australia's national rugby league competition for female players. The first season of the league began in September 2018 with four teams. The league is run by the National Rugby League (NRL) and is ...

. Primarily a er, she is a

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

representative and won a premiership with the Broncos in 2018.

Background

Born in

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The most populous urban area in the country and the fifth largest city in Oceania, Auckland has an urban population of about ...

, Fotu-Moala first played

at McAuley High School.

Playing career

In 2013, Fotu-Moala joined

Otahuhu Leopards The Otahuhu Leopards are a rugby league club based in Otahuhu, Auckland. Founded in 1911, the club has produced 49 New Zealand national rugby league team players. The club competes in the Fox Memorial competition run by Auckland Rugby Leagu ...

, later becoming the

captain-coach A player-coach (also playing coach, captain-coach, or player-manager) is a member of a sports team who simultaneously holds both playing and coaching duties. A player-coach may be a head coach or an assistant coach. They may make changes to the sq ...

of the side. On 9 November 2014, she made her Test debut for

in a 12–8 win over Australia, scoring the winning try in the 79th minute. On 3 February 2016, she was named the

NZRL The New Zealand Rugby League (NZRL) is the governing body for the sport of rugby league football in New Zealand. SPARC, 2009: 13 The NZRL was founded on 25 April 1910 in preparation for a tour of Great Britain that same year.Coffey and Wood ''T ...

Women's Player of the Year for 2015. On 2 December 2017, she started at in New Zealand's World Cup Final loss to Australia. Before the final, she won the Player of the Tournament award.

2018

In June, Fotu-Moala, along with Ali Brigginshaw, Brittany Breayley, Heather Ballinger and Caitlyn Moran, were named as the five marquee players for the Brisbane Broncos women's team. In Round 1 of the 2018 NRL Women's season, Fotu-Moala made her debut in the Broncos' 30–4 win over the

. On 30 September, she started at in the Broncos' 34–12

Grand Final Primarily in Australian sports, a grand final (sometimes colloquially abbreviated to "grannie") is a game that decides a sports league's premiership (or championship) winning team, i.e. the conclusive game of a finals (or play-off) series. S ...

win over the

Sydney Roosters The Sydney Roosters are an Australian professional 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 fifteen Ne ...

2019

In March, Fotu-Moala moved to Australia, joining 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 t ...

in the

NSWRL Women's Premiership The Harvey Norman Women's Premiership is a rugby league competition for clubs in New South Wales. It is the only state wide open age competition for women in New South Wales and is run by New South Wales Rugby League. The NSWRL Women's Premiershi ...

. In July, she signed with the

. In Round 1 of the

2019 NRL Women's season The 2019 NRL Women's Premiership was the second season of professional women's rugby league in Australia. Teams Pre-season Regular season The season again operated under a round-robin format, with games played as curtain-raisers to th ...

, Fotu-Moala was charged with a crusher tackle in a 4–14 loss to the Broncos. She became the first NRLW player to be charged by the match review committee and was suspended for three games, ruling her out for the rest of the season. In October, she was a member of New Zealand's

2019 Rugby League World Cup 9s The 2019 Rugby League World Cup 9s was the first staging of the Rugby League World Cup 9s tournament and took place on 18 and 19 October 2019 at Sydney's Bankwest Stadium. The tournament featured teams from 12 International Rugby League member ...

-winning squad.

2020

On 21 January, she was named at in NRL.com's women's Team of the Decade.

Achievements and accolades

Team

* 2018 NRLW Grand Final: Brisbane Broncos – Winners

References

External links

NRL profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fotu-Moala, Teuila 1993 births Living people Brisbane Broncos (NRLW) players New Zealand female rugby league players New Zealand sportspeople of Tongan descent New Zealand women's national rugby league team players Otahuhu Leopards players Rugby league players from Auckland St. George Illawarra Dragons (NRLW) players