Vai Toutai (born 28 January 1993) is a

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 last played as a and on the for the

Blacktown Workers Sea Eagles The Blacktown Workers Rugby League Football Club, also known as Blacktown Workers Sea Eagles, are an Australian rugby league football club based in Blacktown, New South Wales formed in 1962. Since 2017 they have had a side in the NSW Cup, as th ...

in the

Intrust Super Premiership NSW The NSW Cup, currently known as the Knock-On Effect NSW Cup for sponsorship reasons, is a rugby league competition for clubs in New South Wales. The competition has a history dating back to the NSWRFL's origins in 1908, starting off as a reserv ...

Background

Born in

Campbelltown, New South Wales Campbelltown is a suburb located on the outskirts of the metropolitan area of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is located in Greater Western Sydney south-west of the Sydney central business district by road. Campbelltown is the admini ...

, Toutai is of

n descent and attended Eagle Vale High School. He played his junior rugby league for

Campbelltown City Kangaroos Campbelltown City Kangaroos Rugby League Football Club is an Australian semi-professional rugby league football club based in Campbelltown, New South Wales. The club was formed in 1908, after a breakaway from the local Rugby Union club, 'The Walla ...

and Fairfield United before being signed by the

Parramatta Eels The Parramatta Eels are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the Sydney suburb of Parramatta that competes in the National Rugby League. The Parramatta District Rugby League Football Club was formed in 1947, and their ...

Playing career

2013

Toutai played for Parramatta's

NYC New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Uni ...

team in 2011 and 2012, scoring 12 tries in 29 games. In round 2 of 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 ...

, Toutai made his

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 ...

debut for the

Eels Eels are ray-finned fish belonging to the order Anguilliformes (), which consists of eight suborders, 19 families, 111 genera, and about 800 species. Eels undergo considerable development from the early larval stage to the eventual adult stage ...

against the

Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs The Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Belmore, a suburb in the Canterbury-Bankstown region of Sydney. They compete in the NRL Telstra Premiership, as well as competitions facilita ...

, replacing injured winger

Ken Sio Ken Sio (born 29 October 1990) is a professional rugby league footballer who plays on the for the Salford Red Devils in the Betfred Super League. He has previously played for the Parramatta Eels and the Newcastle Knights in the NRL and Hull K ...

in the Eels 20-16 loss at

ANZ Stadium ANZ may refer to: People * Anz (musician), a British DJ and electronic musician Banks * ANZ (bank), Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Limited, the fourth-largest bank in Australia ** ANZ Bank New Zealand, the largest bank in New Zealand ...

. In his next match in round 3 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 ...

, Toutai scored his NRL first try in the Eels 31-18 loss at

Leichhardt Oval Leichhardt Oval is a rugby league and soccer stadium in Lilyfield, New South Wales, Australia. It is currently one of three home grounds for the Wests Tigers National Rugby League (NRL) team, along with Campbelltown Stadium and Western Sydney S ...

. Toutai finished off his debut year with him playing in 15 matches and scoring 4 tries (16p) as the club finished last on the table for a second consecutive year.

2014

On 14 February 2014, Toutai was selected in the

inaugural

2014 NRL Auckland Nines The 2014 NRL Auckland Nines (known as the Dick Smith NRL Auckland Nines due to sponsorship) was the first NRL Auckland Nines tournament, contested between all sixteen teams of the National Rugby League. The draw was released on 30 October 2014. ...

squad. In round 1 against the

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 ...

, Toutai 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 Eels 36-16 win at

Parramatta Stadium Parramatta Stadium was a sports stadium in Parramatta, New South Wales, Australia, 23 kilometres west of Sydney's central business district. The stadium was the home ground of several western Sydney-based sports teams, at the time of closure t ...

. On 5 June 2014, Toutai extended his contract with the Eels for a further 3 years till the end of the

2017 NRL season The 2017 NRL season was the 110th season of professional rugby league in Australia and the 20th season run by the National Rugby League. The season started in New Zealand with the annual Auckland Nines, and was followed by the All Stars Match, w ...

. On the 19 July 2014, Toutai dropped the ball over the line twice in a 32-12 defeat by South Sydney. In round 23 against the

, Toutai was the centre of the Eels controversial 18-16 loss after Toutai received a pass from the Eels

ball boy Ball boys and ball girls, also known as ball kids are individuals, usually human youths but sometimes dogs, who retrieve and supply balls for players or officials in sports such as association football, American football, bandy, cricket, tennis ...

after halfback

Chris Sandow Chris Sandow (born 9 January 1989) is an Indigenous Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played as a goal-kicking or , he could also play as a . Background Sandow was born in Kingaroy, Queensland. Sandow grew up in Quee ...

kicked a 40/20 then Toutai passing the ball to Sandow to race over to score the winning try for the Eels but was disallowed after the

didn't place the ball on the ground. Toutai finished off the Eels 2014 season having played in 10 matches and scoring 8 tries. On 16 October 2014, he was named in the

squad to play against the

Papua New Guinea national rugby league team The Papua New Guinea national rugby league team represents Papua New Guinea in the sport of rugby league football. In Papua New Guinea, Rugby League is a highly popular sport and is regarded as the country's national sport. The national side ar ...

Lae Lae () is the capital of Morobe Province and is the second-largest city in Papua New Guinea. It is located near the delta of the Markham River and at the start of the Highlands Highway, which is the main land transport corridor between the Highl ...

. He played on the wing in Tonga's 32-18 loss.

2015

Toutai appeared in two matches for the Eels in the 2015 season.

2016

On 1 February, Toutai was named in the Eels'

2016 NRL Auckland Nines The 2016 NRL Auckland Nines (known as the Downer NRL Auckland Nines due to sponsorship) was the third NRL Auckland Nines competition. It was held on 6–7 February 2016 at Eden Park in Auckland, New Zealand. As with previous tournaments, it was ...

squad. On 7 May, he played for Tonga 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 ...

in the 2016 Polynesian Cup. In December 2016, Toutai's contract with Parramatta was terminated after it was revealed he was involved in a brawl with Outlaw Bikie member in which he glassed them with a bottle. The Bikie reportedly vowed to exact revenge on Toutai.

2018

After a year out of the game, Toutai signed a contract to join

side the

References

External links

2016 Parramatta Eels profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Toutai, Vai 1993 births Living people Australian people of Tongan descent Australian rugby league players Blacktown Workers players Junior Kangaroos players Parramatta Eels players Rugby league centres Rugby league players from Sydney Rugby league wingers Tonga national rugby league team players category:Tongan sportspeople Wentworthville Magpies players