Viliami Makamaile "Willie" Manu (born 20 March 1980) is a former

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 11 ...

footballer. He played as a second-row forward, he previously played 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 ...

for Australian clubs the

Wests Tigers The Wests Tigers are an Australian professional 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 joint-venture ...

South Sydney Rabbitohs The South Sydney Rabbitohs are a professional Australian rugby league club based in Redfern, a suburb of inner-southern Sydney, New South Wales. They participate in the National Rugby League (NRL) premiership and are one of nine existing tea ...

, St. George Illawarra Dragons and 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 ...

. Manu moved to England and played in the Super League for the Castleford Tigers ( Heritage № 854),

Hull F.C. Hull Football Club, commonly referred to as Hull or Hull F.C., is a professional rugby league football club established in 1865 and based in West Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England. The club plays in the Super League competition and were ...

before joining St Helens ( Heritage № 1200), with whom he won the 2014 Super League championship.

Background

Manu was born in

Hornsby, New South Wales Hornsby is a suburb in the Northern Sydney region, or Upper North Shore of Sydney in the state of New South Wales, Australia, approximately north-west of the Sydney central business district. It is the administrative centre of the local gove ...

, Australia.

Playing career

In August 2008, Willie Manu was named in the Tonga training squad for the

2008 Rugby League World Cup The 2008 Rugby League World Cup was the thirteenth staging of the Rugby League World Cup since its inauguration in 1954, and the first since the 2000 tournament. The tournament was held in Australia from 26 October, culminating in the final ...

, and in October 2008 he was named in the final 24-man

squad. He played for Tonga in 2009 in a Test match against the

New Zealand national rugby league team The New Zealand national rugby league team ( Māori: Tīma rīki motu Aotearoa) has represented New Zealand in rugby league since 1907. Administered by the New Zealand Rugby League, they are commonly known as the Kiwis, after the native bird of ...

. St. Helens reached the

2014 Super League Grand Final The 2014 Super League Grand Final was the 17th official Grand Final and conclusive and deciding match of Super League XIX. It was held on Saturday 11 October 2014, at Old Trafford, Manchester with a 6pm kick-off time. The game was played between ...

and Manu was selected to play from the interchange bench in their 14-6 victory over the

Wigan Warriors The Wigan Warriors are a professional rugby league club in Wigan, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in the Super League. Formed in 1872 as Wigan Football Club, Wigan was a founding member of the Northern Rugby Football Union followin ...

at Old Trafford.

Controversy

In July 2005, Manu was granted continuing bail in Wollongong Local Court on charges related to an altercation at a Wollongong nightclub. Manu was charged with maliciously inflicting grievous bodily harm and affray. A nightclub employee suffered head injuries in the incident, while another man received a serious cut to his head.

References

External links

Saints Heritage Society profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Manu, Willie 1980 births Living people Australian sportspeople of Tongan descent Australian rugby league players Castleford Tigers players Exiles rugby league team players Hull F.C. players Rugby league players from Sydney Rugby league second-rows South Sydney Rabbitohs players St Helens R.F.C. players St. George Illawarra Dragons players Sydney Roosters players Tonga national rugby league team players Wests Tigers players