Felise Kaufusi (born 19 May 1992) is a 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 er for the

Dolphins A dolphin is an aquatic mammal within the infraorder Cetacea. Dolphin species belong to the families Delphinidae (the oceanic dolphins), Platanistidae (the Indian river dolphins), Iniidae (the New World river dolphins), Pontoporiidae (t ...

in the NRL, and has played for

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 ...

and Australia at international level. He previously played for the

Melbourne Storm The Melbourne Storm are a rugby league club based in Melbourne, Victoria in Australia that participates in the National Rugby League. The first fully professional rugby league team based in the state, the Storm entered the competition in 1998. ...

and won the 2017 NRL Grand Final and

2020 NRL Grand Final The 2020 NRL Grand Final was the conclusive and premiership-deciding game of the 2020 National Rugby League season held at Sydney's ANZ Stadium on October 25. The match was contested between minor premiers Penrith Panthers and second-placed Melb ...

s with the

Storm A storm is any disturbed state of the natural environment or the atmosphere of an astronomical body. It may be marked by significant disruptions to normal conditions such as strong wind, tornadoes, hail, thunder and lightning (a thunderstorm), ...

. Kaufusi has also played for the

Queensland Maroons The Queensland rugby league team represents the Australian state of Queensland in rugby league football. Nicknamed the "Maroons" after the colour of their jersey, they play three times a year against arch-rivals New South Wales in the State of O ...

Early life

Kaufusi was born in

Auckland, New Zealand 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 I ...

, and is of Tongan and Niuean descent. He is the younger brother of Antonio and older brother of Patrick. Felise moved to Australia as a 7 year old and was educated at

Shalom Catholic College, Bundaberg Shalom College is an independent Catholic secondary school, located in Bundaberg, Queensland, Australia. The college was established in 1984 by merging the Christian Brothers' College for Boys and the Loyola College for Girls. The school's curre ...

. He played his junior football for the Bundaberg Brothers, before being signed by the

North Queensland Cowboys The North Queensland Cowboys is an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Townsville, the largest town in North Queensland. They compete in Australia's premier rugby league competition, the National Rugby League (NRL). Sinc ...

Playing career

Early career

From 2010 to 2012, Kaufusi played for the North Queensland Cowboys'

NYC New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

team. On 2 October 2011, Kaufusi played in the Cowboys' 2011 NYC Grand Final 31-30 Golden Point Extra Time loss to 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 ...

. On 28 June 2012, he re-signed with the Cowboys on a 1-year contract. In 2013, he moved on to the Cowboys'

Queensland Cup The Queensland Cup, currently known as the Hostplus Cup for sponsorship reasons, is the highest-level regional rugby league football competition in Queensland, Australia. It is run by the Queensland Rugby League (QRL) and is contested by fou ...

team, Northern Pride RLFC. On 21 August 2013, he signed a 1-year contract with the

starting in 2014. In July 2014, he played for the

Queensland Residents The Queensland Residents rugby league team is a representative rugby league team consisting of players who compete in the Intrust Super Cup (Queensland Cup) competition. They currently play an annual fixture against NSW Cup Representative Team, ...

against the New South Wales Residents.

2015

In Round 1 of the

2015 NRL season The 2015 NRL season was the 108th season of professional rugby league in Australia and the 18th season of the National Rugby League in Australia and New Zealand. The season started in New Zealand with the annual Auckland Nines, which was followed ...

, Kaufusi made his NRL debut for the

against the St. George Illawarra Dragons, playing off the interchange bench in the 12-4 win at Jubilee Oval. In Round 4 against the

, Kaufusi scored his first NRL career try in the Storm’s 18-17 loss at

1300SMILES Stadium The Willows Sports Complex, currently known as 1300SMILES Stadium through sponsorship, is a grass football stadium situated in Townsville, Queensland, Australia. It has been a predominantly rugby league ground as the home ground of the Nor ...

. On 2 May 2015, he played for

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 and Apolima); ...

in the Polynesian Cup. On 2 July 2015, Kaufusi re-signed with the Storm on a 2-year contract.

2016

On 7 May, Kaufusi played for Tonga against Samoa in the 2016 Polynesian Cup. On 6 July, he was named as 18th man 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 , establishe ...

in Game 3 of the 2016 State of Origin series. Kaufusi was named as 18th man for the Storm in their

2016 NRL Grand Final The 2016 NRL Grand Final was a rugby league match between the Melbourne Storm and the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks to determine the premiers of the National Rugby League for the 2016 season. The match was held at Sydney's ANZ Stadium on Sunday ...

clash 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 ...

but didn’t play in the 14-12 thrilling loss. Kaufusi finished the

2016 NRL season The 2016 NRL season was the 109th season of professional rugby league in Australia and the 19th 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 ...

with him playing in 21 matches and scoring 4 tries for the Storm.

2017

On 21 April 2017, Kaufusi re-signed his contract with the Storm to the end of the 2019 season. On 6 May 2017, Kaufusi played for Tonga against Fiji in the 2017 Pacific Test, where he started at second-row in the 26-24 win at

Campbelltown Stadium Campbelltown Stadium, formerly Orana Park and Campbelltown Sports Ground, is a multi-use stadium in Leumeah, New South Wales, Australia, owned by Campbelltown City Council. It is the home ground of the Western Suburbs Magpies and the Wests Ti ...

. During the season, Kaufusi took over the void second-row position from the departed Kevin Proctor and he took the opportunity by both hands and was instrumental for the Storm to their run leading up to the Finals series where they the winners of the Minor Premiership trophy. On 1 October 2017, in the Storm’s 2017 NRL Grand Final against the

, Kaufusi started at second-row and scored a try in the 34-6 victory. Kaufusi finished his breakout

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 ...

with him playing all of the Storm’s 27 matches and scored 9 tries. On 3 October 2017, two days after the Grand Final win, Kaufusi was rewarded with selection in the 24-man Kangaroos squad for the

2017 Rugby League World Cup The 2017 Rugby League World Cup was the fifteenth staging of the Rugby League World Cup tournament and took place in Australia, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea between 27 October and 2 December 2017. The tournament featured the national teams ...

. On 3 November 2017, Kaufusi made his test debut for Australia against

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

, where he played off the interchange bench in the 52-6 win at

Canberra Stadium Canberra Stadium (GIO Stadium for commercial reasons) is a facility primarily used for rugby league and rugby union games, located adjacent to the Australian Institute of Sport in Canberra, the capital of Australia. It is the largest sports ven ...

2018

In Round 1, Kaufusi suffered a

hamstring In human anatomy, a hamstring () is any one of the three posterior thigh muscles in between the hip and the knee (from medial to lateral: semimembranosus, semitendinosus and biceps femoris). The hamstrings are susceptible to injury. In quadrupe ...

injury being sidelined for three weeks. In May, he signed a two-year extension to remain with the Melbourne Storm. Kaufusi made his debut for

in Game 1 of the

2018 State of Origin series The 2018 State of Origin series was the 37th State of Origin series, annual best-of-three series between the Queensland rugby league team, Queensland and New South Wales rugby league team, New South Wales rugby league teams. Before this series, Q ...

, starting at second-row in all three games. He then featured in the

's Grand Final loss to 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 ...

. Kaufusi played in 21 games for the Storm in 2018, scoring five tries. Kaufusi played for Australia in the end of season tests vs

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 ...

and

2019

He played 25 games for Melbourne in the

2019 NRL season The 2019 NRL season was the 112th season of professional rugby league in Australia and the 22nd season run by the National Rugby League. The Sydney Roosters became the first team to win back-to-back Premierships since the Brisbane Broncos in 1992 ...

as the club finished as runaway Minor Premiers, however the club fell short of another grand final after capitulating against the

in the preliminary final.

2020

He played 21 games for Melbourne in the

2020 NRL season The 2020 NRL season was the 113th season of professional rugby league in Australia and the 23rd season run by the National Rugby League. Teams The lineup of teams remained unchanged for the 14th consecutive year. ; Notes : : : Pre-seaso ...

including the club's

victory over Penrith.

2021

In round 2 against Parramatta, Kaufusi was placed on report after an ugly tackle on Parramatta player Ryan Matterson during Melbourne's defeat. As a result, Matterson missed the following five matches whilst Kaufusi was suspended for three games. In round 10, Kaufusi was placed on report for tripping a St. George Illawarra player during the club's victory but later beat the charge and was then selected for Queensland to play in the

2021 State of Origin series The 2021 State of Origin series was the 40th State of Origin series, annual best-of-three series between the Queensland rugby league team, Queensland and New South Wales rugby league team, New South Wales rugby league teams. Before this series, Qu ...

. A photo of New South Wales player

Jarome Luai Jarome Luai (born 16 January 1997) is a international rugby league footballer who plays as a for the Penrith Panthers in the NRL (National Rugby League). He won both the 2021 and the 2022 NRL Grand Finals with the Penrith club. He has repr ...

later went viral showing Luai standing over Kaufusi and taunting him. Kaufusi later said of the photo “I don’t think I need any more motivation than that thrashing we copped," he said. "I’ve kept the receipts there and hopefully turn that around on Sunday. "I can’t remember what he said to me, I was pretty filthy at myself to be honest. I think I must have got steamrolled". On 26 November 2021, Kaufusi became the second player, but the first with NRL experience, to sign with Redcliffe based expansion team

for the

2023 NRL season The 2023 NRL season is the 116th season of professional rugby league in Australia and the 26th season run by the National Rugby League. Teams For the 2023 season, the number of teams in the NRL has increased from sixteen to seventeen with the ...

2022

Kaufusi was selected by Queensland for game one of the 2022 State of Origin series. In game two, he scored a try but was later sin binned for a professional foul during Queensland's 44-12 loss against New South Wales.

Career stats

Club

''* = Unfinished season''

Representative

Honours

Club

– Runner-up * 2017 NRL Grand Final – Winners *

2018 World Club Challenge The 2018 World Club Challenge (also known as the 2018 Downer World Club Challenge was the 26th staging of the World Club Challenge. It took place on 16 February 2018, and featured Super League champions Leeds Rhinos, and NRL winners Melbourn ...

– Winners *

2018 NRL Grand Final The 2018 NRL Grand Final was the conclusive and premiership-deciding game of the 2018 National Rugby League season and was played on Sunday September 30 at Sydney's ANZ Stadium. The match was contested between minor premiers the Sydney Rooste ...

– Runner-up *

– Winners

Individual

Melbourne Storm *

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a s ...

– Most Improved Player of the Year

References

External links

Melbourne Storm profile2017 RLWC profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kaufusi, Felise 1992 births Living people New Zealand rugby league players New Zealand people of Niuean descent New Zealand sportspeople of Tongan descent Tonga national rugby league team players Australia national rugby league team players Queensland Rugby League State of Origin players Melbourne Storm players Eastern Suburbs Tigers players Northern Pride RLFC players New Zealand emigrants to Australia Rugby league players from Auckland Rugby league props Sunshine Coast Falcons players