William Hopoate (born 9 May 1992), also known as Viliami in Tongan, also known by the

nickname A nickname is a substitute for the proper name of a familiar person, place or thing. Commonly used to express affection, a form of endearment, and sometimes amusement, it can also be used to express defamation of character. As a concept, it is ...

of "Hoppa", 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 plays as a and on the for the St Helens in the

Super League The Super League (officially known as the Betfred Super League due to sponsorship from Betfred and legally known as Super League Europe), is the top-level of the British rugby league system. At present the league consists of twelve teams, of w ...

. He played for the

Manly Warringah Sea Eagles The Manly Warringah Sea Eagles are an Australian professional rugby league club based in Sydney's Northern Beaches. The team colours are maroon and white, while their namesake and logo is the sea eagle. They compete in Australia's premier rugb ...

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 ...

and

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 facilit ...

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 ...

. Hopoate has also played for New South Wales City and

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

in the

State of Origin series The State of Origin series is an annual best-of-three rugby league series between two Australian state representative sides, the New South Wales Blues and the Queensland Maroons. Referred to as “Australian sport's greatest rivalry”, the ...

Early life

Hopoate was born in

Manly, New South Wales Manly is a beach-side suburb of northern Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is north-east of the Sydney central business district and is currently one of the three administrative centres of the local government area of Nor ...

, Australia. He is of

n descent He attended

Cromer Campus The Cromer Campus of the Northern Beaches Secondary College is a government-funded co-educational comprehensive secondary day school, located in , a suburb on the Northern Beaches of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Established in 1976 ...

and represented

Australian Schoolboys rugby league team The Australian Schoolboys rugby league team is the national rugby league football team for secondary school students in Australia. The team competes against counterparts in New Zealand, known as the Junior Kiwis, England, Wales and France amo ...

. Hopoate is the son of former Australian international,

John Hopoate John Hopoate (born 16 January 1974 in Tonga) is a former professional rugby league player and boxer who was involved in numerous sport controversies and subsequently convicted for violent crimes. He played rugby league in the Tonga national ru ...

Club career

Manly Warringah Sea Eagles

He joined Manly's squads in 2009 at the age of 16 and played the entire year in the Sea Eagles Toyota Cup. He primarily played at but also played on the

wing A wing is a type of fin that produces lift while moving through air or some other fluid. Accordingly, wings have streamlined cross-sections that are subject to aerodynamic forces and act as airfoils. A wing's aerodynamic efficiency is e ...

and in the centres. Despite a season-ending injury to Manly 1st-grade fullback Brett Stewart in Round 1 of 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 ...

, Hopoate had to wait until Round 13 to make his debut as coach

Des Hasler Desmond John Hasler (born 16 February 1961) is an Australian professional rugby league coach, and a former professional rugby league footballer who played as and . He initially played for the Penrith Panthers, and then spent most of his playi ...

preferred to use

Ben Farrar Ben Farrar (born 2 December 1986) is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer. He is the player/head coach of New York Rugby League. He previously played for the North Queensland Cowboys and Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles in th ...

in the custodian role. Hopoate is the son of former Manly player

, though other than his physical size, speed, strength and general play, he has shown none of the "bad boy" habits which saw his father often on the sidelines through suspension. Hopoate also represented the Australian Schoolboys team. Will Hopoate

In Round 3 of the 2011 NRL season, Hopoate scored his first ever double against the

Newcastle Knights The Newcastle Knights are an Australian professional rugby league club based in Newcastle, New South Wales. They compete in Australasia's premier rugby league competition, the National Rugby League (NRL) premiership. Playing in red and blue, th ...

Brookvale Oval Brookvale Oval (also known by the commercial sponsorship name 4 Pines Park) is a sporting ground located within Brookvale Park at Brookvale, New South Wales, Australia. The ground is owned by Northern Beaches Council and is primarily used by th ...

. Hopoate was part of the Manly side that defeated 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 ...

in the

2011 NRL Grand Final The 2011 NRL Grand Final was the conclusive and premiership-deciding game of the NRL's 2011 Telstra Premiership season. It was played between the Manly Warringah Sea Eagles and the New Zealand Warriors on the afternoon of Sunday, 2 October, and i ...

where he was denied the opening try but did produce a flick pass that sent Glenn Stewart over the line for a crucial try in the second half.

Parramatta Eels

In October 2011, Hopoate signed a 2-year contract with the

starting in 2014, after his Mormon mission ended. In April 2015, he agreed to re-sign with the Eels on a 3-year contract, however due to legal complications, the contract wasn't registered and Hopoate was left a free agent. In 2016, Hopoate took The

to court and was seeking $1.83 million in damages. On 29 October 2016, both parties came to an agreement of a $400,000 settlement.

Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs

On 7 December 2015, Hopoate signed a 2-year contract with 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 facilit ...

starting in 2016. In his first season with Canterbury, Hopoate announced that he would not be playing for the club on Sundays due to his religious faith. Hopoate even went as far to say that he would not play for Canterbury in the grand final if the club was to make it that far as the final is on a Sunday. Hopoate missed Canterbury's qualifying final against Penrith due to the game being played on Sunday. On 14 May 2017, Hopoate reversed his decision and declared that he would be playing Sunday games again for Canterbury. On 1 June 2017, Hopoate re-signed with the

for a further three years until 2020. On 27 November 2019, Hopoate signed a two-year contract extension to remain at Canterbury until the end of the 2021 season. Hopoate made a total of 13 appearances for Canterbury 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 ...

. The club finished in 15th place on the table, only avoiding the

Wooden Spoon Wooden Spoon may refer to: * Wooden spoon, implement * Wooden spoon (award) A wooden spoon is an award that is given to an individual or team that has come last in a competition. Examples range from the academic to sporting and more frivolous e ...

by for and against. On 10 August 2021, Hopoate signed a two-year deal with English side

St Helens RFC St Helens R.F.C. is a professional rugby league club in St Helens, Merseyside who compete in the Super League, the top tier for rugby league in Great Britain. They are the current Champions, having won the last 4 consecutive titles, and becom ...

with the option of a third season. Hopoate made a total of 24 appearances for Canterbury in the

2021 NRL season The 2021 NRL season was the 114th season of professional rugby league in Australia and the 24th season run by the National Rugby League. Teams The lineup of teams remained unchanged for the 15th consecutive year. Regular season Ladd ...

as the club finished last and claimed the

St Helens

In round 1 of the 2022 Super League season, Hopoate made his club debut for St Helens where they defeated the

Catalans Dragons The Catalans Dragons (French: ''Dragons Catalans'', Catalan: ''Dracs Catalans'') are a professional rugby league club from Perpignan, Pyrénées-Orientales department, France. The team competes in the Super League and are the only team from outs ...

28-8. On 24 September 2022, Hopoate played at centre in St Helens 24-12 Super League Grand Final victory over

Leeds Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by popul ...

Representative career

NSW

On 5 June 2011 Hopoate was selected to play

State of Origin A State of Origin competition is a type of sporting event between players representing their state or territory. State of Origin began in Australian rules football on 8 October 1977 between Western Australia (WA) and Victoria, at Subiaco Ov ...

for

in Game 2 against

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 ...

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 * ...

. He is the second youngest player behind

Brad Fittler Bradley Scott Fittler (born 5 February 1972), also known by the nickname of "Freddy", is the head coach of the New South Wales State of Origin team, a commentator and a television presenter. Fittler has previously coached the Sydney Roosters i ...

ever selected to play for NSW and he scored a try on debut helping NSW level the 3-game series at one all with an 18–8 win.

Tonga

In 2017 Hopoate elected to represent the nation of his ancestral heritage,

. He played fullback in every game of their stunning charge to 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 ...

semi-finals. He was a tryscorer in their shock win over

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 coun ...

in the pool stage of the tournament. He was named at fullback again for the historic first-ever Test match between Tonga and the

Australian Kangaroos The Australian National Rugby League Team, the Kangaroos, have represented Australia in senior men's rugby league football competition since the establishment of the 'Northern Union game' in Australia in 1908. Administered by the Australian ...

on 20 October 2018, played in front of a sold-out crowd at Mount Smart Stadium, Auckland. In October 2022 he was named in the Tonga squad for the

2021 Rugby League World Cup The 2021 Rugby League World Cup (RLWC2021) was a collection of world cups in the sport of rugby league, held in England from 15 October to 19 November 2022. England won hosting rights for the competition on 27 October 2016. The bid received £ ...

.Full list of every squad at the Rugby League World Cup 2021
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Personal life

Outside of rugby league, Hopoate is an active member of

the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a Nontrinitarianism, nontrinitarian Christianity, Christian church that considers itself to be the Restorationism, restoration of the ...

. As such Hopoate chose not to take part in his early league career and spent 2012 and 2013 serving a two-year

mission Mission (from Latin ''missio'' "the act of sending out") may refer to: Organised activities Religion *Christian mission, an organized effort to spread Christianity *Mission (LDS Church), an administrative area of The Church of Jesus Christ of ...

for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church).

References

External links

Canterbury Bulldogs profile2017 RLWC profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hopoate, William 1992 births Living people Australian Latter Day Saints Australian Mormon missionaries Australian sportspeople of Tongan descent Australian rugby league players Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs players

William William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...

Manly Warringah Sea Eagles players New South Wales City Origin rugby league team players New South Wales Rugby League State of Origin players Parramatta Eels players Rugby league centres Rugby league fullbacks Rugby league players from Sydney Rugby league wingers St Helens R.F.C. players Tonga national rugby league team captains Tonga national rugby league team players