Isaiah Papali'i (born 20 September 1998) is a professional

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as rugby league in English-speaking countries and rugby 13/XIII in non-Anglophone Europe, is a contact sport, full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular Rugby league playin ...

footballer who plays as a forward for the

Penrith Panthers The Penrith Panthers are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the Greater Western Sydney suburb of Penrith, New South Wales, Penrith that competes in the National Rugby League (NRL). The team is based west of the cen ...

in the

National Rugby League The National Rugby League (also known as the NRL Telstra Premiership for sponsorship reasons) is a professional rugby league competition in Oceania which contains clubs from New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria (state), Victoria, the Austral ...

(NRL). He has played for both

Samoa Samoa, officially the Independent State of Samoa and known until 1997 as Western Samoa, is an island country in Polynesia, part of Oceania, in the South Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main islands (Savai'i and Upolu), two smaller, inhabited ...

and

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

at international level. He previously played for the

New Zealand Warriors The 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 the Aucklan ...

, 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 (NRL). The Parramatta District Rugby League Football Club was formed in 1947, and ...

and the

Wests Tigers The Wests Tigers is an Australian professional rugby league football team, based in the Inner West of Sydney and South Western Sydney. The Tigers have competed in the National Rugby League (NRL) since being formed at the end of the 1999 N ...

in the NRL.

Early life

Papali'i was born in

Auckland, New Zealand Auckland ( ; ) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. It has an urban population of about It is located in the greater Auckland Region, the area governed by Auckland Council, which includes outlying rural areas and ...

and is of Samoan descent. His mother,

Lorina Papali'i Lorina Papali'i (''née'' Buckley; born 16 January 1977) is a former New Zealand rugby league and rugby union footballer from the 1990s, 2000s and 2010s. A dual international, she represented New Zealand in rugby league and Samoa in rugby uni ...

, represented

in rugby league and

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

. In 2014, Papali'i won two gold medals at the Oceania Weightlifting Championships in New Caledonia, winning the U17(Youth) and U20(Junior) divisions by lifting a personal best of 107 kg in the snatch and 125 kg in the clean and jerk. His parents own a gym in Avondale. Papali'i attended Te Atatu intermediate as a youth and later attended

Mount Albert Grammar School Mount Albert Grammar School, commonly known as MAGS, is a co-educational state secondary school in Mount Albert in Auckland, New Zealand. It teaches students in year levels 9 to 13. , Mount Albert Grammar School is the second largest school in N ...

and played for their first XV rugby union side. At the same time as he was playing rugby league for the Junior Warriors. The First XV won the championship in 2016 and Papali'i won the team's player of the year award.

Playing career

Papali'i played his junior rugby league for the

Te Atatu Roosters The Te Atatu Roosters is a rugby league club based in Te Atatū Peninsula, Te Atatū, New Zealand. They participate in the Auckland Rugby League competition. They currently have 25 teams across schoolboy, junior and senior grades. The Roosters ...

, before being signed by the

. In 2015, he toured Australia with the New Zealand under-18 side.

2016

In 2016, Papali'i played for the New Zealand Warriors' NYC team. In May, he played for the

Junior Kiwis The Junior Kiwis side represents New Zealand in the sport of rugby league. They are commonly known as the Junior Kiwis, after the native bird of that name. Since 2010, they are an under-20s side, with players selected from the NRL, Intrust Sup ...

against the

Junior Kangaroos The Junior Kangaroos side represents Australia in the sport of rugby league. They are commonly known as the Junior Kangaroos, after the native marsupial of that name. Since 2019, they are an under-23 side, with players selected from the NRL. Th ...

. In October, he re-signed with the Warriors on a three-year contract until the end of 2019. That year, Papali’i mixed rugby league and rugby union, making 11 appearances for the Warriors' NYC side, while also playing for Mount Albert Grammar School's title-winning First XV.

2017

In round 1 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, ...

, Papali'i made his

NRL The National Rugby League (also known as the NRL Telstra Premiership for sponsorship reasons) is a professional rugby league competition in Oceania which contains clubs from New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria (state), Victoria, the Austral ...

debut for the Warriors against the

Newcastle Knights The Newcastle Knights are an Australian professional rugby league team based in Newcastle, New South Wales that competes in the National Rugby League (NRL) premiership. Playing in red and blue, the Knights joined the top-tier competition in New ...

2018

In 2018, Papali'i made 20 appearances for the club as they finished 8th on the table and qualified for the finals. Papali'i played from the bench in the clubs 27-12 elimination final loss against Penrith. In October, he was named in the Kiwis’ squad for four-Test campaign against Australia and England as well as being selected for the Junior Kiwis for their clash against the Junior Kangaroos. He re-signed with the Warriors until the end of 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-season ...

2019

On 12 March, Papali'i was stood down by the Warriors due to a drink driving offence which had occurred on 1 January. It was reported that Papali'i did not provide police with a breath test. "We expect better from our players and anyone who falls short of our standards will be appropriately dealt with irrespective of the time of year or their standing within the club," Warriors CEO Cameron George said, "Isaiah is extremely remorseful for his actions. He feels like he's let his team-mates, the club, our fans and his family down. He is now determined to win back their respect and will also be fighting hard to earn back his spot in the team." The same year, Isaiah's mother

was playing for the New Zealand Warriors in the inaugural

NRL Women's Premiership The NRL Women's Premiership (NRLW) also known as the Telstra NRL Women's Premiership due to sponsorship is a rugby league competition in Australasia for female players. The league is run by the National Rugby League (NRL) and is contested by ...

, an unprecedented instance of a mother and son representing the same club in the same season.

2020

He played 15 games for the Warriors in the

as the club missed the finals. In October, he signed a contract to join

Parramatta Parramatta (; ) is a suburb (Australia), suburb and major commercial centre in Greater Western Sydney. Parramatta is located approximately west of the Sydney central business district, Sydney CBD, on the banks of the Parramatta River. It is co ...

for the 2021 season.

2021

He made his debut for Parramatta in round 1 of 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 ...

, coming off the interchange bench in the club's 24-16 victory over Brisbane. In round 6, he scored two tries for Parramatta in their 35-10 victory over

Canberra Canberra ( ; ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the Federation of Australia, federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's list of cities in Australia, largest in ...

. In round 14, he was sent to the sin bin in Parramatta's 40-12 victory over the

after deliberately dropping his knee onto the head of Wests player Tom Amone. Papali'i made a total of 25 appearances for Parramatta in the

including both finals matches against Newcastle and Penrith as the club went out of the finals in the second week for the third straight season. In September, Papali'i was awarded the Ken Thornett Medal as Parramatta's player of the season. On 27 September, Papali'i was named Dally M Second Rower of the year. On November 18, it was confirmed that he would move to the

starting in the 2023 season, on a three-year deal. Papali'i was initially offered a new contract by Parramatta worth $400,000 a season but instead decided to join Wests after they offered $600,000 a season.

2022

In round 10 of the

2022 NRL season The 2022 NRL season was the 115th season of professional rugby league in Australia and the 25th season run by the National Rugby League. Teams The lineup of teams remained unchanged for the 16th consecutive year. This became the second longest ...

, he scored two tries for Parramatta in a 31-24 loss against the

Sydney Roosters Eastern Suburbs District Rugby League Football Club, known as the Sydney Roosters are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Sydney's Eastern Suburbs (Sydney), Eastern Suburbs. The club competes in the National Rugby Lea ...

. Papali'i played a total of 28 games for Parramatta in 2022 including their

Grand Final Primarily in Australian sports, a grand final 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. Synonymous with a championship game in North Ameri ...

loss to Penrith. In October he was named in the New Zealand 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 � ...

2023

Papali'i played a total of 23 games for the Wests Tigers in the

2023 NRL season The 2023 NRL season was the 116th season of professional rugby league in Australia and the 26th season run by the National Rugby League. The season consisted of 27 competition rounds, the longest in league history, followed by a finals series ...

as the club finished with the

Wooden Spoon A wooden spoon is a Kitchen utensil, utensil commonly used in food preparation. In addition to its culinary uses, wooden spoons also feature in folk art and culture. History The word ''spoon'' derives from an ancient word meaning a chip of woo ...

for a second straight year.

2024

On 23 May, he signed a three-year deal to join Penrith starting in the 2025 NRL season. Papali'i made 16 appearances for the Wests Tigers throughout the

2024 NRL season The 2024 NRL season was the 117th season of professional rugby league in Australia and the 27th season run by the National Rugby League (NRL). The season consisted of 27 competition rounds, followed by a finals series contested by the top eight ...

as the club finished with the

for a third consecutive year.

2025

In round 1 of the

2025 NRL season The 2025 NRL season is the 118th season of professional rugby league in Australia and the 28th season run by the National Rugby League (NRL). The regular season will be followed by a finals series contested by the top eight teams on the competiti ...

, Papali'i made his club debut for Penrith in their 28-22 victory over Cronulla.

References

External links

Parramatta Eels profileNew Zealand Warriors profile

{{DEFAULTSORT:Papali'i, Isaiah 1998 births Living people Junior Kiwis players New Zealand national rugby league team players New Zealand powerlifters New Zealand rugby league players New Zealand rugby union players New Zealand sportspeople of Samoan descent New Zealand Warriors players Parramatta Eels players Wests Tigers players Penrith Panthers players People educated at Mount Albert Grammar School Rugby league players from Auckland Rugby league props Samoa national rugby league team players Samoan rugby league players Te Atatu Roosters players 21st-century New Zealand sportsmen