Pat Mata'utia-Leifi (pronounced ma-ta-oo-tee-a) (born 11 September 1993) is a

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 ...

international

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. His positions are and . He previously played for 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 ...

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 ...

Background

Mata'utia was born in

Campsie, New South Wales Campsie is a suburb in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Campsie is 11 kilometres south west of the Sydney central business district, on the southern bank of the Cooks River. Campsie is one of the administrative centres of the City of Ca ...

, Australia. He is of Samoan descent. He played his junior rugby league for the South Newcastle Lions in the

Newcastle Rugby League The Newcastle Rugby League is a local rugby league football competition in Newcastle, Australia. It is one of the oldest rugby league competitions in Australia, founded in 1910. A Newcastle rugby league team, Newcastle representative team was al ...

, before being signed by the

. Mata'utia is the younger brother of Knights teammates Peter Mata'utia and Chanel Mata'utia, and older brother of Knights teammate

Sione Mata'utia Sione Mata'utia-Leifi (pronounced ma-ta-oo-tee-a) (born 25 June 1996) is a former professional rugby league footballer who plays as a and forward for Lakes United Seagulls in the Newcastle Rugby League. He has represented both Australia and S ...

Playing career

Early career

In October 2011, Mata'utia played for the

Australian Schoolboys The Australian Schoolboys refer to junior teams that represent Australia in various sports. The name is mainly used in rugby league, rugby union and baseball. Other popular team sports in Australia such as cricket, basketball, association footbal ...

. In 2012 and 2013, he played for the Newcastle Knights' NYC team. On 16 October 2013, he re-signed with the Knights on a 2-year contract. In 2014, he graduated on to the Knights'

New South Wales Cup 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 reserve ...

team. Late in September 2014, he signed a letter of intent to join the

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

on a four-year contract starting in 2016, along with his brothers Chanel and Sione. However, the NRL's rules didn't allow Canterbury to register the contracts until 30 June 2015, leaving the option of staying at Newcastle open for the Mata'utias.

2015

On 19 March, Mata'utia re-signed with the Newcastle outfit on a three-year contract, along with his brothers Chanel and Sione. On 2 May, he played for

against

Tonga Tonga, officially the Kingdom of Tonga, is an island country in Polynesia, part of Oceania. The country has 171 islands, of which 45 are inhabited. Its total surface area is about , scattered over in the southern Pacific Ocean. accordin ...

in the 2015

Polynesian Cup The Polynesian Cup is a rugby league football test match played between Samoa and Tonga first played in 2010. The matches in 2015, 2016 and 2018 were played as double-headers with the Melanesian Cup. Results See also *Polynesia Cup – sim ...

, making his international debut on the wing in Samoa's 18-16 win at Cbus Super Stadium.

2016

In round 1 of 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, ...

, Mata'utia 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 Newcastle against the

Gold Coast Titans The Gold Coast Titans are a professional rugby league football club, based on the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia. The club competes in the National Rugby League (NRL) premiership, Australia's elite rugby league competition. Since 2008, the ...

after the suspension of his brother Sione left open a position at centre. He scored a try on debut in Newcastle's 12-30 loss at Cbus Super Stadium. He finished the year with 14 appearances and two tries.

2018

After not seeing NRL time for the last two seasons, Mata'utia parted ways with the Newcastle club at the end of the 2018 season.

References

External links

Newcastle Knights profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mata'utia, Pat 1993 births Living people Australian sportspeople of Samoan descent Australian rugby league players Pat Newcastle Knights players Rugby league centres Rugby league players from Canterbury-Bankstown Rugby league second-rows Samoa national rugby league team players Samoan rugby league players South Newcastle Lions players 21st-century Australian sportsmen