Sio Siua Taukeiaho (born 3 January 1992) 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 or for the

Manly Warringah Sea Eagles The Manly Warringah Sea Eagles are an Australian professional rugby league club based in Sydney's Northern Beaches. They compete in the National Rugby League (NRL). The Manly club debuted in the 1947 New South Wales Rugby Football League seaso ...

in the

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 ...

. He plays for

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 ...

and played for

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

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 ...

and

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 ...

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 won back-to-back NRL premierships with the Roosters in 2018 and 2019.

Background

Taukeiaho was born in Ōtara, South Auckland, New Zealand.

Playing career

New Zealand Warriors

Taukeiaho is of Tongan descent and played for the Otara Scorpions in 2010 before being signed by the

. He played in the 2011 Toyota Cup winning Junior Warriors and was named in 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 ...

that year. He made his first grade debut in round 26 against the St. George Illawarra Dragons on 7 September 2013. At the end of the 2013 season he requested, and was granted, his release from the Warriors. Taukeiaho would then tweet on 27 September 2013 that he signed with the Roosters for two years.

Sydney Roosters

Taukeiaho came into the 2015 NRL season as the Roosters' replacement for the departed

Sonny Bill Williams Sonny William Williams (born 3 August 1985) is a New Zealand heavyweight boxer, and a former professional rugby league and rugby union player. He is only the second person to represent New Zealand in rugby union after first playing for the cou ...

. Taukeiaho was a surprise inclusion on the interchange to start the 2015 season, his great early form cemented his spot as he went on to play every game of the season, scoring 2 tries. On 30 September 2018, Taukeiaho played in Eastern Suburbs 21–6 victory over Melbourne in the 2018 NRL grand final. Taukeiaho made a total of 20 appearances for the

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 second on the table and qualified for the finals. Taukeiaho played from the bench in the

2019 NRL Grand Final The 2019 NRL Grand Final was the conclusive and premiership-deciding game of the 2019 National Rugby League season and was played at Sydney's ANZ Stadium. The match was contested between defending premiers the Sydney Roosters and the Canberra ...

as the Sydney Roosters won their second consecutive premiership defeating Canberra 14–8 at

ANZ Stadium Stadium Australia, currently known as Accor Stadium for sponsorship reasons, is a multi-purpose stadium located in the suburb of Sydney Olympic Park, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The stadium, which is sometimes referred to as Sydney Ol ...

. He played a total of 21 games for the Sydney Roosters 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 ...

including the club's two finals matches. The

would be eliminated from the second week of the finals losing to Manly 42-6.

Catalans Dragons

On 14 October 2023, Taukeiaho played in Catalans 2023 Super League Grand Final loss against

Wigan Wigan ( ) is a town in Greater Manchester, England. The town is midway between the two cities of Manchester, to the south-east, and Liverpool, to the south-west. It is the largest settlement in the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan and is its ad ...

. On 12 July 2024, it was announced that

Catalans Dragons The Catalans Dragons (French language, French: ''Dragons Catalans'', Catalan language, Catalan: ''Dracs Catalans'') are a professional rugby league club from Perpignan, Pyrénées-Orientales department, France. Despite being based in France the ...

had terminated his contract, along with two other players namely Jayden Nikorima and Damel Diakhate, for being ''"...involved in an incident deemed to be ‘highly unacceptable’ by the French club and contrary to their values..."'' After his release from Catalans, Taukeiaho attempted to sign with 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 ...

but the request was blocked by the NRL for the rest of the season.

Manly Warringah Sea Eagles

On 8 November 2024, Taukeiaho signed a one year deal with Manly for 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 ...

International

Taukeiaho played for

against Papua New Guinea in an end of year test match in the PNG while on 2 May 2015 in the Gold Coast, he played for Tonga in their Polynesian Cup clash with Pacific rivals Samoa. On 2 November 2019, Taukeiaho captained Tonga against Australia as they went on to win 16–12, causing one of the biggest upsets in international rugby league history.

Statistics

source:

References

External links

Sydney Roosters profile2017 RLWC profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Taukeiaho, Sio Siua 1992 births Living people 21st-century New Zealand sportsmen Auckland rugby league team players Catalans Dragons players Junior Kiwis players Manly Warringah Sea Eagles players New Zealand national rugby league team players New Zealand sportspeople of Tongan descent New Zealand rugby league players New Zealand Warriors players Otara Scorpions players Rugby league locks Rugby league players from Auckland Rugby league second-rows Sydney Roosters players Tonga national rugby league team captains Tonga national rugby league team players Tongan rugby league players