Fuifui Moimoi

Fuifui Moimoi
Personal information
Born (1979-09-26) 26 September 1979
Nuku'alofa, Tonga
Height 183 cm (6 ft 0 in)
Weight 125 kg (19 st 10 lb)
Playing information
Rugby league
Position Prop

Club
Years Team Pld T G FG P
2004–14 Parramatta Eels 201 22 0 0 88
2015–16 Leigh Centurions 45 11 1 0 46
2017–18 Toronto Wolfpack 20 12 0 0 48
2018– Workington Town 5 1 0 0 5
Total 271 46 1 0 187
Representative
Years Team Pld T G FG P
2006–13 Tonga 8 0 0 0 0
2007–11 New Zealand 12 0 0 0 0
Rugby union
Position Prop

Club
Years Team Pld T G FG P
2018 Bradford & Bingley RFC 1 1 0 0 5
As of 18 February 2018
Source: [1][2]

Fuifui Moimoi (born 26 September 1979) is a rugby league footballer who plays for Workington Town in League 1.

He previously played Rugby League for Toronto Wolfpack in the English League One, Leigh Centurions in the English Championship and, most notably, Parramatta Eels in the National Rugby League (NRL). A New Zealand and Tonga international representative forward, Moimoi made over 200 NRL appearances for Parramatta where he attained cult status.[2][3]

He briefly played rugby union for Bradford & Bingley RFC in 2018.

Background

He was born in Nuku'alofa, Tonga.

His brother-in-law is NFL player Star Lotulelei.[4]

Playing career

2000s

A Point Chevalier Pirates and Glenora Bears junior, Moimoi was spotted by then New Zealand Warriors coach Daniel Anderson in 2002 while playing in the Bartercard Cup for the Mt Albert Lions.[5] Moimoi then joined the South Sydney Rabbitohs for the 2003 season as a trialist.[6] However he made his first grade debut for the Parramatta Eels in 2004.

Moimoi while playing for New Zealand in 2009

On Tuesday 10 September 2007, News.com.au reported Australian selectors have inquired about the international eligibility of Moimoi. Moimoi was born in Tonga, grew up in New Zealand. Moimoi is eligible to play for Tonga as well as either Australia or New Zealand. Australian Rugby League chief executive Geoff Carr revealed Australian selectors asked about the eligibility of Moimoi. He has also represented American Samoa in 2000.[7]

On Monday 24 September 2007, the New Zealand Rugby League association confirmed Fuifui Moimoi's inclusion into the Kiwis train-On squad to take on Australia, Great Britain and France for the end of season tests. Moimoi made his debut for New Zealand in a 58–0 defeat by Australia in Wellington on 14 October 2007. He was selected to go on the 2007 All Golds Tour.

He was named in the New Zealand training squad for the 2008 Rugby League World Cup.[8] He was also named in the Tonga squad.[9] Moimoi was not selected for the final New Zealand squad, and because he had recently played for New Zealand, he was ruled ineligible for the Tongan side. He contested his right to play for Tonga in court, but to no avail.[10].

In The 2009 NRL season, Moi Moi was part of The Parramatta side which made it all the way to the grand final. In the final, Moi Moi scored a memorable try in the second half where he beat five players to make it to the try line and score in the corner.[11]

After the 2009 NRL season, Moimoi returned to the New Zealand national team, being cleared by the RLIF to play in the Four Nations.[12]

2010s

On 20 April 2010, Moimoi signed a further 2-year contract to continue to play with the Eels until the end of 2012.[13] He was originally selected for New Zealand's 2010 Four Nations campaign but withdrew due to injury.[14] Moimoi was selected play for New Zealand in the 2011 ANZAC Test from the interchange bench. At the end of the season he was selected to travel with the Kiwis to Europe for the 2011 Four Nations tournament.

In June 2012, Moimoi was reported as wishing to continue his football career until the end of the 2016 NRL season.[15]

Moimoi was selected to play for Tonga as a prop forward in their 2013 Pacific Rugby League International match against fierce rivals Samoa.

Later in the year, Moimoi played for Tonga in their unsuccessful 2013 Rugby League World Cup campaign. Moimoi played in all of Tonga's 3 matches.

In 2014, Moimoi decided to retire from the NRL after 11 years and 201 first grade games the Eels. The club had advised Moimoi that he would not be retained for the following season.

On 30 November 2014, it was confirmed that Fuifui Moimoi had signed a one-year deal with the English club Leigh Centurions with the option to extend for a further year. On Friday 20 March 2015 it was announced that Leigh Centurions had activated the option for a 2nd year.[16].

However, Moimoi left the club once they were promoted to the Super League to join the newly founded Toronto Wolfpack in Kingstone Press League 1 and rejoined former teammates Liam Kay, Greg Worthington, Jonny Pownall, Bob Beswick, Andrew Dixon, Richard Whiting and Jacob Emmitt as well as coach Paul Rowley.

In 2015, Moi Moi spoke to the media about his time at Parramatta and how he had felt betrayed by coach Brad Arthur. Moi Moi alleged a personal vendetta denied him the opportunity to play his farewell match at Pirtek Stadium. Moimoi said he worked hard to ensure he couldn't be dropped but was demoted to the Intrust Super Premiership NSW. He rebuffed an opportunity to make a mid-season switch to Manly because he wanted to play his 200th game for Parramatta. When Penrith approached him with an offer Moimoi was swayed to stay by Arthur who insisted he would return to first grade. However, he was denied the chance to farewell his supporters in the final home game of the year when he was axed again.

"It was the hardest thing I've ever been through in my career," he said. "It made me feel so angry. Brad said he had to pick the best 17, but I know I was still better than some of those players he selected." Moi Moi's hurt was compounded because while many of his teammates were said to be unhappy about his treatment he only heard from Peni Terepo, Nathan Cayless and Jarryd Hayne: "Some of the boys who I thought were my good mates didn't even call me to see how I was going".[17]

On 19 January 2018 Moi Moi, along with teammates Ryan Bailey and David Taylor, left Toronto by mutual consent after a preseason camp in Portugal. After leaving Toronto he briefly switched to Rugby Union, [18] before joining Workington Town, on a free transfer in April 2018.[19]

References

  1. ↑ "Fiufiu Moimoi". Love Rugby League. Retrieved 10 April 2018.
  2. 1 2 "Statistics at rugbyleagueproject.org". rugbyleagueproject.org. 31 December 2017. Retrieved 1 January 2018.
  3. ↑ AAP (21 April 2006). "Eels enigma Moimoi ready to make return". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 9 September 2013.
  4. ↑ http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sport/us-sports/super-bowl-50-brotherinlaw-of-rugby-league-star-fuifui-moimoi-star-lotulelei-to-start-for-carolina-panthers/news-story/26b71b27382d2dd15260bfbe3c264a1b
  5. ↑ "Yo ho ho and ninety years done" Superleague, Issue 1 2010. p.27.
  6. ↑ Stevenson, Andrew (3 October 2009). "No razzle-dazzle without Fuifui". Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 23 April 2010.
  7. ↑ Kilgallon, Steve. (19 September 2010) NZRL vows to avoid flip-flops – league – sport. Stuff.co.nz. Retrieved on 17 June 2013.
  8. ↑ "Kiwis select Sonny Bill". Sky Sports. 8 August 2008. Retrieved 8 August 2008.
  9. ↑ "Samoa, Tonga and Fiji name squads". BBC. 8 October 2008. Retrieved 9 October 2008.
  10. ↑ "Fuifui Moimoi ready to rumble in biggest game of his career". Rugby League Live. 10 September 2009. Retrieved 7 October 2009.
  11. ↑ http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/nrl/melbourne-storm-beat-parramatta-eels-in-2009-nrl-grand-final/news-story/2c1489fcf02850973c7383786a8eb564?sv=e39dcef9e3654aa92bf8e532fafd3dbc
  12. ↑ Read, Brent; McDonald, Margie (6 October 2009). "Fuifui Moimoi cleared to play for New Zealand". The Australian. Retrieved 7 October 2009.
  13. ↑ "Fuifui Moimoi re-signs with Eels". Sydney Morning Herald. 20 April 2010. Retrieved 23 April 2010.
  14. ↑ McKendry called into Kiwis for injured Moimoi NZRL, 11 October 2010
  15. ↑ Nicolussi, Christian (29 June 2012). "Parramatta enforcer Fuifui Moimoi planning on playing through till 2016". The Daily Telegraph. News Limited. Retrieved 27 September 2012.
  16. ↑ "leighcenturions.com". Fuifui Moimoi Extends His Stay With His Famileigh. 2015-03-20. Retrieved 2015-03-20.
  17. ↑ Lane, Daniel (9 May 2015). "Parramatta Eels warrior Fuifui Moimoi can't forgive Brad Arthur's 'betrayal'". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 10 April 2018.
  18. ↑ "Toronto Wolfpack part ways with Dave Taylor, Fuifui Moimoi reportedly following off-field incident". News Corp Australia. 19 January 2018. Retrieved 19 January 2018.
  19. ↑ "Workington Town sign ex-New Zealand international Fuifui Moimoi". Workington News and Star. Retrieved 19 September 2018.
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