Bunty Afoa

Iulio "Bunty" Afoa (born 20 August 1996) is a Samoa international rugby league footballer who plays as a prop and second-row forward for the New Zealand Warriors in the NRL.

Bunty Afoa
Personal information
Full nameIulio Afoa[1]
Born (1996-08-20) 20 August 1996
Auckland, New Zealand
Height188 cm (6 ft 2 in)
Weight111 kg (17 st 7 lb)
Playing information
PositionProp, Second-row
Club
Years Team Pld T G FG P
2016– New Zealand Warriors 64 4 0 0 16
Representative
Years Team Pld T G FG P
2016– Samoa 6 0 0 0 0
2019– Samoa 9s 3 0 0 0 0
As of 20 October 2019
Source: [2]

Background

Afoa was born in Auckland, New Zealand, and is of Samoan[3] descent and attended St Paul's College.

He played his junior rugby league for the Point Chevalier Pirates, before being signed by the New Zealand Warriors.

Playing career

Early career

From 2014 to 2016, Afoa played for the New Zealand Warriors' NYC team.[4][5] In May 2015, he was selected as 18th man for the Junior Kiwis side to play the Junior Kangaroos.[6] Afoa played in his 50th Holden Cup match in 2015 and was named the Junior Warriors player of the year at the end of the season.[7]

2016

On 23 June, Afoa re-signed with the Warriors on a three-year contract until the end of 2019.[8] In Round 17 of the 2016 NRL season, he made his NRL debut for the Warriors against the Gold Coast Titans.[9][10] On 8 October, he made his international debut for Samoa in their historical test match against Fiji in Apia.

2017

In the 2017 NRL season, Afoa made 17 appearances as the club finished a disappointing 13th on the table.[11]

2018

Afoa made 23 appearances for New Zealand in the 2018 NRL season as the club qualified for the finals for the first time since 2011. Afoa played in the club's elimination final loss to Penrith.[12]

2019

Afoa played 20 games for New Zealand in the 2019 NRL season as the club missed out on the finals.

2020

On 18 February, Afoa was ruled out for the entire 2020 NRL season after suffering an ACL injury at pre-season training.[13]

References
  1. NRL. "Bunty Afoa - Warriors". Warriors.kiwi. Archived from the original on 2016-07-06. Retrieved 2016-07-12.
  2. "Bunty Afoa - Career Stats & Summary". Rugby League Project. Retrieved 2016-07-16.
  3. "NRL: Family first for Bunty Afoa - Sport - NZ Herald News". Nzherald.co.nz. 2016-07-15. Retrieved 2016-11-30.
  4. "A". Nyc Database. Retrieved 2016-07-02.
  5. Tim Costello (2016-03-29). "LeagueUnlimited NYC Teams - 2016 Round 5". League Unlimited. Retrieved 2016-07-02.
  6. Zero Tackle (2015-04-26). "Junior Kiwis squad named". Zero Tackle. Retrieved 2016-07-02.
  7. Ben Matulino wins Warriors' player of year award for second time stuff.co.nz, 15 September 2015
  8. NRL. "Kata secured - Warriors". Warriors.kiwi. Retrieved 2016-07-02.
  9. "Updated team lists: Warriors v Titans". NRL.com. 2016-02-28. Retrieved 2016-07-02.
  10. NRL. "NRL LATE MAIL | #Mannering250 - Warriors". Warriors.kiwi. Retrieved 2016-07-02.
  11. "Official Player Numbers". Parramatta Eels.
  12. "Warriors: 2017 by the numbers". www.nrl.com.
  13. "Big blow for New Zealand Warriors, as Bunty Afoa is ruled out for NRL season". www.nzherald.co.nz.
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