Daniel Saifiti (born 1 May 1996) is a Fiji international rugby league footballer who plays as a prop for the Newcastle Knights in the NRL.
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Full name | Daniel Saifiti | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Born | Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia | 1 May 1996|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Height | 195 cm (6 ft 5 in) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Weight | 121 kg (19 st 1 lb) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Playing information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Position | Prop | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Source: [1] As of 24 August 2024 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Relatives | Jacob Saifiti (brother) |
He has played for New South Wales in the State of Origin series.
Background
editSaifiti was born in Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia. He is of Fijian and Samoan descent[2] and moved to the Central Coast at a young age.[2]
He played his junior rugby league for the Terrigal Sharks and The Entrance Tigers, before joining the Newcastle Knights in 2015.[3]
Saifiti is the identical twin brother of Knights teammate Jacob Saifiti.[3]
Playing career
edit2015
editIn 2015, Saifiti played for the Newcastle Knights' NYC team.[4] On 2 May, he played for Fiji against Papua New Guinea, alongside his twin brother Jacob in the 2015 Melanesian Cup.[5] During the year, he re-signed with the Newcastle club on a two-year contract.[2][6]
2016
editIn round 1 of the 2016 NRL season, Saifiti made his NRL debut for the Knights against the Gold Coast Titans,[7] playing alongside his brother Jacob, becoming the first twins in Australian rugby league's 108-year history to debut together.[8] He scored a try on debut.[9] On 7 May, he again played for Fiji against Papua New Guinea in the 2016 Melanesian Cup.[10] On 12 May, he and his brother extended their contracts with the Knights from the end of 2017 until the end of 2018.[11] In his 8th game of first-grade, he ran for a game-high 237 metres against the Wests Tigers.[12] Saifiti finished his debut season with Newcastle making 20 appearances as the club finished last on the table.[13]
2017
editSaifiti played 23 games for the Knights in the 2017 season,[14] before having his contract extended until the end of 2020. Newcastle would finish the year on the bottom of the table for a third straight season.[15][16]
2018
editSaifiti played 21 games for Newcastle in the 2018 NRL season as the club finished 11th on the table.[17]
2019
editSaifiti was selected in the starting side for Game 2 of the 2019 State of Origin series.[18]
Saifiti was retained for Game 3 of the 2019 State of Origin series which was won by New South Wales 26-20 at ANZ Stadium. It was the first time since 2005 that New South Wales had won back to back series.[19]
At club level, he played 21 games for Newcastle as the club finished a disappointing 11th on the table after being expected by many to qualify for the finals.[20][21]
2020
editHe was selected for New South Wales in the 2020 State of Origin series. He played in all three games as New South Wales suffered a 2-1 series defeat to Queensland.[22]
2021
editFor round 1 of the 2021 NRL season, Saifiti was announced as a Knights co-captain alongside Jayden Brailey.[23]
He was selected for game one of the 2021 State of Origin series. Saifiti scored his first try for New South Wales in game one as the Blues defeated Queensland 50-6. Saifiti played in the first two games during the series but was ruled out of the third due to injury. New South Wales went on to win the series 2-1.[24][25][26]
2022
editSaifiti caused a shock when he ruled himself of World Cup selection for Fiji, citing covid and injury issues earlier in the year as the reason.[27] Saifiti played 19 games for Newcastle in the 2022 NRL season as the club missed the finals finishing 14th on the table.[28]
2023
editSaifiti played a total of 22 games for Newcastle in the 2023 NRL season as the club finished 5th on the table. Saifiti played in Newcastle's golden point extra-time victory over Canberra in week one of the finals.[29]
References
edit- ^ "Daniel Saifiti - Career Stats & Summary". Rugby League Project. 25 February 2016. Retrieved 14 March 2016.
- ^ a b c Keeble, Brett (29 April 2015). "Saifiti twins win Fiji call-up | Newcastle Herald". Theherald.com.au. Archived from the original on 8 March 2016. Retrieved 6 March 2016.
- ^ a b "Saifiti twins first for the Knights - Knights". Newcastleknights.com.au. 26 March 2015. Retrieved 6 March 2016.
- ^ "S". Nyc Database. 27 December 2012. Retrieved 6 March 2016.
- ^ "TEAM LISTS: Tonga, Fiji Bati, Papua New Guinea Teams For 2015 Representative Round | Triple M NRL". Triplem.com.au. 27 April 2015. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 6 March 2016.
- ^ "Robert Dillon on Twitter: "@jamiesonmurph Two years"". Twitter.com. 18 November 2015. Retrieved 6 March 2016.
- ^ "Updated: Round 1 NRL team lists". NRL.com. Retrieved 6 March 2016.
- ^ "Knights Prop Sam Mataora Rewarded for Off-Season Regime with Starting Spot Against Gold Coast". Dailytelegraph.com.au. Retrieved 6 March 2016.
- ^ "Five things we learned from Titans v Knights". Rugby League Week. Archived from the original on 8 March 2016. Retrieved 6 March 2016.
- ^ "PNG stuns Fiji in a thriller". nrl.com. 7 May 2016. Retrieved 7 May 2016.
- ^ "Saifitis extend contracts with Knights". Zero Tackle. 12 May 2016. Retrieved 12 May 2016.
- ^ Sygall, David (22 May 2016). "Trent Hodkinson in State of Origin frame as Wests Tigers pinch win over Newcastle Knights". The Advocate. Retrieved 22 May 2016.
- ^ "The worst teams in NRL history". Sporting News.
- ^ Ferguson, Shawn Dollin and Andrew. "Custom Match List - Rugby League Project". www.rugbyleagueproject.org. Retrieved 23 October 2017.
- ^ "Saifiti twins re-sign with Newcastle Knights - Zero Tackle". 23 October 2017. Retrieved 23 October 2017.
- ^ "Knights: 2017 by the numbers". NRL. 12 December 2017.
- ^ "Newcastle Knights 2018 season review". NRL. 22 October 2018.
- ^ "Latrell Mitchell dumped as NSW make seven changes for State of Origin Game 2". Guardian. 17 June 2019.
- ^ "Emotional Blues legend Wayne Pearce opens up on his son Mitchell's battle". www.news.com.au.
- ^ "Newcastle Knights: 2019 preview, draw, squad changes, news, every player, odds and ticketing". Sporting News.
- ^ "2019 SEASON REVIEW NEWCASTLE KNIGHTs". Nothing But League. 3 October 2019.
- ^ Howcroft, Jonathan (18 November 2020). "State of Origin 2020 game 3: Qld Maroons beat NSW Blues – as it happened". The Guardian.
- ^ "Saifiti & Brailey earn Rd1 co-captaincy roles". Newcastle Knights. 2 March 2021.
- ^ "NSW Origin team: Luai gets nod for Freddie's fresh-faced Blues". www.nrl.com. 30 May 2021.
- ^ "NSW Blues win State of Origin series opener 50-6 against Queensland Maroons". ABC News. 9 June 2021. Retrieved 9 June 2021.
- ^ "Green's rookie call pays off big time... but questions remain over Origin future". www.foxsports.com.au. 14 July 2021.
- ^ Knights star’s shock World Cup call: ‘I’m not going to play’
- ^ "NRL 2022: Newcastle Knights season review". www.sportingnews.com.
- ^ "NRL 2023: Newcastle Knights season review". www.sportingnews.com.