Semi Radradra

Semi Radradra
Radradra playing for the Wentworthville Magpies in 2013.
Personal information
Full name Semi Radradra Turagasoli Waqavatu
Nickname Semi Trailer[1]
Born (1992-06-13) 13 June 1992
Suva, Fiji
Height 190 cm (6 ft 3 in)
Weight 100 kg (15 st 10 lb)
Playing information
Position Wing, Centre
Club
Years Team Pld T G FG P
2013– Parramatta Eels 58 53 0 0 212
Representative
Years Team Pld T G FG P
2013–14 Fiji 4 1 0 0 4
2016 World All Stars 1 1 0 0 4
2016 Australia 1 0 0 0 0
As of 13 March 2016
Source: [2]

Semi Radradra Turagasoli Waqavatu (born 13 June 1992) is a Fijian professional rugby league footballer who currently plays for the Parramatta Eels in the National Rugby League. He is a Fiji international representative and plays at wing. In April 2016, he was selected to play for Australia.

Background

Born in Suva, Fiji, Radradra played his junior football for the Vatukoula Rugby Union club, while he worked in the mines in Vatukoula. Radradra played in the 2011 IRB Junior World Championship and for the Fiji national sevens side before being signed by the Parramatta Eels. Radradra played for the Eels NYC team in 2012 before moving on to their New South Wales Cup team the Wentworthville Magpies.[3]

Playing career

2013

In Round 18, Radradra made his NRL debut for the Eels against the Penrith Panthers on the wing in the Eels 17-10 loss at Parramatta Stadium.[4] In Round 20 against the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs, Radradra scored his first NRL try in the Eels 40-12 loss at ANZ Stadium.[5] Radradra finished his debut year in the NRL with him playing in 7 matches and scoring 5 tries. Radradra was selected in the Fiji squad for the World Cup,[6] playing in 3 matches and scoring 1 try, in the 34-12 loss to England.[7]

2014

In February, Radradra was selected in the Eels inaugural Auckland Nines squad and was the tournament's highest try scorer alongside the North Queensland Cowboys Kyle Feldt with 5 tries.[8] In Round 1 against the New Zealand Warriors, Radradra scored a hat-trick in the Eels' 36-16 win at Parramatta Stadium, earning the nickname Semi-Trailer.[9][10] In May, Radradra played for Fiji in the 2014 Pacific Rugby League International against Samoa at centre in the 32-16 loss.[11] On 4 June, Radradra re-signed with the Eels on a 4-year contract worth $1 million to the end of the 2018 season.[12] He was named 2014 Dally M Winger of the year.[13] Radradra played in all of the Eels 24 matches and scored 19 tries. He was awarded the Fiji Bati International Player of the Year Award.

2015

At the start of the year, Radradra again played for the Eels in the Nines.[14] In Round 1 against the Manly Warringah Sea Eagles, he scored a hat-trick of tries in the Eels' 42-12 win at Parramatta Stadium.[15] Radradra was the first player to score consecutive hat-tricks in the first round of two separate NRL seasons. In Round 17 against the West Tigers, he broke a 61-year-old record by becoming the first player to score 2 or more tries in 5 consecutive games when he scored his double in the Eels' 28-16 win at ANZ Stadium.[16] The previous record was held by Ray Preston.[17] In the final round of the season against the Canberra Raiders, Radradra scored 2 tries in the Eels' golden-point 28-24 loss to finish with 24 tries in 18 games, making him the top try-scorer of the season.[18] This was a club record, surpassing Steve Ella's previous record of 23 tries.[19] Radradra was named the Dally M Winger of the Year, for the second year in a row,[20] and was named on the wing in the 2015 RLIF Team of the Year, the first Fijian player to do so.

2016

On 1 February, Radradra again played in Auckland Nines.[21] On 13 February, he played for the World All Stars against the Indigenous All Stars in the 2016 All Stars match, playing on the wing and scoring a try in his team's 12-8 win at Suncorp Stadium.[22][23][24] Early into the 2016 season, he declared that he wanted to play international football for Australia after he found out he was qualified for Australia on residency grounds, so he changed allegiances from Fiji, commenting "I want to be known as the best Fijian rugby player around the world and I want to be playing the top teams," Radradra said. "I want to play alongside all the big names. That's how I made my decision and Australia is the right team for me to showcase my talent".[25] However, while being eligible for Australia, he was ruled ineligible for New South Wales because he didn't play junior football in the state before the age of 13.[26] His decision to switch over to play for Australia drew plenty of criticism in the lead-up to the 2016 ANZAC Test.[27] On 6 May, he made his debut for Australia against New Zealand in the ANZAC Test.[28] He played on the wing and was sin-binned early into the match for a professional foul.[29]

References

  1. ↑ "Eric Grothe Predicts Semi Radradra Will Bounce Back Quick From Injury". Dailytelegraph.com.au. Retrieved 2015-10-25.
  2. ↑ "Semi Radradra - Career Stats & Summary". Rugby League Project. Retrieved 2015-10-25.
  3. ↑
  4. ↑ Daniel Lane. "NRL: Penrith beat Parramatta 17-10". Smh.com.au. Retrieved 2015-10-25.
  5. ↑ Michael Carayannis. "Plenty of points but patience missing for Bulldogs, says Hasler". Smh.com.au. Retrieved 2015-10-25.
  6. ↑ https://web.archive.org/20150518114432/http://fijilive.com/sports/news/2013/09/civoniceva-wes-naiqama-to-lead-fiji-bati/32752. Archived from the original on 18 May 2015. Retrieved 4 February 2016. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  7. ↑ Bott, Richard (2013-11-09). "England 34 Fiji 12 - Rugby League World Cup 2013: report | Daily Mail Online". Dailymail.co.uk. Retrieved 2015-10-25.
  8. ↑ "Squads For Auckland Nines". Rugby League Week. 2014-02-14. Retrieved 2015-10-25.
  9. ↑ "Semi Radradra Vai Toutai Inspire Electric Eels to Win Over Warriors". Dailytelegraph.com.au. Retrieved 2015-10-25.
  10. ↑ Daniel Lane (2014-05-29). "Semi Radradra too valuable for Eels to lose, says Ken Sio". Smh.com.au. Retrieved 2015-10-25.
  11. ↑ "Gutsy Samoa Secures Place in Four Nations Tournament". Dailytelegraph.com.au. Retrieved 2015-10-25.
  12. ↑ "Semi Radradra Agrees to Four Year Deal with Parramatta Eels". Dailytelegraph.com.au. Retrieved 2015-10-25.
  13. ↑ Michael Carayannis. "Dally M 2014: Johnathan Thurston, Jarryd Hayne named first joint winners". Smh.com.au. Retrieved 2015-10-25.
  14. ↑ "EELS NAME 2015 NINES SQUAD". Rugby League Week. 2015-01-26. Retrieved 2015-10-25.
  15. ↑ "Anthony Watmough in the Thick of it as Parramatta Thrash Manly 42-12". Dailytelegraph.com.au. Retrieved 2015-10-25.
  16. ↑ "Semi Radradra Looms as Eric Grothe Reincarnate After Try Scoring Feats". Foxsports.com.au. Retrieved 2015-12-25.
  17. ↑ "Parramatta Eels winger Semi Radradra bags another double in rout of Wests Tigers". Stuff.co.nz. 2015-07-07. Retrieved 2015-12-25.
  18. ↑ "Semi Radradra Breaks Dteve Ella's Eels Points Coring Record". The Australian. Retrieved 2015-12-25.
  19. ↑ "Raiders steal golden point victory". NRL.com. 2015-09-06. Retrieved 2015-12-25.
  20. ↑ "Dally M 2015 : Every Award Winner Including Team of the Year". Dailytelegraph.com.au. Retrieved 2015-12-25.
  21. ↑ "Eels name 2016 Nines squad". Rugby League Week. Retrieved 2016-02-01.
  22. ↑ "Teams named for NRL All Stars match". NRL.com. 2015-12-15. Retrieved 2016-02-13.
  23. ↑ "World All Stars defeat Indigenous All Stars 12-8 at Suncorp Stadium". Dailytelegraph.com.au. 2016-02-13. Retrieved 2016-02-16.
  24. ↑ "World All Stars beat Indigenous All Stars 12-8 at Lang Park as ARL Commission chairman John Grant confirms clash's future - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)". Abc.net.au. Retrieved 2016-02-13.
  25. ↑ Brad Walter (2016-05-02). "Why Semi Radradra believes playing for Australia will make him a hero in Fiji". Smh.com.au. Retrieved 2016-05-07.
  26. ↑ "Parramatta Eels' Semi Radradra dismisses reports he wants to leave NRL over State of Origin eligibility - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)". Abc.net.au. 2016-03-25. Retrieved 2016-05-07.
  27. ↑ Daniel Lane. "Australia coach Mal Meninga says Fijian flier Semi Radradra is a true blue Kangaroo". Smh.com.au. Retrieved 2016-05-07.
  28. ↑ "UPDATED: Representative Round team lists". NRL.com. 2016-02-28. Retrieved 2016-05-07.
  29. ↑ "Home | Live Scores & Latest News". Fox Sports. Retrieved 2016-05-07.

External links

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