Thomas Mikaele
Thomas Mikaele (born 11 January 1998) is a New Zealand rugby league footballer who plays as a prop for the Wests Tigers in the NRL.
Personal information | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Born | 11 January 1998 Auckland , New Zealand | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 190 cm (6 ft 3 in) | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Weight | 109 kg (17 st 2 lb) | |||||||||||||||||||||
Playing information | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Position | Prop | |||||||||||||||||||||
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As of 22 September 2019 Source: [1] | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Background
Mikaele was born in Auckland , New Zealand, and is of Samoan descent.
He grew up in Ipswich, Queensland and played his junior rugby league for the Goodna Eagles.From 2015 to 2016, while attending Keebra Park State High School, he was selected twice for the Australian Schoolboys.[2]
Playing career
In 2014, Mikaele played for the Ipswich Jets in the Cyril Connell Cup, before moving up to their Mal Meninga Cup team in 2015. In 2015, he was selected in the Queensland under-18 team, scoring a try in their 22–18 win over New South Wales.[3] In 2016, he again represented the Queensland under-18 team, starting at prop in a loss to New South Wales.[4]
In 2017, Mikaele joined the Wests Tigers, playing for their NRL Under-20s and Jersey Flegg Cup sides.[5][6]
2019
In Round 1 of the 2019 NRL season, Mikaele made his NRL debut against the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles at Leichhardt Oval.[7][8] He made 23 appearances over the course of the season, only missing one game in first grade, and re-signed with the Tigers until the end of the 2021 season.[9] Starting the season from the bench, he finished playing in the starting team at prop. He was one of the competition's leaders in attracting defenders, with 4 needed for 65% of his attacking runs.[10]
At season's end, Mikeaele was diagnosed with keratoconus. He said, "I couldn't see about 15 metres in front of me so a ball coming to me was hard to catch at times or something happening further up the field. I didn't realise I had eye problems beyond just needing glasses. I started having a lot of handling errors from last year and then over the off-season. I noticed at training I couldn't see as far even with my contacts in."[10]
2020
Mikaele played 18 games for Wests in the 2020 NRL season. The club missed the finals by finishing 11th on the table.[11]
References
- Rugby League Project
- https://www.qt.com.au/news/aussie-schoolboy-links-with-tigers/3083379/
- https://www.qrl.com.au/news/2015/06/02/queensland-under-18-team/
- https://www.qrl.com.au/news/2016/06/08/qld-under-18-team/
- https://www.weststigers.com.au/news/2017/04/16/holden-cup-team-update-round-7/
- https://www.nswrl.com.au/news/2019/03/12/debutant-watch--blayke-brailey-gets-the-nod/
- "Round 1 NRL team lists". NRL.com. 12 March 2019.
- "Brendan Elliot's minute of madness bombs a certain try". Sporting News.
- https://www.weststigers.com.au/news/2019/05/31/thomas-mikaele-re-signs-with-wests-tigers/
- Alicia Newton. "'I couldn't see 15 metres in front of me': Mikaele's rookie hurdle". nrl.com.
- "Wests Tigers doomed to another finals miss in 2021, Peter Sterling predicts". wwos.nine.com.au.