Willie Tonga is an Australian professional
rugby leagueRugby league football, usually called rugby league, is a full contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular grass field. One of the two codes of rugby football, it originated in England in 1895 by a split from Rugby Football Union over paying players...
footballer for the
North Queensland Cowboys The North Queensland Cowboys are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Townsville, Queensland. They compete in Australasia's elite rugby league competition, the National Rugby League premiership...
of the
NRLThe National Rugby League is the top league of professional rugby league football clubs in Australasia. The NRL's main competition, called the Telstra Premiership , is contested by sixteen teams, fifteen of which are based in Australia with one based in New Zealand...
. An Australian international and Queensland
State of OriginState of Origin is an annual best of three series of rugby league football matches contested by the Maroons and the Blues, who represent the Australian states of Queensland and New South Wales respectively...
representative centre, he previously played for the
Parramatta EelsThe Parramatta Eels are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the Sydney suburb of Parramatta. The Parramatta District Rugby League Football Club was formed in 1947, with their First Grade side playing their first season in the New South Wales Rugby Football League...
(who he has now re-signed with), then the Bulldogs, with whom he won the 2004 NRL Premiership.
Early life
Born in the former Woden Valley Hospital on the 8 August 1983, his full name is Viliami Sione Tonga, known as Willie. He was the first child of Tongan immigrant John (Sione) Tonga and
WiradjuriThe Wiradjuri are an Indigenous Australian group of central New South Wales.In the 21st century, major Wiradjuri groups live in Condobolin, Peak Hill, Narrandera and Griffith...
woman, Maria Naden.
Esi TongaEsikeli Tonga is an Australian professional rugby league footballer for the Gold Coast Titans in the National Rugby League...
, also a Rugby League player, is his younger brother.
Showing a talent at a young age while living in
Peak Hill, New South WalesPeak Hill is a town in Parkes Shire in the Central West of New South Wales, Australia. At the 2006 census, Peak Hill had a population of 946 people.It is on the Newell Highway and the Dubbo to Parkes railway line, completed to Peak Hill in 1910...
, Tonga soon adopted Rugby League and played for the
CootamundraCootamundra is a town and Local Government Area in the South West Slopes region of New South Wales, Australia and within the Riverina. At the 2006 census, Cootamundra had a population of 5,566. It is located on the Olympic Highway at the point where it crosses the Muttama Creek, between Junee and...
side while his parents attended the Bimbadeen Bible College. After leaving Cootamundra, Tonga's parents and their five children moved to
La PerouseLapérouse is a suburb in south-eastern Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. The suburb of Lapérouse is located about 14 kilometres south-east of the Sydney central business district, in the City of Randwick....
in Sydney, and Tonga played Rugby Union for the
MatravilleMatraville is an older established area of the lower Eastern Suburbs of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Matraville is located approximately 9 kilometres by road south-east of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the City of...
Sports High School First XV. It is claimed he did not enjoy this as much as rugby league. His parents continued to move around working for the Aboriginal Inland Missionaries and the family finally settled in
Cherbourg, QueenslandCherbourg is a town in the South Burnett region of Queensland, Australia. It is located off the Bunya Highway approximately north-west of Brisbane and from the town of Murgon. It is situated very close to the dam wall of Bjelke-Petersen Dam. Attractions in Cherbourg include the 'Bert Button...
, an Aboriginal community in Queensland.
Sydney NRL
Scouted by
Arthur BeetsonArthur Henry "Artie" Beetson, OAM , was an Australian rugby league footballer and coach. He represented Australia and Queensland from 1964 to 1981. His position was at prop. Beetson became the first Indigenous Australian to captain his country in any sport. and is frequently cited as the best...
, Tonga moved into the
ParramattaParramatta is a suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is located in Greater Western Sydney west of the Sydney central business district on the banks of the Parramatta River. Parramatta is the administrative seat of the Local Government Area of the City of Parramatta...
area. Making small but sure career moves, his best known achievements were yet to be acknowledged when he moved on to the Bulldogs on 2004. His career catapulted in that one year, earning
State of OriginState of Origin is an annual best of three series of rugby league football matches contested by the Maroons and the Blues, who represent the Australian states of Queensland and New South Wales respectively...
selection, allowing him to become the 145th player to be chosen for the Queensland side since 1980.
Winning the NRL Grand Final with the Bulldogs in 2004, and the
Dally MThe Dally M Medal is the premier individual award in the Australian rugby league competition, which is given to the player voted by sports commentators as the best and fairest in the competition for that year....
Centre of the Year award, Tonga was also picked for the Australian side for the
Tri-NationsThe Rugby League Tri-Nations was a rugby league tournament involving the top three nations in the sport: Australia, Great Britain and New Zealand...
series, making his first full year in the NRL his most successful to date.
North Queensland
On 1 April 2008, it was announced that Tonga had signed a four year deal with the
North Queensland CowboysThe North Queensland Cowboys are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Townsville, Queensland. They compete in Australasia's elite rugby league competition, the National Rugby League premiership...
, commencing in 2009.
In April 2009, he was named in the preliminary 25 man squad to represent Queensland in the opening
State of OriginState of Origin is an annual best of three series of rugby league football matches contested by the Maroons and the Blues, who represent the Australian states of Queensland and New South Wales respectively...
match for 2009. In June, Willie Tonga played in Game II of the 2009 State of Origin Series to replace Justin Hodges. Tonga was retained for the third match which the Maroons lost.
In 2010 Tonga played all three Origin matches for the Maroons. At the end of the season he also represented Australia again for the first time in five years in the 2010 Four Nations tournament.
External links