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Personal information | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Full name | Fonua Pole | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | 2 June 2002 Wellington, New Zealand | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 182 cm (6 ft 0 in) | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Weight | 102 kg (16 st 1 lb) | |||||||||||||||||||||
Playing information | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Position | Lock, Prop | |||||||||||||||||||||
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Source: [1] As of 6 September 2024 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Fonua Pole (born 2 June 2002) is a New Zealand professional rugby league footballer who plays as a lock or prop forward for the Wests Tigers in the National Rugby League (NRL).
Pole was born in Wellington, New Zealand, and raised in Victoria. He was educated at Mount Ridley College, Craigieburn playing Australian rules football in his youth before his mum encouraged him to play his junior rugby league for Craigieburn Phoenix and Sunbury Tigers. He said, "It started to become a bit of an issue because mum didn’t like that in AFL most of the games and trainings were on Sundays, when she always wanted us to go to church." [2]
Graduating through the Victorian Thunderbolts system, he was spotted by Wests Tigers playing for a Combined Affiliated States side at the Australian Schoolboys Championships. [2] [3]
Pole made his first grade debut for the Wests Tigers against the New Zealand Warriors in round 16, becoming Wests Tigers player no. 257. [4] [5] It was the Warriors' first home game in nearly 2 years due to the COVID-19 pandemic, in front of a sold-out crowd. Pole said, "“It was 100 percent Warriors crowd just screaming at us, I think I got slandered on the sideline a bit and someone was yelling at me that they felt sorry for me and didn’t want me to go on." [2]
The next week, he was named in the starting team after a late withdrawal from James Tamou, and ran for a game-best 167 metres and made 17 tackles without a miss. [6] He then remained in first grade for the remainder of the season, and was named the club's Rookie of the Year. [7]
Pole played a total of 23 games for the Wests Tigers in the 2023 NRL season as the club finished with the Wooden Spoon for a second straight year. [8]
Pole made 23 appearances for the Wests Tigers throughout the 2024 NRL season as the club finished with the wooden spoon for a third consecutive year. [9]
The Australian rugby league wooden spooners are the team that finished last in the premier top-grade rugby league competition in Australia, which is currently the National Rugby League, and was previously the New South Wales Rugby Football League (1908-1994), the Australian Rugby League (1995-1997), and Super League (1997). Each of these seasons is considered to represent one continuous line of competition dating back from the first season in 1908. The wooden spoon is an unofficial award, however, fans often bring "real" wooden spoons to taunt opposition sides who are struggling on the bottom of the ladder.
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