Tavarna Papalii (born 7 July 2005) is an Australian professional rugby league footballer who currently plays for the Sydney Roosters in the NRL Women's Premiership.
Personal information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Full name | Tavarna Papalii | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | 7 July 2005 Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 172 cm (5 ft 8 in) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Weight | 70 kg (11 st 0 lb) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Playing information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Position | Five-eighth, Lock | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Source: [1] As of 21 October 2025 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Background
editPapalii was born in Wollongong, New South Wales and is of Samoan and Irish descent.[2] She was raised on the Gold Coast, Queensland, where she attended Keebra Park State High School and played junior rugby league for the Nerang Roosters.[3][4]
Playing career
editEarly years
editIn 2022, Papalii played for the Burleigh Bears in the QRL Under 19s competition.[5] Later that year she represented and captained the inaugural Australian Schoolgirls team on their tour of Fiji.[6]
In 2023, she joined the Sydney Roosters, playing for their under-19 Tarsha Gale Cup side and winning Player of the Match in their Grand Final win over the Canterbury Bulldogs.[7][8]
In July 2023, she was named in the Queensland Under-19 and Australian Schoolgirls sides but tore her ACL at the National Championships, ruling her out for the season.[9][10][11]
2024
editIn Round 4 of the 2024 NRL Women's season, Papalii made her NRLW debut in the Roosters' 28–8 win over the St George Illawarra Dragons.[12] On 6 October, she came off the bench in the Roosters' 32–28 Grand Final win over the Cronulla Sharks.[13]
On 19 October, she made her Test debut for Samoa, playing three games as they earned qualification to the 2026 Women's Rugby League World Cup.[14]
2025
editOn 14 April, she was named to make her debut for Queensland in Game I of the 2025 Women's State of Origin series.[15]
References
edit- ↑ "Tavarna Papalii – Career Stats & Summary – Rugby League Project". www.rugbyleagueproject.org.
- ↑ "Young talent time: Inside the rise of Samoa's rookie class". NRL.com. 20 October 2024.
- ↑ "Papalii primed to fire after training with Slater". QRL. 29 September 2021.
- ↑ "The trail blazing schoolgirls who have made history". Courier Mail. 26 July 2022.
- ↑ "2022 QRLW Harvey Norman U19s Round 2". LeagueUnlimited. 8 March 2022.
- ↑ "Official 2023 Junior Rep Squads and Season Preview". Sydney Roosters. 30 January 2023.
- ↑ "NSWRL U19 Tarsha Gale Cup - 2023 Grand Final". LeagueUnlimited. 25 April 2023.
- ↑ "Back-to-Back! Roosters Crush Bulldogs to Claim Consecutive Tarsha Gale Titles". Sydney Roosters. 29 April 2023.
- ↑ "U18 Australian Schoolgirls team announced". Zero Tackle. 8 July 2023.
- ↑ "Queensland Under 19 women's team named". QRL. 3 July 2023.
- ↑ "Injury Sidelines Rising NRLW Stars". Sydney Roosters. 12 July 2023.
- ↑ "Late Mail : NRLW Round 4". Sydney Roosters. 18 August 2024.
- ↑ "2024 NRLW Premiers". Sydney Roosters. 6 October 2024.
- ↑ "'Unbelievable' try stuns as Samoa end Tonga's World Cup bid in Pac Champs thriller". Fox Sports Australia. 19 October 2024.
- ↑ "Harvey Norman Queensland Maroons Game I squad". QRL. 14 April 2025.