Semi Radradra

Semi Radradra

Radradra playing for the Wentworthville Magpies in 2013.
Personal information
Full name	Semi Radradra Turagasoli Waqavatu[1]
Nickname	Semi Trailer[2]
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
Club
Years	Team	Pld	T	G	FG	P
2013–	Parramatta Eels	68	60	1	0	242
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
2016	Prime Minister's XIII	1	1	0	0	4
As of 26 August 2016
Source: [3]

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 Fijian and Australian international representative winger.

Background

Born in Suva, Fiji, but hailing from the village of Somosomo,^[4] 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.^[5]

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.^[6] In Round 20 against the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs, Radradra scored his first NRL try in the Eels 40-12 loss at ANZ Stadium.^[7] 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,^[8] playing in 3 matches and scoring 1 try, in the 34-12 loss to England.^[9]

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.^[10] 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.^[11][12] In May, Radradra played for Fiji in the 2014 Pacific Rugby League International against Samoa at centre in the 32-16 loss.^[13] On 4 June, Radradra re-signed with the Eels on a 4-year contract worth $1 million to the end of the 2018 season.^[14] He was named 2014 Dally M Winger of the year.^[15] 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.^[16] 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.^[17] 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.^[18] The previous record was held by Ray Preston.^[19] 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.^[20] This was a club record, surpassing Steve Ella's previous record of 23 tries.^[21] Radradra was named the Dally M Winger of the Year, for the second year in a row,^[22] 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.^[23] 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.^[24][25][26] 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".^[27] 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.^[28] His decision to switch over to play for Australia drew plenty of criticism in the lead-up to the 2016 Anzac Test.^[29] On 6 May, he made his debut for Australia against New Zealand in the Anzac Test.^[30] He played on the wing and was sin-binned early into the match for a professional foul.^[31]

References

External links

• Parramatta Eels profile