Akuila Uate

Akuila Uate

Uate playing for Fiji in 2008
Personal information
Nickname	Choc, Aku, Akuila the Thriller, The Flying Fijian, Killer
Born	(1987-10-06) 6 October 1987 (age 24) Votua, Fiji
Height	187 cm (6 ft 2 in)
Weight	96 kg (15 st 2 lb)
Playing information
Position	Wing, Fullback, Centre
Club
Years	Team	Pld	T	G	FG	P
2008–	Newcastle Knights	78	58	0	0	232
Representative
Years	Team	Pld	T	G	FG	P
2006–09	Fiji	6	9	0	0	36
2010	Prime Minister's XIII	1	1	0	0	4
2011	NRL All Stars	1	1	0	0	4
2011	Country Origin	1	1	0	0	4
2011–12	New South Wales	4	2	0	0	8
2011–12	Australia	5	3	0	0	12
As of 7 July 2011
Source: RLP

Akuila Uate (born 6 October 1987 in Votua, Fiji) (pronounced Akwee-la You-ah-tay) is a professional rugby league footballer for the Newcastle Knights of the National Rugby League. A two time Dally M Winger of the Year, State of Origin, Fijian and Australian representative winger,^[1] he has played his whole NRL career to date with the Knights.

Early career

This article is written like a personal reflection or essay rather than an encyclopedic description of the subject. Please help improve it by rewriting it in an encyclopedic style. (February 2011)

Uate attended Brisbane Waters Senior College and represented Australia and schoolboy level in 2005.^[2] As a junior, Uate came 3rd in the underage Australian sprinting finals.

His incredible speed and strength had seen Uate tipped as a future superstar by Andrew Johns. Johns said about Uate, "In all my years in rugby league I've never seen a better athlete than this bloke". He was also described by the talent scout who spotted him as "the next Lote Tuqiri".^[3]

Newcastle Knights

Following his performances in the World Cup, Uate scored a regular starting place on the wing for the Knights in the 2009 NRL Season due to Cooper Vuna being injured. Uate has maintained his spot with the Newcastle Knights until the end of 2013.

In 2010, Uate has played on the right wing due to regular right winger James McManus being injured. In reward for Uate's extremely good form he has kept James McManus out of the right wing. He is currently on a four-year contract with the Newcastle Knights.

In his short career, Uate has scored 5 doubles, 4 hat-tricks and 1 quadruple at NRL level, 1 double and 1 hat-trick for the Fiji Bati and 1 double for the Australian Kangaroos.

At the 2010 Dally M awards, Uate won the Winger of the Year award as well as taking out the top try-scoring player award.

At the 2011 Dally M awards, Uate won the Winger of the Year for the second time in a row. He finished the season as the highest try-scoring winger with 19 tries and the NRL's leading tackle-breaker.

Uate finished off his stellar 2011 season by winning the RLPA Players' Player of the Year Award.

On the 3rd of November 2011, Uate won the RLIF's International Winger of the Year Award beating the likes of Jason Nightingale and Jharal Yow Yeh.

Representative career

He played in the 2008 Rugby League World Cup for Fiji.^[4] He was considered one of the tournament's 'Players to Watch' by NRL Live pre-tournament, and lived up the billing, scoring 5 tries and leading the competition for line breaks as Fiji made it to the semi-finals of the tournament.^[5]

After the 2010 season ended, Uate was selected in the Prime Minister's XIII team to take on Papua New Guinea in Port Moresby. He celebrated a winning debut by scoring a try.

On the 28th of January 2011, Uate was selected in the 2011 NRL All Stars team after being the most voted in Knights player with the fans. He had an exceptional game in which he scored a try.

On the 6th of May 2011, Uate played for Country Origin in the annual City vs Country Origin clash. He finished the game scoring the winning try for Country.

On the 15th of May 2011, Uate was selected on the wing for the NSW State of Origin team for Game 1 of the 2011 State of Origin series. He also played in the second game which New South Wales won 18 - 8. He was then again selected in game 3 in which he scored a try, despite New South Wales losing to Queensland 34 - 24.

On the 16th of October 2011, Uate made his debut for Australia in a stand-alone Test match against New Zealand held at Ausgrid Stadium. He scored the first 2 tries of the match which helped Australia beat New Zealand 42-6.

On the 23rd of May 2012, Uate played on the wing for the NSW State of Origin team for Game 1 of the 2012 State of Origin series. He scored the opening try of the game.

References

External links

• 2012 Newcastle Knights profile
• Uate may finally get his chance
• Newcastle's Fijian flyer
• Uate in demand Fijian rookie's manager urges Knights to talk fast
• Fijian flyer chooses to stay in Knights castle
• Uate extends deal with Newcastle
• Fiji
• Australian Secondary Schools Rugby League
• Akuila Uate named RLPA player of year