Simaima Taufa

Simaima Taufa-Kautai (born 28 April 1994) is a rugby league footballer who plays as a lock for the Canberra Raiders in the NRL Women's Premiership and Mounties RLFC in the NSWRL Women's Premiership.

Simaima Taufa

Personal information
Full name	Simaima Taufa-Kautai
Born	(1994-04-28) 28 April 1994 (age 31) Tofoa, Tonga
Height	153 cm (5 ft 0 in)
Weight	82 kg (12 st 13 lb)
Playing information
Position	Lock, Prop
Club Years Team Pld T G FG P 2018–20 Sydney Roosters 9 2 0 0 8 2021–22 Parramatta Eels 12 0 0 0 20 2023– Canberra Raiders 0 0 0 0 0 Total 21 2 0 0 28 Representative Years Team Pld T G FG P 2014–22 New South Wales 8 1 0 0 4 2014– Australia 11 0 0 0 0 2015–16 Women's All Stars 2 0 0 0 0
Source: RLP As of 14 November 2022

She is an Australian and New South Wales representative.

Background

Taufa was born in Tonga and raised in Auckland, New Zealand, before moving to Sydney with her family.^[1]

She grew up playing rugby union, playing for the Western Sydney Two Blues in Sydney's Jack Scott Cup competition.^[2]

Playing career

In 2014, Taufa began playing rugby league for the Canley Heights Dragons.^[3] On 19 July 2014, she made her debut for New South Wales in a 10–26 loss to Queensland.^[4] On 9 November 2014, she made her Test debut for Australia in an 8–12 win over New Zealand.^[5][6]

On 27 September 2017, Taufa won the Dally M Female Player of the Year medal at the Dally M awards.^[7] On 2 December 2017, Taufa started at lock in Australia's World Cup final win over New Zealand.^[8]

On 17 June 2018, Taufa was announced as one of fifteen marquee signings by the Sydney Roosters NRL Women's Premiership team.^[9] On 2 September 2018, she was named captain of the side.^[10]

In Round 1 of the 2018 NRL Women's season, she made her debut for the Roosters in a 4–10 loss to the New Zealand Warriors.^[11] On 30 September 2018, she started at lock in the Roosters 12–34 Grand Final loss to the Brisbane Broncos.^[12]

In 2020, Taufa joined the North Sydney Bears in the NSWRL Women's Premiership.^[13] On 25 October 2020, Taufa started at prop in the Roosters 10–20 Grand Final loss to the Broncos.^[14]