Jesse Sene Lefao
Personal information
Full nameJesse Sene-Lefao
Born (1989-12-08) 8 December 1989 (age 34)
Wellington, New Zealand
Height6 ft 2 in (1.89 m)
Weight17 st 0 lb (108 kg)
Playing information
PositionSecond-row, Prop
Club
Years Team Pld T G FG P
2013–15 Manly Sea Eagles 38 3 0 0 12
2016 Cronulla Sharks 6 0 0 0 0
2017–21 Castleford Tigers 109 16 0 0 64
2022 Featherstone Rovers 16 7 0 0 28
2023– Sheffield Eagles 3 1 0 0 0
Total 172 27 0 0 104
Representative
Years Team Pld T G FG P
2014 Samoa 2 0 0 0 0
Source: [1][2]
As of 5 January 2023

Jesse Sene-Lefao (born 8 December 1989) is a Samoa international rugby league footballer who plays as a prop or second-row forward for the Sheffield Eagles in the RFL Championship.

Sene-Lefao has previously played for the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles and the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks in the NRL, plus Castleford Tigers (Heritage № 974) in the Super League.

Background

Sene-Lefao was born in Wellington, New Zealand.

Early years

Sene-Lefao is the nephew of West Tigers centre Tim Simona, and cousin of North Queensland Cowboys centre Matthew Wright. Sene-Lefao is of Samoan descent.

Sene-Lefao played his junior football for the Penrith Brothers before being signed by the Penrith Panthers. Sene-Lefao played for the Panthers' NYC team in 2008 and 2009, scoring 15 tries in 38 games.[3]

Playing career

2013

In 2013, Sene-Lefao joined the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles. He made his NRL debut in the opening round of the season against the Brisbane Broncos at Suncorp Stadium, playing off the interchange bench in Manly-Warringah's 22–14 win.[4][5] Sene-Lefao played his 2nd and last match for the year in round 8.[6]

Sene-Lefao playing for the Manly Sea Eagles in 2013

Sene-Lefao spent most of the year playing for the team's New South Wales Cup team.

2014

Sene-Lefao was selected in Manly's inaugural 2014 NRL Auckland Nines squad.[7] He made his international debut in May for Samoa in the test against Fiji at Penrith Stadium. Sene-Lefao played off the interchange bench in Samoa's 32–16 win.[8] Soon after, Sene-Lefao re-signed with the Manly-Warringah club on a two-year contract.[9][10]

In round 13 against the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs at Brookvale Oval, Sene-Lefao scored his first NRL career try in Manly's 32–10 win.[11] It was the sole try he scored from 25 matches in 2014. At the end of the season, Sene-Lefao was a late selection for Samoa in the Four Nations after Suaia Matagi was selected in the New Zealand national rugby league team squad.[12]

2015

Sene-Lefao was again part of the Manly Auckland Nines squad in 2015.[13] He scored two tries from his 11 matches in 2015. On 9 October, Sene-Lefao signed a two/year contract with the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks, starting from 2016 after he was released from the final year of his contract with Manly.[14]

2016

Sene-Lefao played 6 games for the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks in 2016. He was a vital squad member for Cronulla-Sutherland in 2016, filling in for captain Paul Gallen during the semis, and the injured Sam Tagataese towards the end of the season. Although he did not play in Cronulla's 2016 drought breaking premiership win.

On 21 October 2016, Sene-Lefao signed a two-year contract with Castleford Tigers.[15]

2017

Sene-Lefao played in the 2017 Super League Grand Final defeat by the Leeds Rhinos at Old Trafford.[16][17][18]

2018

In the 2018 Super League season, he made 17 appearances for Castleford as the club finished third on the table but failed to reach the grand final.[19]

2019

Sene-Lefao played 24 games for Castleford as they finished the Super League XXIV season in 5th place on the table. Castleford reached the second week of the 2019 Super League finals series where they were defeated by Salford 22-0 in the elimination semi-final.[20]

2020

Sene-Lefao made nine appearances for Castleford in the 2020 Super League season. The club finished a disappointing ninth on the table, their lowest finish since 2013.[21]

2021

On 17 July 2021, Sene-Lefao played for Castleford in their 2021 Challenge Cup Final loss against St. Helens.[22]

2022

On 20 December 2021, it was reported that he had signed for Featherstone Rovers in the RFL Championship[23] On 28 May, he played for Featherstone in their 2022 RFL 1895 Cup final loss against Leigh.[24] On 31 October, he signed a two-year deal to join fellow RFL Championship side Sheffield ahead of the 2023 season.[25]

References

  1. ^ loverugbyleague
  2. ^ "Jesse Sene-Lefao - Career Stats & Summary". Rugby League Project. Retrieved 11 October 2015.
  3. ^ "Harness and Greyhound". Archived from the original on 15 July 2009. Retrieved 4 February 2016.
  4. ^ "Final Team List: Rd1 Sea Eagles v Broncos". Archived from the original on 5 May 2013. Retrieved 4 February 2016.
  5. ^ "Broncos v Sea Eagles preview". NRL.com. 6 March 2013. Retrieved 11 October 2015.
  6. ^ James Polson (6 May 2013). "Live: St George Illawarra Dragons v Manly Sea Eagles". Smh.com.au. Retrieved 11 October 2015.
  7. ^ "Squads For Auckland Nines". Rugby League Week. 14 February 2014. Archived from the original on 15 January 2016. Retrieved 11 October 2015.
  8. ^ "Gutsy Samoa Secures Place in Four Nations Tournament". Dailytelegraph.com.au. 3 May 2014. Retrieved 11 October 2015.
  9. ^ "re-sign Sene-Lefao". Sea Eagles. 26 June 2014. Retrieved 11 October 2015.
  10. ^ "Manly Re-Sign Sene-Lefao". Rugby League Week. 27 June 2014. Retrieved 11 October 2015.
  11. ^ "Manly Loses Daly Cherry-Evans as Sea Eagles Soar Against Canterbury Bulldogs". Dailytelegraph.com.au. 6 June 2014. Retrieved 11 October 2015.
  12. ^ "Sene-Lefao leaves bucks night for Test team". NRL.com. 17 October 2014. Retrieved 11 October 2015.
  13. ^ "SEA EAGLES UNVEIL 2015 NINES SQUAD | Rugby League Week". Archived from the original on 16 July 2015. Retrieved 27 September 2015.
  14. ^ "Jesse Sene-Lefao joins Cronulla". NRL.com. 9 October 2015. Retrieved 11 October 2015.
  15. ^ "Jesse Sene-Lefao signs for Castleford on two-year contract". Sky Sports. 20 October 2016. Retrieved 17 January 2023.
  16. ^ "Castleford 6-24 Leeds: Grand Final 2017 – as it happened". Guardian. 7 October 2017. Retrieved 6 November 2019.
  17. ^ "Grand Final 2017: Castleford 6-24 Leeds Rhinos". BBC Sport. 7 October 2017. Retrieved 6 November 2019.
  18. ^ "Danny McGuire guides Leeds to Grand Final success over Castleford". Guardian. 7 October 2017. Retrieved 6 November 2019.
  19. ^ "Tables – Rugby League". BBC Sport.
  20. ^ "Salford Red Devils 22-0 Castleford Tigers recap". Sky Sports.
  21. ^ "Season Review Castleford". www.superleague.co.uk.
  22. ^ "Challenge Cup: St Helens beat Castleford 26-12 for first Wembley victory since 2008". www.bbc.co.uk.
  23. ^ "Jesse Sene-Lefao given starting number by Featherstone". Love Rugby League. 20 December 2021. Retrieved 21 December 2021.
  24. ^ "Featherstone Rovers: 1895 Cup final defeat to Leigh Centurions gives Brian McDermott's side signal of their progress". www.yorkshirepost.co.uk.
  25. ^ "Jesse Sene-Lefao finds new club in the Championship". www.loverugbyleague.com.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Jesse Sene-Lefao.
Sheffield Eagles – current squad
Samoa squad – 2014 Rugby League Four Nations
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