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Personal information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Full name | Mason Lino | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | 4 February 1994 Apia, Samoa | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 5 ft 9 in (1.75 m)[1] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Weight | 13 st 3 lb (84 kg) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Playing information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Position | Scrum-half, Stand-off | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Source: [2] As of 17 February 2023 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Mason Lino (born 4 February 1994) is a Samoan professional rugby league footballer who plays as a scrum-half and stand-off for Wakefield Trinity in the Betfred Super League and Samoa at the international level.
He previously played for the New Zealand Warriors and the Newcastle Knights in the NRL.
Lino was a Marist Saints junior and attended Avondale College.[3]
Lino trialled for the New Zealand Warriors' NYC squad in 2012, earning a place in the squad. He finished the season as the team's top points-scorer with 144 points in 23 games. He attended an NRL rookie camp on the 24 and 25 November 2012.[5]
Lino scored 147 points for the Junior Warriors in 2013, taking his total to 281 from 41 appearances.[3] The side lost the 2013 Holden Cup Grand Final 30-42. He also played for the Junior Kiwis in their 26-38 defeat by the Junior Kangaroos on 13 October 2013.
He was named in the Samoan train-on squad for the 2013 Rugby League World Cup.[6] He did not make the squad after the cut to 25 players.[7]
In 2014, he co-captained the Junior Warriors Holden Cup team in their 34-32 grand final victory over the Brisbane Broncos, kicking five conversions out of six and finishing the match on the pitch despite suffering a partial shoulder dislocation.[8] He finished his Holden Cup career with 503 points from 62 appearances, becoming the third most-capped Junior Warrior behind Ben Henry and John Palavi.[9]
Lino had signed with AS Carcassonne for the 2015 season, but the contract was cancelled after his shoulder dislocation in the 2014 Holden Cup grand final. Instead, Lino re-signed with the Warriors, for 2015, to play in their New South Wales Cup squad.[8]
He made his NRL debut on 22 August 2015 against the North Queensland Cowboys, replacing an injured Chad Townsend.[9][10]
On 8 October, Lino made his international debut for Samoa in their test match against Fiji in Apia.[11]
Lino played for the Warriors in the 2017 NRL Auckland Nines.[12]
In June, Lino signed a further two-year contract, committing both parties until the end of the 2019 season.[13]
On 28 August 2017, Lino was named in The 2017 Intrust Super Premiership NSW team of the year.[14]
Lino played in 8 NRL games for the Warriors in the 2018 season.[15] In September, he signed a 2-year contract with the Newcastle Knights starting in 2019.[16]
In Lino's first season for the Knights, he debuted in round 4 against the St. George Illawarra Dragons. He played 12 games for the Knights, scored two tries and kicked 33 goals.[17]
In 2020, Lino only managed to play in five games for Newcastle before being released at the end of the season.[18][19]
In November, he signed a three-year contract with Super League side Wakefield Trinity starting in 2021.[20][21]
Lino played 24 games for Wakefield Trinity in the 2021 Super League season as the club finished 10th on the table.[22]
Lino played 24 games for Wakefield Trinity in the 2022 Super League season which saw the club narrowly avoid relegation as they finished 10th.[23]
Lino played 22 games for Wakefield Trinity in the Super League XXVIII season as the club finished bottom of the table and were relegated to the RFL Championship which ended their 24-year stay in the top flight.[24]