{"id":161919,"date":"2025-09-22T21:55:09","date_gmt":"2025-09-22T21:55:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/161919\/"},"modified":"2025-09-22T21:55:09","modified_gmt":"2025-09-22T21:55:09","slug":"israel-leota-makes-bold-move-signs-with-moana-pasifika","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/161919\/","title":{"rendered":"Israel Leota makes bold move, signs with Moana Pasifika"},"content":{"rendered":"

Brisbane Broncos winger Israel Leota is set to leave the NRL powerhouse to pursue his dream in rugby union after signing a multi-year deal with Moana Pasifika, starting in the 2026 Super Rugby Pacific season.<\/p>\n

Standing\u00a0at 190cm and weighing 101kg, the Porirua-born speedster is part of the Broncos’ top 30 squad, which is preparing for the NRL preliminary finals against the Panthers in Brisbane this weekend. <\/p>\n

Leota also represented the Queensland Under-19 State of Origin side in 2023 and 2024. <\/p>\n

The 20-year-old wants to return to his rugby union roots to explore new opportunities. Captivated by the spirit of Moana Pasifika, he signed a contract for the 2026 and 2027 seasons.<\/p>\n

“I’ve been watching from afar, and I can see the environment that the team has created. It looks infectious. It looks like it’s a great place to be around,” Leota says.<\/p>\n

“It is also a really good opportunity for me to come over and have a crack at the game that I grew up in and have loved for a long time.”<\/p>\n

Having moved to Australia at a young age, Leota attended Ipswich Grammar School, switching between rugby league and union before fully committing to league at the age of 16.<\/p>\n

This year, Leota has been playing for the\u00a0Karmichael\u00a0Hunt-coached Souths Logan Magpies in the Queensland Cup. Leota finished the regular season ranked second in the competition for tries scored and linebreaks made.<\/p>\n

“The honours that Israel has reached already show what a talented young player he is,” Moana Pasifika head coach Fa’alogo Tana Umaga says. <\/p>\n

“We have been tracking him for a while and are really excited that he has decided to come back to his roots in terms of footy and culture.”<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Israel Leota joins Moana Pasifika for the 2026 and 2027 Super Rugby seasons. Photo\/Supplied\/Moana Pasifika<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Brisbane Broncos winger Israel Leota is set to leave the NRL powerhouse to pursue his dream in rugby…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":161920,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,760,85],"class_list":["post-161919","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-rugby","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/161919","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=161919"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/161919\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/161920"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=161919"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=161919"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=161919"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}