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Powerhouse centre Mele Hufanga has joined fellow Brisbane Broncos premiership winner Gayle Broughton by signing to join the One New Zealand Warriors for the 2026 NRLW season.<\/p>\n
Three days after confirming the 29-year-old Broughton\u2019s two-year deal, the Warriors have banked a second huge signing coup by securing Hufanga (30) for two years with a mutual option for a third season in 2028.<\/p>\n
The announcement follows Hufanga\u2019s stunning performance in the Broncos\u2019 22-18 which saw her win the Karyn Murphy Medal as the player of the match.<\/p>\n
The former Tonga rugby union international has been a sensation since switching to rugby league finishing her Brisbane career with 25 tries in 33 appearances in three seasons.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe identified Mele a key recruit for the One New Zealand Warriors,\u201d said head coach Ron Griffiths.<\/p>\n
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Warriors signings outstanding in Broncos’ grand final win<\/p>\n
\u201cShe\u2019s a powerful world-class centre\u00a0who will bring a wealth of experience to our club.<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter an impressive meeting with Mele we knew that the fit was perfect for us.<\/p>\n
\u201cHowever, it was a visit to the volunteer community programme (BeastMode Fitness) that Mele and her family run in Auckland that solidified our belief. We truly understand the magnitude of character we had enticed to our club.\u201d<\/p>\n
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In Sunday\u2019s grand final, Hufaga scored what proved to be the match-winning try in the 65th minute, finishing the contest with a game-high 210 metres, two line breaks, a line break assist and an astonishing 17 tackle breaks.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s really special heading back home next year to the Warriors,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd even better I get to be with my family.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Raised in M\u0101ngere, Hufanga first made her mark in rugby union with the Auckland Storm in the Farah Palmer Cup provincial competition scoring 40 tries in just 48 appearances while she also played for the Counties Manukau Heat and appeared for Blues in the augural year of the Super Rugby Aupiki championship.<\/p>\n
During her union career, she had a chance to represented Tonga in a rugby league Test against Niue at Go Media Stadium in 2020 scoring three tries and kicking nine goals. It was the catalyst for a switch of codes which in 2022 would see her star at the Rugby League World Cup for the Kiwi Ferns and ultimately be signed by the Broncos.<\/p>\n
Profile | Mele Hufanga<\/p>\n
Born: October 18, 1994
Birthplace: Tofoa, Tonga
Clubs:\u00a0
\u00a0 \u00a0 Rugby union: Marist (Auckland)
\u00a0 \u00a0 Rugby league: Ponsonby Ponies (Auckland)
Position: Centre
Height: 183cm
Weight: 95kg
Rugby league career:
NRLW debut: Brisbane Broncos v Sydney Roosters, Sunshine Coast Stadium,\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Sunshine Coast, July 22, 2023 (Rd 1)
NRLW appearances: 33 appearances for Brisbane Broncos (2023-2025)
NRLW points: 100 (25 tries)\u00a0
Representative:
\u00a0 \u00a0 Kiwi Ferns Tests: 10 (2022-2024)
\u00a0 \u00a0 Kiwi Ferns points: 24 (6 tries)
\u00a0 \u00a0 Tonga Tests: 1 (2020)
\u00a0 \u00a0 Tonga points: 30 (3 tries, 9 goals)
Rugby union career:
Farah Palmer Cup appearances:
\u00a0 \u00a0 Auckland Storm: 48 (2013-2022)
\u00a0 \u00a0 Counties Manukau Heat: 6 (2020)
Farah Palmer Cup points:
\u00a0 \u00a0 Auckland Storm: 200 (40 tries)
\u00a0 \u00a0 Counties Manukau Heat: 5 (1 try)
Super Rugby Aupiki:
\u00a0 \u00a0 Blues appearances: 2 (2022)
\u00a0 \u00a0 Blues points: 5 (1 try)
Representative:\u00a0
\u00a0 \u00a0 Tonga Tests: 3 (2022)
\u00a0 \u00a0 Tonga points: 35 (7 tries)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Powerhouse centre Mele Hufanga has joined fellow Brisbane Broncos premiership winner Gayle Broughton by signing to join the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":198112,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-198111","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nrl","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-national-rugby-league","11":"tag-nationalrugbyleague","12":"tag-nrl","13":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/198111","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=198111"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/198111\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/198112"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=198111"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=198111"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=198111"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}