{"id":207571,"date":"2025-10-12T10:03:08","date_gmt":"2025-10-12T10:03:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/207571\/"},"modified":"2025-10-12T10:03:08","modified_gmt":"2025-10-12T10:03:08","slug":"wests-tigers-sign-samoan-international-bunty-afoa-for-2026-nrl-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/207571\/","title":{"rendered":"Wests Tigers Sign Samoan International Bunty Afoa for 2026 NRL Season"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Wests Tigers have confirmed the signing of experienced forward <a data-ail=\"422725\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/rugbyleaguezone.com\/?s=Bunty+Afoa\" title=\"Bunty Afoa\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Bunty Afoa<\/a> from the New Zealand Warriors ahead of the 2026 NRL season.<\/p>\n<p>Afoa, 29, joins the Tigers after a decade-long stint with the New Zealand Warriors, where he made 145 NRL appearances between 2016 and 2025. Known for his strong carries and tireless work rate, Afoa brings valuable experience and leadership to a young Tigers squad looking to rise up the ladder next year.<\/p>\n<p>Limited Opportunities in 2025<\/p>\n<p>After several consistent seasons in Auckland, Afoa\u2019s opportunities became limited during the 2025 campaign. He featured in seven games for the Warriors, with his final appearance coming on May 25, when the Warriors went down 16\u201310 to the Canberra Raiders at GIO Stadium.<\/p>\n<p>Despite the reduced game time, Afoa remained a respected figure in the Warriors camp and continued to contribute off the field as a mentor to younger forwards.<\/p>\n<p>Fresh Start in Sydney<\/p>\n<p>The move to the Tigers represents a fresh start for Afoa, who will be looking to reignite his career under the new coaching setup in Sydney\u2019s west. His combination of size, experience, and energy is expected to complement the club\u2019s developing forward rotation.<\/p>\n<p>Career Snapshot<\/p>\n<p>Full name: Bunty Afoa<\/p>\n<p>Age: 29<\/p>\n<p>NRL Debut: 2016 (New Zealand Warriors)<\/p>\n<p>NRL Appearances: 145<\/p>\n<p>International: Samoa<\/p>\n<p>Previous Club: New Zealand Warriors (2016\u20132025)<\/p>\n<p>New Club: Wests Tigers (from 2026)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Wests Tigers have confirmed the signing of experienced forward Bunty Afoa from the New Zealand Warriors ahead&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":14689,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,128320,761,762,2613,158,92552,159,5993,85,4515],"class_list":["post-207571","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nrl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-bunty-afoa","tag-national-rugby-league","tag-nationalrugbyleague","tag-new-zealand-warriors","tag-nrl","tag-player-signings","tag-rugby-league","tag-samoa","tag-sports","tag-wests-tigers"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/207571","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=207571"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/207571\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14689"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=207571"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=207571"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=207571"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}