{"id":328495,"date":"2025-12-05T02:39:08","date_gmt":"2025-12-05T02:39:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/328495\/"},"modified":"2025-12-05T02:39:08","modified_gmt":"2025-12-05T02:39:08","slug":"nrl-enforcer-takes-another-hit-up-assumes-rlpa-presidency","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/328495\/","title":{"rendered":"NRL enforcer takes another hit up, assumes RLPA presidency"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Felise Kaufusi has been appointed as the new General President of the Rugby League Players Association (RLPA).<\/p>\n<p>The 33-year-old <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sportingnews.com\/au\/rugby-league\/dolphins\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Dolphins<\/a> hardman replaces Daly Cherry-Evans, who stepped away from the role in November, and will now be a key figure in negotiations for the next NRL collective bargaining agreement.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s a huge honour and responsibility and the role of General President carries a lot of weight,\u201d <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.rlpa.com.au\/news\/felise-kaufusi-appointed-general-president-of-the-rlpa\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Kaufusi said<\/a> of his new off-field role.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy goal is to leave the RLPA in a better place than when I started, like those before me.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere is a CBA negotiation coming up and I want to be a strong voice for the players and stand up for what is right and fair in our terms and conditions. I will always be there on behalf of our players.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>MORE:\u00a0<a data-testid=\"card--article-thumbnail\" role=\"article\" target=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/www.sportingnews.com\/au\/rugby-league\/news\/cowboys-reed-mahoney-criticism-nrl-bulldogs-80-minute-player\/ee74a445dddbacb3f82ea871\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Cowboys recruit takes shot at former club, \u2018I\u2019m an 80-minute player\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n<p>RLPA chief executive Clint Newton, who was General President himself from 2013 to 2017, praised Kaufisi\u2019s appointment.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFelise is someone I admire enormously, not just for the player he is, but for the person he is,\u201d Newton said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe has firmly established himself as a genuine leader on and off the field, and we are incredibly proud to have him step into this role on behalf of all players.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI know he\u2019ll hit the ground running, continue to grow, and lead in a way that players trust and respect.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>A veteran of 223 NRL games, 17 State of Origin appearances and internationals for both Tonga and Australia, Kaufusi made history as the Dolphins\u2019 first-ever signing back in 2022 and will remain at the Redcliffe club until the end of 2027 after inking a\u00a0two-year extension in August.<\/p>\n<p>Kaufusi was already on the\u00a0<a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.rlpa.com.au\/rlpa-board\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">RLPA Board<\/a>\u00a0and will retain that position alongside chair Steven Harker AM.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Felise Kaufusi has been appointed as the new General President of the Rugby League Players Association (RLPA). The&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":328496,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":["post-328495","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nrl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-national-rugby-league","tag-nationalrugbyleague","tag-nrl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/328495","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=328495"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/328495\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/328496"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=328495"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=328495"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=328495"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}