Tepai Moeroa

Tepai Moeroa (born 2 October 1995) is a former Cook Islands international rugby league footballer who last played as a second-row and lock for the Parramatta Eels in the NRL.

Moeroa has played for the Prime Minister's XIII and the World All Stars.

Playing career

After playing with the Penrith Panthers, Moeroa joined the Parramatta Eels. Moeroa played for the Eels' Harold Matthews Cup team in 2010 and the S. G. Ball Cup team in 2011. In 2011, Moeroa played for the New South Wales under 16s team and was selected for the under 18s team in 2013 but had to withdraw because of rugby union commitments. In 2012, Moeroa played for the Australian Schoolboys rugby union team in 2013, along with the Australian rugby sevens team. Moeroa received 9 caps over two years playing for Australian Schoolboys, the third highest number of caps equal with Quade Cooper and Kurtley Beale. Moeroa played for the Parramatta Eels NYC team in 2013 and 2014. Moeroa has been compared with Sonny Bill Williams, who is also a cross-code athlete.

2014

In Round 18 of the 2014 NRL season, Moeroa made his NRL debut for the Parramatta Eels against the New Zealand Warriors playing off the interchange bench in the Eels 48–0 loss at Mt Smart Stadium. In his next match in Round 19 against the South Sydney Rabbitohs, Moeroa scored his first NRL career try in the Eels' 12-32 loss at Parramatta Stadium. On 24 July 2014, Moeroa re-signed with the Eels on a 3-year contract to the end of the 2017 season after Super Rugby clubs Waikato Chiefs and New South Wales Waratahs were trying to sign him to return to rugby union. Moeroa finished off his debut year in the NRL with him playing in 9 matches and scoring 3 tries for the Eels in the 2014 NRL season. On 2 September 2014, Moeroa was named at second-row in the NYC team of the year.

2015

On 31 January and 1 February, Moeroa played for the Eels in the 2015 NRL Auckland Nines. He finished off the 2015 season having played in 19 matches and scoring 1 try for the Eels.

2016

On 1 February, Moeroa was named in the Eels' 2016 NRL Auckland Nines squad. Moeroa finished the 2016 NRL season with him playing in 22 matches for the Eels.

2017

In February 2017, Moeroa was named in the Eels 2017 NRL Auckland Nines squad. Moeroa was part of the Parramatta side which finished fourth in the regular season but were eliminated in the finals series losing to Melbourne and North Queensland.

2018

Moeroa started the 2018 season at Lock and played the first six games of the season until suffering a serious concussion in Round 6 and was ruled out for 2 weeks. On 2 June 2018, Moeroa was placed on report after using an illegal shoulder charge against Newcastle player Chris Heighington in Parramatta's 30-4 defeat. On 4 June 2018, Moeroa was suspended for 3 matches after taking an early guilty plea. In total, Moeroa made 19 appearances for Parramatta as the club endured a horror season finishing in last place on the table and claiming its 14th wooden spoon.

2019

Moeroa started the 2019 NRL season in the front row but switched back to lock as Parramatta won their first 2 games against Penrith and Canterbury. In Round 6, Moeroa played from the bench as Parramatta defeated Wests Tigers 51-6 in the first NRL match to be played at the new Western Sydney Stadium.

In Round 10, Moeroa was taken from the field as the player suffered yet another concussion and was taken from the field in a 17-10 loss against North Queensland.

Following Parramatta's 44-22 loss against Cronulla in Round 13, Moeroa was demoted to reserve grade by coach Brad Arthur after the club had only recorded one win in five matches. Moeroa was recalled to the Parramatta side for their Round 15 match against Canberra which Parramatta won 22-16 after being down 16-0 earlier on in the game at TIO Stadium in Darwin.

On 15 July, Moeroa announced that he had signed a two year deal to join Super Rugby club the NSW Waratahs starting in 2020.

In the elimination final against Brisbane, Moeroa scored his first try of the season as Parramatta won the match 58-0 at the new Western Sydney Stadium. The victory was the biggest finals win in history, eclipsing Newtown's 55-7 win over St George in 1944. The match was also Parramatta's biggest win over Brisbane and Brisbane's worst ever loss since entering the competition in 1988.

Moeroa played his final game for Parramatta the following week as the club were defeated by Melbourne 32-0 in the elimination semi final at AAMI Park.

Wikipedia