Laken Paitai (born 19 November 2000) is a New Zealand rugby league footballer who plays as a centre for the New Zealand Warriors in the NRL Women's Premiership and the Burleigh Bears in the QRL Women's Premiership.

Laken Paitai
Personal information
Born (2000-11-19) 19 November 2000 (age 24)
Ōtāhuhu, Auckland, New Zealand
Height178 cm (5 ft 10 in)
Weight81 kg (12 st 11 lb)
Playing information
PositionCentre, Second-row
Club
Years Team Pld T G FG P
2020– New Zealand Warriors 1 0 0 0 0
Representative
Years Team Pld T G FG P
2019 Prime Minister's XIII 1 0 0 0 0
Source: RLP
As of 19 February 2021

Background

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Born in Otahuhu, New Zealand, Paitai grew up in Gladstone, Queensland, where she played her junior rugby league for Valleys Gladstone.[1]

Playing career

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In 2018 and 2019, while playing for the Burleigh Bears, Paitai represented South East Queensland at the Women's National Championships.[2][3] On 111 October 2019, she represented the Prime Minister's XIII in their 22–14 win over Fiji.[4]

In September 2020, Paitai joined the New Zealand Warriors NRL Women's Premiership squad.[5] In Round 3 of the 2020 NRLW season, she made her debut for the Warriors in a 22–10 win over the St George Illawarra Dragons.[6]

References

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  1. ^ "Burleigh Bears young gun Laken Paitai hoping to cap rookie senior season with a premiership". Gold Coast Bulletin. 9 August 2018.
  2. ^ "Women's Nationals the perfect Origin appetiser". NRL. 29 May 2018.
  3. ^ "Line-ups named for Women's National Championships". NRL. 22 May 2019.
  4. ^ "Laken living her rugby league dream". NRL. 9 October 2019.
  5. ^ "Donald announces Warriors NRLW squad". NRL. 18 September 2020.
  6. ^ "Changes to Warriors' spine for NRLW finale". NZ Warriors. 13 October 2020.
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