Lazarus Vaalepu (born 19 March 1999) is a professional rugby league footballer who plays as a prop forward for the Melbourne Storm in the NRL.
 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Personal information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Born | 19 March 1999 Penrith, New South Wales, Australia | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 190 cm (6 ft 3 in) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Weight | 119 kg (18 st 10 lb) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Playing information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Position | Prop | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Source: [1] As of 27 October 2024 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Background
editBorn in Penrith, New South Wales, Vaalepu was raised in Canberra and is of Samoan descent. He played his junior rugby league for the Queanbeyan Kangaroos and attended Erindale College before being signed by the Canberra Raiders.[2][3][4]
Playing career
editEarly career
editIn 2015, Vaalepu played for the Canberra Raiders in the Harold Matthews Cup.[5][6] In 2016 and 2017, he played for the Raiders in the SG Ball Cup.[7][8]
In 2019, Vaalepu played 19 games for the Raiders' Jersey Flegg Cup side, coming off the bench in their Grand Final loss to the South Sydney Rabbitohs.[9]
In 2020, he played for the Woden Valley Rams in the Canberra Rugby League before joining the Wynnum Manly Seagulls in 2021.[10][11]
In 2022, he joined the Sunshine Coast Falcons and underwent pre-season training with the Melbourne Storm later that year.[12][13] In 2023, he signed with the Storm on a two-year contract.[14]
2024
editIn round 20 of the 2024 NRL season, Vaalepu made his NRL debut for Melbourne against the Sydney Roosters.[15] On 1 October, he was named on the bench in the 2024 NRL Grand Final, replacing the suspended Nelson Asofa-Solomona.[16] In just his seventh NRL match, Vaalepu entered the field during the Grand Final to become the most inexperienced player to play in a Grand Final since 1994.[17]
Following the Grand Final, Vaalepu was selected by Samoa as part of the Samoan tour of England.[18]
References
edit- ^ Rugby League Project
- ^ "2017 ASSRL 18 Years Championship guide". 18thman.com. 7 July 2017.
- ^ "League Tag 9's". Erindale College. 1 March 2017.
- ^ "U18's Schoolboys Squad". Canberra Raiders. 8 May 2017.
- ^ "2015 Harold Matthews Squad". Canberra Raiders. 9 October 2014.
- ^ "Junior Reps Season Preview". Canberra Raiders. 12 February 2015.
- ^ "2016 SG Ball Squad". Canberra Raiders. 25 September 2015.
- ^ "Harold Matthews and SG Ball Summer Training Squads Announced". Canberra Raiders. 30 September 2016.
- ^ "Jersey Flegg Team List: Raiders v Rabbitohs". Canberra Raiders. 24 September 2024.
- ^ "Blumers Lawyers CRRL Cup Round 8 Wrap". Canberra Raiders. 15 September 2020.
- ^ "Lazarus Vaalepu joins the Gulls". Wynnum Manly Seagulls. 13 November 2020.
- ^ "Forward leader: Why Vaalepu is key to Sunshine Coast's premiership push". QRL. 31 August 2023. Archived from the original on 3 September 2023.
- ^ "Tonumaipea and Lewis sign on for train and trial". Melbourne Storm. 17 November 2022.
- ^ "Storm retain King and add Lazarus Vaalepu from 2024". NRL News. 9 March 2023.
- ^ "Vaalepu becomes #235". Melbourne Storm. 20 July 2024. Archived from the original on 22 July 2024.
- ^ "Team Announcement: Grand Final". Melbourne Storm. 1 October 2024.
- ^ Lenehan, Martin (6 October 2024). "Awesome Foursome: Panthers down Storm to claim place in history". NRL.com. Retrieved 11 October 2024.
- ^ St John, Mark (10 October 2024). "Luai to captain Samoan squad with 11 debutants for England series after star trio ruled out". foxsports.com.au. News Corporation Australia. Retrieved 11 October 2024.