Dene Halatau

Dene Halatau

Halatau in 2014
Personal information
Full name	Dene La Halatau
Born	(1983-01-27) 27 January 1983 (age 34) Invercargill, New Zealand
Height	178 cm (5 ft 10 in)
Weight	95 kg (14 st 13 lb)
Playing information
Position	Second-row, Lock, Hooker, Centre
Club Years Team Pld T G FG P 2003–09 Wests Tigers 128 17 0 0 68 2010–13 Canterbury Bulldogs 69 4 0 0 16 2014–16 Wests Tigers 52 4 0 0 16 Total 249 25 0 0 100 Representative Years Team Pld T G FG P 2004–09 New Zealand 15 0 0 0 0
As of 1 August 2015 Source:

Dene Halatau (born 27 January 1983) is a former New Zealand professional rugby league footballer who previously played for the Wests Tigers and the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs of the National Rugby League. Halatau was part of the Wests Tigers team that won the 2005 NRL Premiership. Halatau is New Zealand national representative who was part of their 2008 Rugby League World Cup winning squad.

Born in Invercargill, New Zealand, Halatau moved to Australia as a 4-year-old and played his junior rugby league for the Merrylands Rams and North Ryde Hawks before being signed by the Wests Tigers. Halatau was educated at Westfields Sports High School. He is of Niuean descent.

In Round 13 of the 2003 NRL season, Halatau made his NRL debut for the Wests Tigers against the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles at Leichhardt Oval off the interchange bench in the Tigers 38–30 loss. In Halatau's third match in Round 18 against the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks at Leichhardt Oval, he scored his first and second tries in the 44–12 win. He finished his debut year in the NRL with him playing in 9 matches and scoring 3 tries.

Halatau finished the year with 22 matches and 4 tries. In November, he was selected for the New Zealand national rugby league team making his test debut at hooker against France in the 24–20 win at Stade d'Albert Domec.