NRLWahine Spotlight: Tafito Lafaele The Broncos Big Bopper
Former Black Fern Tafito Lafaele hasn't generated the same headlines as Brisbane Broncos comrade Stacey Waaka and yet she is another wahine from rugby union in Aotearoa who is thriving in NRLW. The whole package of NRLWahine with Broncos sums up the growth of women's rugby league for Aotearoa as Lafaele and Waaka are joined by former Black Ferns Sevens players Gayle Broughton and Lavinia Gould, dual-code superstar Mele Hufanga as well as Kiwi Fern and Samoa veteran Annetta Nu'uausala.
Add in Kiwi Ferns Brianna Clark and Jasmine Fogavini who grew up in Australia to cover every angle of the NRLWahine vista. There is also a funky wrinkle of Lafaele and Nu'uausala coming out of Otara, while Hufanga is from Mangere. Aotearoa's regions are covered by Hawera's Broughton, Ruatoki's Waaka and Whakatane's Gould.
This makes Broncos one of the most watchable NRLWahine teams and they have won their last three games to climb up to second on the ladder. This winning streak is aligned with Waaka's entry to NRLW as well as Broughton and Lafaele returning to the team after missing the first two games. Lafaele was 18th lady in round one and then missed round two, before finding a consistent bench role for the three wins.
Lafaele is one of the biggest forwards in NRLW and she has added plenty of oomph to the Broncos forward pack, especially because Nu'uausala was suspended for this period. This is evident in Lafaele averaging 10m/run or more in all three games and she built towards an explosive performance against Tigers last round...
vs Titans: 24mins, 6 runs - 82m @ 13.6m/run, 15 tackles @ 88.2%
vs Raiders: 24mins, 7 runs - 70m @ 10m/run, 2 tackle breaks, 11 tackles @ 100%
vs Tigers: 30mins, 1 try, 11 runs - 129m @ 11.7m/run, 7 tackle breaks, 15 tackles @ 83.3%
Lafaele scored her first NRLW try in the win over Tigers and she is averaging 94m/game this season after 98m/game last year. Almost hitting 100m/game off the bench is impressive and while her running metres have dipped slightly, Lafaele is averaging more post contact metres this season with 36pcm/game increasing to 40.6pcm/game. Add in better tackling efficiency with her 93.4% tackling improving to 97.6%.
All of which is extra impressive because Lafaele has been playing both codes throughout this period. Lafaele has done this for a few years now but most recently she was playing rugby union in Japan and Super Rugby Aupiki, before preparing for NRLW with Wynnum in Queensland's Women's Premiership. Now Lafaele is playing her role in a winning Broncos team and she could finish the year with a Kiwi Ferns or Samoa debut.
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