George Tuakura (born October 11, 1975 in Auckland, New Zealand) is a Cook Islands rugby league player who currently plays for the Central Comets in the Queensland Cup. His position of choice is at prop-forward.

[edit] Early Years

Born in South Auckland, George first played rugby league for the Mangere East Hawks in the Auckland Rugby League competition.

In 2000 he joined the Otahuhu Leopards for the inaugural Bartercard Cup.^[1]

[edit] Overseas Journey

In 2004 George moved to Australia and played for the Central Comets in the Queensland Cup.^[2]

George has also spent time playing in France.^[3]

[edit] Warriors

Tuakura signed a two year contract with the New Zealand Warriors in 2005. Returning home, he played for the Otahuhu Ellerslie Leopards in the Bartercard Cup, hoping to impress the Warriors coaching staff.

In 2006 he was in the 25 man squad for the Warriors. Despite starting several trial games and being named 18th man several times, George did not play a game in the National Rugby League competition.^[4][3][5] Instead he spent the year playing for the new Tamaki Titans in the Bartercard Cup.

[edit] Queensland

George was released by the Warriors after the 2006 season and he returned to the Central Comets.^[2] In 2007 he fell out of favour with coach Steve Anderson but made a comeback and returned to the side in 2008.^[6][7] George maintained his spot in the Comets lineup for the 2009 season.^[8]

[edit] International

In 2000 he represented the Cook Islands at the 2000 Rugby League World Cup, playing in all three games.

In 2002 George toured France and the United States with New Zealand 'A'.^[9] He again played for New Zealand 'A' in 2003 when they toured Great Britain.^[10]

In 2006 he played for the New Zealand Residents in the Trans Tasman Quadrangular Series^[11] and also played for the Residents against the New Zealand Kiwis in a warm up match for the 2006 Rugby League Tri Nations.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Official George Tuakura NRL profile
• George Tuakura TVNZ bio