Mickey Paea
Personal information
Full name	Mickey Paea
Nickname	Mixta, Mickey Mouse
Born	25 March 1986 (1986-03-25) (age 23)
	Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Height	184 cm (6 ft 0 in)
Weight	104 kg (16 st 5 lb)
Playing information
Position	Prop, Second-row
Club
Years	Team	Pld	T	G	FG	P
2005–2008	Sydney Roosters	22	1	0	0	4
2009	St. George Illawarra	6	0	0	0	0
2010–	Bulldogs	0	0	0	0	0
	Total	28	1	0	0	4
Representative
Years	Team	Pld	T	G	FG	P
2005–	Tonga	10	0	0	0	0

Mickey Paea (born 25 March 1986 in Sydney, New South Wales) is an Australian rugby league player of Tongan descent who currently plays for the Canterbury Bankstown Bulldogs in the National Rugby League competition. His position of choice is in the second row.

[edit] Playing career

Paea made his first grade debut for the Roosters against the Cronulla Sharks at Toyota Park on 17 June 2005.

[edit] 2007

Although only playing 4 games for the Sydney Roosters in 2007 he was still the best player for Roosters feeder club Newtown Jets winning Newtowns best player and the premier leagues best forward.

[edit] Dragons

On 16 September 2008 it was announced that Paea will join the St. George Illawarra Dragons for 2009.^[1][2] He made his Dragons first grade debut in Townsville on May 9, 2009 against the Cowboys.

Paea was the subject of a controversial racial vilification dispute with Cronulla Sharks Captain, Paul Gallen , late in the local derby played between the Dragons and Sharks on 23 May 2009. Gallen, who took objection to Paea accidentally stepping on his hand in a tackle, got up and called Paea a "black c***".^[3] Paea's angry response was caught by television cameras and microphones, but he did not wish to take the matter further after the match.^[4] "But then something told me to just forget about it and to just move on. Things happen on the field and you don't want to get too personal about it. But I've been getting different kinds of reactions. After the game I had my church friends sending me messages saying, `You handled it really well, it was very Kingdom the way you dealt with it'.

"Then I had other mates saying, `You should have smashed him'.

Nevertheless, the NRL stepped in themselves and issued a $10,000 fine to Gallen,^[5] and the Cronulla Sharks have revealed that they are likely to strip him of the club captaincy.^[6]

Bulldogs add grunt with snaring Paea

The Bulldogs have further strengthened their roster for 2010 with the signing of tough prop Mickey Paea from rivals the St George Illawarra Dragons for 2 seasons. Paea whom has played a handful of games for the Dragons in 2009 was pleased to be joining the Bulldogs on a 2 year deal and looks forward to pushing for a starting spot although he faces stiff competition with Bulldogs props Ben Hannant, Michael Hodgson, Chris Armit and Jarrad Hickey all performing well for the top 2 team.

The signing of Mickey Paea comes on top of the signing of Cronulla halfback Blake Green who inked a 2 year deal with the belmore club last Friday as well as the star signing of NSW and Premiership winner Steve Turner from the Melbourne Storm and Panthers young winger Junior Tia-Kilifi.

He is the Brother of Sydney Roosters Player Lopini Paea & Lelea Paea

[edit] Tonga

In 2005 he made his international debut for Tonga against Samoa and since then has played superbly in all 9 internationals for the Tongan side.^[7]

In August 2008, Mickey Paea was named in the Tonga training squad for the 2008 Rugby League World Cup,^[8] and in October 2008 he was named in the final 24-man Tonga squad.^[9]

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• St. George Illawarra Dragons Profile