Matt Gafa (born 31 August 1978) is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1990s and 2000s. He was a Malta international. He last played for Harlequins RL in the Super League. He had previously played for the Canberra Raiders[1] in the NRL and has also played in Elite One Championship in France.[2] Gafa's usual position was as a centre. He could also operate on the wing. In 2007, he has moved into the forwards in the second-row, and has also operated at loose forward. In the past he had also operated in the stand-off role.
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Personal information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Full name | Matthew Gafa | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | 31 August 1978 Canberra, ACT, Australia | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Weight | 15 st 4 lb (97 kg) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Playing information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Position | Second-row, Centre, Wing | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Source: Rugby League Project and Yesterday's Hero As of 25 January 2019 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Playing career edit
Gafa made his first grade debut for Canberra in Round 1 1997 against Cronulla-Sutherland. In 2003, Gafa was a member of the reserve grade premiership winning team scoring an individual 348 points.
After a six-year absence from first grade, Gafa returned to the team in 2004 and became a regular starter before departing for England at the end of 2005. Gafa joined Harlequins in 2006 who were previously known as the London Broncos.
At one point in his career at Harlequins, he was the leading try-scorer in 2008's Super League XIII running in 4-tries in the opening two rounds of the engage Super League.[3]
Gafa left Harlequins at the end of 2009 to return to Australia. Gafa then became captain of the Belconnen United Scholars in the Canberra Raiders Cup.[4][5]
Post playing edit
Gafa currently works for the Australian Bureau of Statistics in Belconnen.
References edit
- ^ BBC SPORT | Rugby League | Super League | Harlequins | Quins swoop for Australian Gafa. BBC News (6 January 2006). Retrieved on 2017-08-24.
- ^ "McDermott in Paul Plea". Sportinglife. 9 February 2008. Retrieved 20 February 2008.
- ^ "Gafa Grabs Top Spot". Quins RL. 19 February 2008. Retrieved 19 February 2008.
- ^ "Forever Green: Where are they now? - Matt Gafa". Canberra Raiders.
- ^ "Gafa's finally made the cut with Raiders". www.smh.com.au.