Entering his fourth season with Wests Tigers, Ava Seumanufagai again provided invaluable depth and strength throughout the year — further proving his worth as a vital cog in the Wests Tigers engine room by featuring in every single game.
Incredibly, since the start of the 2014 season, the Wellington-born Seumanufagai has missed just two of a possible 72 games, with one of those weeks seeing the forward play in the then NSW Cup competition — meaning he has missed just one game in three years.
2016 was the first time that Seumanufagai played every game in the season, however — one of two just Wests Tigers players to achieve that feat (alongside Josh Aloiai).
Coming off the interchange bench in 17 of his 24 appearances, Seumanufagai provided great depth and cover during the State of Origin period that made Aaron Woods unavailable, with the prop forward’s minutes and workrate subsequently increasing.
Just 25 years old, the fan-favourite Seumanufagai still has a huge future in rugby league and will enter 2017 as one of the most underrated bench forwards in the game.
Don't miss Wests Tigers' first ever Charity Ball on October 29 to help support beyondblue!
2016 Year in Numbers
Games |
Tries |
Metres |
Linebreaks |
Tackles |
Tackle Breaks |
24 |
1 |
2514 |
1 |
539 |
19 |
Top Try — Round 17 vs. Penrith Panthers
Seumanufagai’s sole try of 2017 came in the Club’s come-from-behind win against the Penrith Panthers at ANZ Stadium in Round 17. Originally a decoy runner off Elijah Taylor, the prop forward showed great awareness and intelligence to backup Chris Lawrence after a linebreak, before edging out the cover defence to crash over the line.
Down 14-6 at the time of the try, Wests Tigers would go on to win the game 30-22.
Best Game — Round 7 vs. Melbourne Storm
On a night that ended in Golden Point heartbreak for Wests Tigers, Seumanufagai led the way from the front with captain Aaron Woods unavailable due to injury. Against a high-quality Storm outfit, Seumanufagai powered his way to a season-high 166 metres off 15 hit-ups, and added 24 tackles without missing one. It wouldn’t quite be enough in the end, however, as Cooper Cronk slotted a 30m field goal in Golden Point to steal the win.
Milestones and Achievements
Played every game in season 2016.
Plus, this funny video...
Have you seen our hilarious video of the boys trying to spell @Ava_seu’s name?
— Wests Tigers (@WestsTigers) June 18, 2016
Definitely worth a watch!https://t.co/tT8qNLHi8X
