Former Panthers player Masada Iosefa killed in accident on eve of 33rd birthday
Former Penrith Panthers hooker Masada Iosefa has passed away following a quad bike accident in Darwin last night.
Iosefa was due to turn 33 today.
The former Samoan international played 43 games for Penrith across four seasons from 2008 until 2011, including a match in the 2010 Finals.
He switched to the Wests Tigers for the 2012 and 2013 NRL seasons, playing a further 14 matches, but his first grade career ended after that.
Last night’s accident happened in Herbert, about 40km from the Darwin CBD, at about 9.15pm last night.
The quad bike Iosefa was riding rolled, with crash investigators working to determine the exact cause of the crash.
In recent times Iosefa had been employed as a youth worker.
Former Penrith teammate Frank Pritchard has lead tributes online, saying Iosefa was “tough as nails” in an emotional Instagram post.
“Always went hard without any preservation for his body,” Pritchard said.
“Never took a step back to any situation. Always had my back from the get-go.”
Luke Lewis offered condolences to his family, saying: “Saddened to hear the news this morning. May he rest in peace.”
The rugby league community is mourning the death of Roosters legend Barry ‘Bunny’ Reilly.
Reilly lost his long battle with kidney failure on Wednesday night at age 75.
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Regarded as one of the most feared players in rugby league history, Reilly had reportedly been receiving daily treatment before his death.
“The Sydney Roosters are deeply saddened to hear of the passing of Club Legend Barry Reilly,” the club said in a statement.
“The Sydney Roosters extend their heartfelt sympathies to the family and friends of Barry Reilly at this sad time.”
Nicknamed ‘The Axe’, Reilly played 195 first grade games for Eastern Suburbs, helping the Roosters win the 1974 and 1975 premierships.
He famously hobbled onto the field in the final stages of the 1975 decider after tearing his calf the week before.
He played for the Roosters between 1967 and 1971, spent a year at Cronulla in 1972, before returning to Easts.
Reilly also acted as caretaker coach of the club in 1990.
In 2000 he was named in the Roosters’ Team of the Century in 2000.
“I played with and against ‘Bunny’ and I can tell you, I much preferred the former,” Ron Coote told Wide World of Sports.
“He was only little, but he had this way of driving you under the ribs and rattling your whole body.
“He got me a beauty once when I played for Souths – I think I can still feel it now.
“Pound for pound, there probably wasn’t a tougher player.”
Rugby league world mourns death of ‘Bunny’ Reilly
Coaching legend Jack Gibson once said of Reilly: “He’d play great if you needed him.
“If it was 10-all Bunny would win the ball for you. He liked some pressure.”
Former Roosters secretary Bob Seabrook once said: “He was as tough as they come and especially so for his size.”
The Sydney Roosters also proclaiming on their website: “Pound for pound one of the toughest players to ever don the famous Red, White and Blue, Barry ‘Bunny’ Reilly was a will-of-the-wisp with ball in hand and an axe in defence for the successful Roosters sides of the 1970s.”
Trbojevic snubbed as NRL players name top three fullbacks of 2024
The nominees for the Rugby League Players Association fullback of the year have been revealed.
Tom Trbojevic, Kalyn Ponga and Reece Walsh have all been overlooked by their fellow peers, with James Tedesco, Dylan Edwards and Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow voted the top three fullbacks of the 2024 season by their fellow NRL players. The Rugby League Players Association revealed on Wednesday night the short-lists for a number of positions for the RLPA team of the year.
The RLPA awards are different to the Dally Ms in that they’re voted by the players. The RLPA will name its player of the year and ‘dream team’ next Monday, and some of the nominees are beginning to be revealed.
As revealed on Wednesday night, Tedesco, Edwards and Tabuai-Fidow are the three fullbacks in the running to make the ‘dream team’ at No.1. And while Tedesco and Edwards and understandable, the selection of Tabuai-Fidow is a bit of a head-scratcher.
Trbojevic, Ponga, Walsh and Scott Drinkwater could all make a case they had better years than Tabuai-Fidow, who was switched to the centres by Wayne Bennett for the last two games of the Dolphins’ season. If you look purely at stats, Trbojevic appears the fullback who copped the biggest snub.
The Manly No.1 scored 17 tries in just 18 games in 2024 – the most of any fullback in the NRL. Tabuai-Fidow and Tedesco both had 15, while Walsh had 14 and Edwards and Drinkwater both had 10. Drinkwater had the most try assists with 26, while Tedesco had 22 and Trbojevic had 17.
In terms of line-breaks, Tedesco finished with 22, while Ponga had 17 and Trbojevic 15. Walsh had 13 in just 14 games played in 2024 due to injuries and State of Origin duty. Run metres is where Edwards makes his money, finishing with a whopping 4105m in 2024, while Tedesco was top of the pile with 4614. Drinkwater was also in the top three in that regard with 4028.
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