Vaka Sikahele. The dynamic young New Zealand born hooker has signed with the Titans JTS program and headed over to Australia to be part of the Burleigh Bears 2021 Hastings Deering’s Colts squad after an outstanding career in New Zealand including representative honours as well as an outstanding school boy career with St Pauls College and prior to that Wesley College.
Vaka Sikahele is undertaking the 2021/22 pre-season with the Titans NRL squad as a member of the Titans Rookie Squad looking to impress Justin Holbrook and the other NRL coaches after signing a new two year contract with the Titans in late October 2021 that will keep Vaka Sikahele in Titans colours until the end of the 2023 season. In fact in the 2023 season Vaka Sikahele will be on a Titans NRL Development contract and will train full time with the Titans NRL Top 30 squad.
Unfortunately for Vaka Sikahele he suffered a serious achilles injury whilst training with the Titans NRL squad during their 2021 Pre-Christmas block of off-season training which will keep him out for an extended period of time in the 2022 season.
When he returns from injury Vaka Sikahele will get back onto the field with the 2022 Burleigh Bears Hastings Deering’s Colts squad after playing for the Bears Colts side in 2021 as well.
In early May 2021 a Titans U19 side travelled to North Queensland to play an U19 Cowboys selection in a curtain raiser to a Cowboys v Broncos NRL match with Vaka Sikahele starting the match at hooker in his first match in a Titans jersey.
After being injured in a 2021 pre-season training mishap, Vaka Sikahele was named on the Burleigh Hastings Deering’s Colts extended bench for the Round Two local derby against the Tweed Heads Seagulls but moved onto the bench late in the week and celebrated by scoring in his Hastings Deering’s Colts debut.
Vaka Sikahele scored one of the stranger tries that you will see from a run out of dummy half in the 54th minute. After Burleigh had kicked off after a Tweed Heads try, the ball hit the right goal post on the full bouncing back into the field. Tristian Powell was able to retrieve the ball on the bounce and get to within eleven metres of the line. Vaka Sikahele got into dummy half and ran to his left with the Tweed Heads defence in disarray to dive over between two defender’s mid-way between the goal posts and corner post on the left side of the field.
Vaka Sikahele came onto the field late in the first half, with his first run out of dummy half coming just a few minutes later in the 34th minute when ran to his left, breaking the Seagulls line and making twenty metres, beating four defenders along the way to get the ball to within forty metres of the try line.
In addition to some impressive runs and distribution out of dummy half Vaka Sikahele was also good defensively including in the 44th when he along with Isaac Matalavea-Booth hit and stopped Seagulls front rower Ben Liyou just centre metres out.
Vaka Sikahele also started from the bench in Round Three against the Western Mustangs coming into the match in the dummy half role towards the end of the first half. Vaka Sikahele was in the action almost immediately running out of dummy half to his right down a blindside and took the ball ten metres to the line before passing to his right to Cole Geyer who then quickly got the ball out to his right for Ronin Rio to dive over in the right corner.
After missing Round Four due to playing for the Titans U19 side, Vaka Sikahele started Round Five against the Northern Pride from the bench.
Vaka Sikahele was on the bench once again in Round Six against the Townsville Blackhawks, coming into the match towards the end of the first half in a running forward role before spending time at dummy half in the second half. Vaka Sikahele made the most of both of the roles that he played in the match and in the 51st minute, whilst playing as a running forward made thirteen metres, the majority post contact, to get the ball to the halfway mark.
Vaka Sikahele was back in the starting side at hooker in Round Seven against the Central Queensland Capra’s before starting from the bench in Round Eight against the Redcliffe Dolphins and in Round Nine against the Mackay Cutters.
Vaka Sikahele also started at hooker in the Round Eleven local derby against the Tweed Heads Seagulls and scored a double with his tries coming in the 16th and 55th minutes. In the 16th minute Vaka Sikahele moved into dummy half seven metres from the line and then darted to his right before stepping back to his left to beat the Seagulls marker before crashing through two more defenders who had stationed themselves on the try line.
Vaka Sikahele scored his second try in the 59th minute when once again he darted out of dummy half to his right, on this occasion from 32 metres out. After getting around the markers Vaka Sikahele cut back to his left to the area behind the play the ball and then was easily outpace the Seagulls defence to score under the post.
Vaka Sikahele was also named to start at hooker in the previously postponed Round Ten match against the Wynnum Manly Seagulls.
After a Covid 19 enforced hiatus, Vaka Sikahele was named to start at hooker in Round Sixteen against the Ipswich Jets.
At the conclusion of the 2021 Hastings Deering’s Colts season Vaka Sikahele received the Coaches Award for the 2021 Burleigh Bears Hastings Deering’s Colts side.
At the 2021 Queensland Rugby League Awards Night Vaka Sikahele finished with three votes for the Hastings Deering’s Colts Player of the Season Award.
Vaka Sikahele started off the 2020 season as part of the New Zealand Warriors U18 SG Ball squad, playing four matches all off the bench before the SG Ball season was terminated due to the Covid 19 pandemic.
Vaka Sikahele started from the bench in Round One against the Victorian Thunderbolts, playing thirty two minutes. In that time Vaka Sikahele ran for seventy two metres (twelve post contact), made a line break, broke four tackles and made fourteen tackles at a tackling efficiency of 93.33%.
Vaka Sikahele also started from the bench in Round Two against the Canberra Raiders and was on the field for thirty three minutes, running for thirty metres (thirteen post contact), broke a tackle and made eleven tackles at a tackling efficiency of 84.62%.
After missing a number of rounds, Vaka Sikahele was back on the bench in Round Five against the Parramatta Eels but was on the field for just nine minutes, running for sixteen metres (three post contact) and had a 100% tackling efficiency whilst making four tackles.
In Round Six being the final round prior to the competition shut down, Vaka Sikahele started from the bench against the Illawarra Steelers, playing a total of twenty three minutes. In his twenty three minutes on the field, Vaka Sikahele ran for twelve metres (six post contact), broke a tackle and made sixteen tackles of his own at a 100% tackling efficiency.
In total in the 2020 U18 SG Ball competition for the Warriors, Vaka Sikahele played a total of ninety seven minutes, made a line break, broke six tackles, ran for 130 metres (thirty four post contact) and made forty five tackles at a tackling efficiency of 93.75%.
In late 2020 Vaka Sikahele started at hooker for the Auckland U18 representative side against their Southern Zone counterparts and after that match was named as the 2020 New Zealand Schools U18 captain however Vaka Sikahele ended up starting the match against the New Zealand U18 side from the bench. When he came into the match Vaka Sikahele operated in the dummy half role.
Also late in 2020 Vaka Sikahele played for the New Zealand Warriors U18 side that played a New Zealand Rugby League Development U18 side, with Vaka Sikahele scoring early in the fourth corner under the posts as the Warriors U18 side defeated their New Zealand Rugby League counter parts 42 – 16.
In Auckland Vaka Sikahele played for the powerful Manurewa Rugby League Club.
To round out a busy 2020, Vaka Sikahele played school boy rugby league for the St Paul’s College First XIII in the SAS College school boy competition for the second year in a row. Unfortunately like the majority of competitions that competition was cut short with no finals being played.
St Pauls College however did play a round of rounds of the SAS College First XIII Premier Division school boy rugby league competition with some of their 2020 performances coming in wins against Kelston Boys High 6 – 0, Southern Cross Campus 42 – 4, Papatoetoe High School 26 – 4 and a 30 – 10 win against Manurewa High School.
To cap off an outstanding 2020, Vaka Sikahele was named the 2020 St Pauls College Sportsman of the Year.
In 2019 in the school boy rugby league SAS College competition, Vaka Sikahele was part of the Grand Final winning St Paul’s College side scoring in the Grand Final and was in fact named Player of the Match in St Pauls victory as St Pauls College defeated Southern Cross Campus 28 - 6.
Vaka Sikahele was named at hooker in the 2019 SAS College Premier First XIII Team of the Year.
In 2019 Vaka Sikahele represented the Auckland School Boys representative side against a New Zealand Warriors U18 selection, scoring a bustling thirty metre try bumping off a number of defenders on the way to the line with the Auckland School Boys winning the match 18 – 10.
2019 also saw Vaka Sikahele represented the New Zealand U18 side, starting at hooker and scoring as New Zealand defeated Tao Samoa U18’s 30 – 18.
Late in the 2019 season Vaka Sikahele was named the 2019 New Zealand Warriors Academy Excellence Award winner.
Vaka Sikahele played his club rugby league in 2019 for the Manurewa rugby league club in the U17/18 Open Auckland rugby league competition, playing in eleven matches, scoring sixty eight points from fifteen tries (136% strike rate) and four conversions.
Prior to moving to St Pauls College in 2019, Vaka Sikahele attended Wesley College and represented Wesley College at the 2018 New Zealand Secondary Schools Rugby League Tournament, including scoring a hat trick against Whangarei Boys High.
In 2018 for the Manurewa Chiefs in the Auckland Rugby League U16 Open competition, Vaka Sikahele played in twelve matches scoring four tries. In 2017 in the Auckland Rugby League U15 competition Vaka Sikahele finished the season with ten tries from fourteen matches for the Chiefs.
Also in 2018 Vaka Sikahele was part of the Tonga U16 side that won the U16 Pasifika Youth Cup Final against Samoa 28 – 10.
From an attacking stand point, Vaka Sikahele has solid distribution skills in relation to his passing skills to either side of his body and uses a solid, repeatable passing technique to ensure consistency, thus enabling his forwards and play makers have confidence that his passes will find the mark with the appropriate velocity attached on every occasion.
From a speed perspective I would consider that his speed when running out of dummy half is above average for a hooker but plays faster as he has become adept at running at the right time and focusses heavily when the markers are out of position, thus Vaka Sikahele either makes ground putting his team on the front foot or draws a penalty, in both scenario’s he generates momentum for his side through the skill and intelligence he has.
The impressive thing about when Vaka Sikahele runs out of dummy half is the fact that he does not run to the same side all of the time, he will make a judgement on where the defence is the weakest and respond accordingly as was evidence in Round Nine of the Hastings Deering’s Colts competition this season when he scored tries by running on both sides of the ruck.
From a defensive perspective Vaka Sikahele is a very solid tackler who makes good initial contact and is able to generate momentum through his core and drive into his opponent with enough force to redirect the momentum of the ball carrier. Vaka Sikahele has both a solid low tackling technique as well as having the functional strength to make ball and all tackles effectively against the biggest of forwards looking to target him in the defensive line.
Vaka Sikahele is also very quick out of the marker position and will get to forwards how are running one out before they can generate any momentum. In short he defends like a backrower and certainly if he finds himself on the fringes of the ruck, Vaka Sikahele has the lateral movement and anticipation to also defend against smaller quicker halves looking to exploit a perceived speed advantage.
Vaka Sikahele made his way over to the Gold Coast for the 2021 season where he started training with the Titans U20 Rookie Squad. In 2022 Vaka Sikahele will play for the Burleigh Bears in the 2022 Hastings Deering’s Colts competition once again.
It is also possible in 2022 that Vaka Sikahele will play some matches for the Burleigh Bears Gold Coast Rugby League First Grade side to give Vaka Sikahele experience playing against men, including more than a few former Queensland Cup and NRL players.
Vaka Sikahele is also spending the 2022 season training with the Titans Rookie Squad and will also get a number of opportunities to training with the Titans NRL squad in the upcoming NRL off-season before training full-time with the Titans NRL squad in 2023.
Vaka Sikahele has had an impressive career at hooker in New Zealand from a club, school boy and representative perspective and there is absolutely no reason why a position change is necessary upon his signing with the Titans and his subsequent arrival in Australia. More to the point, the Titans have obviously signed Vaka Sikhele to add to their already impressive JTS dummy half stocks.
At 180cm and 85kg the former fullback is a bigger type of hooker, but as noted certainly has the skill set to stay in the dummy half role.
Vaka Sikhele has indicated that he has modelled his game on Souths Sydney Rabbitohs and New South Wales State of Origin hooker Damien Cook. Whilst Vaka Sikhele does not have the pure speed of Cook and is a touch taller and more solid, like Cook he is judicious in when he runs and Vaka Sikhele is also a consistant and solid ball distributor out of dummy half with a solid repeatable passing technique to both sides of his body.
Manly and Tongan International hooker, Manase Fainu is probably a good player comparison from a size perspective as well as style as well. Like Fainu, Vaka Sikahele is lightning quick out of dummy half with the added knack of being able to pick the right time to run from the dummy half position.