Wailer Whaiapu. The Gold Coast local young forward from the Southport Tigers and Keebra Park State High School student early in 2020 signed a contract with the Titans for the next couple of season.

Wailer Whaiapu had and outstanding 2019 (and earlier) season including stand out performances for the Southport Tigers, in Gold Coast and South East Queensland U14 junior age representative sides as well as for Keebra Park State High School in their various school boy rugby league competitions across South East Queensland.

Wailer Whaiapu was also involved in the Titans U15 Academy matches at Burleigh in early 2020 and post those round robin matches signed his contract with the Titans which will see him part of the Titans JTS program for the next couple of seasons at the very least.

In 2018 and 2019 Wailer Whaiapu played for the Southport Tigers in the GCJRL U13 and U14 Division One competitions respectively as well as for Keebra Park in their various school boy competitions in South East Queensland.

In 2019 Wailer Whaiapu also represented the Gold Coast Vikings U14 representative side, being named on the bench at the Hill Stumer Championships that were held at Ipswich and post those Championships was named in the South East Queensland Green side for the Queensland U14 Age Championships, starting the majority of those matches against Central, Northern and South East Queensland White (twice) from the bench, coming onto play in the centre of the field.

In 2018, his fist year at the school, Wailer Whaiapu (Year Sevenat the time) was named at lock in the Keebra Park Rugby League Team of the Year. Fellow Titans contracted player Te Haeta Takamore (Year Eight) was named on the wing in that side as well. In previous years the likes to Titans NRL squad member Tannah Boyd has had the honor of being named in the Keebra Park Team of the Season for any given year.

Wailer Whaiapu is not just a talented sportsperson, he is also has showcased his academic aptitude by being involved in various school boy academic pursuits with Keebra Park State High School including in a National History competition in 2019 where Wailer Whaiapu was part of the Keebra Park team that took part.

Wailer Whaiapu moved over from Perth in Western Australia for the start of the 2018 season after being named in the Western Australian U12 school side in 2017 when he was a student at Ashburton Drive Primary School with Western Australia finishing sixth at the U12 National Championships.

In his last season in Western Australia being the 2017 season, Wailer Whaiapu played for the South Perth Lions in the Western Australian U12 competition playing in eleven matches and finishing with thirty two points from eight tries to finish with a 73.73% strike rate on the season.

Wailer Whaiapu is a powerful aggressive ball runner who is adept at using late and quick footwork just prior to contact line which he hits with power and force in absolutely every hit up that he makes dropping his shoulder into the first defender that is looking to make the initial contact.

Wailer Whaiapu’s ability to get low to engage the defenders with his shoulder rather than allowing them to get in and under his ribs and also a substantial leg drive means that he drives defenders backwards even after they had engaged him with significant force rather than allowing them to impact on his momentum. In these circumstanes Wailer Whaiapu has both the physical attrutes and desire and intensity to get to his feet quickly to generate a quick play the ball to keep his side’s forward momentum going.

In terms of ball skills, Wailer Whaiapu is able to regularly get his right hand free to deliver offloads when engaged with the defensive line especially when he was running one pass up the ruck and deliver some very good offloads to his support runners.

Once he is in space, Wailer Whaiapu actually has very good speed, I would consider it above average when analysing his speed from a rugby league forward’s perspective, to add to the difficulties for the defensive line, Wailer Whaiapu runs with a high knee lift and also has a powerful fend that he uses regularly.

Whilst his ball running skills are the first thing that you will likely notice when seeing Wailer Whaiapu his defence is equally effective even though it may not be as noticeable at first glance. Defensively Wailer Whaiapu has a hard edge to his play and his initial contact is more than sufficient to redirect the momentum of the ball carrier when defending in the forwards.

Wailer Whaiapu sets a very good base with his lower body which he uses to look to use his opponents own momentum against them when he hits them and puts them off balance.

Defensively Wailer Whaiapu hits very hard and is adept at making sure the opposition do not get quick play the balls by winning the wrestle on the ground. Wailer Whaiapu also has a touch of aggression in his play and definitely finishes off each tackle that he is involved in. Certainly the opposition knows they have been hit when Wailer Whaiapu hits them.

Wailer Whaiapu was set to play for the Southport Tigers in the GCJRL U15 Division One competition in 2020 as well as for Keebra Park from a school boy perspective and seemed a certain selection in the South Coast U15 QSSRL representative school boy side.

Wailer Whaiapu is a big strong powerful young man who for his size is quite mobile with above average speed for a forward and uses both power and footwork to be very efficient and effective in both attack and defence.

Wailer Whaiapu also seemingly has the frame to add additional muscle mass without compromising his speed and mobility especially in terms of lateral movement.

In relation to the speed and power that Wailer Whaiapu runs into the defensive line coupled with late footwork and the ability to offload the ball both prior to the line and whilst in contact, Wailer Whaiapu has a style reminiscent to 2020 Penrith Panthers recruit (2019 Sydney Rooster) and New Zealand and Cook Islands International forward Zane Tetevano.

Also like Tetevano Wailer Whaiapu gives total effort every minute that he is on the field and throws self-preservantion of the window when he is bringing the ball out of his own territory in an effort to give his side the best field position possible.