Bunty Afoa

Iulio "Bunty" Afoa (born 20 August 1996) is a Samoan international rugby league footballer who plays for the Wests Tigers in the National Rugby League (NRL).

Bunty was previously the longest-serving player at the New Zealand Warriors, with an unbroken sequence that stretched across 10 seasons.

Background Afoa was born in Auckland, New Zealand, and is of Samoan descent and attended St Paul's College.

He played his junior rugby league for the Point Chevalier Pirates, before being signed by the New Zealand Warriors.

Playing career Early career From 2014 to 2016, Afoa played for the New Zealand Warriors' NYC team. In May 2015, he was selected as 18th man for the Junior Kiwis side to play the Junior Kangaroos. Afoa played in his 50th Holden Cup match in 2015 and was named the Junior Warriors player of the year at the end of the season.

2016 On 23 June, Afoa re-signed with the Warriors on a three-year contract until the end of 2019. In Round 17 of the 2016 NRL season, he made his NRL debut for the Warriors against the Gold Coast Titans. On 8 October, he made his international debut for Samoa in their historical test match against Fiji in Apia.

2017 In the 2017 NRL season, Afoa made 17 appearances as the club finished a disappointing 13th on the table.

2018 Afoa made 23 appearances for New Zealand in the 2018 NRL season as the club qualified for the finals for the first time since 2011. Afoa played in the club's elimination final loss to Penrith.

2019 Afoa played 20 games for New Zealand in the 2019 NRL season as the club missed out on the finals.

2020 On 18 February, Afoa was ruled out for the entire 2020 NRL season after suffering an ACL injury at pre-season training.

2021 On 10 June, the New Zealand Warriors announced that Afoa had signed a new two-year contract.

2022 In round 13 of the 2022 NRL season, Afoa was sent to the sin bin for a professional foul and later scored a try in New Zealand's 44-12 loss against Manly. Afoa made a total of 24 appearances for the New Zealand club as they finished 15th on the table.

2023 Afoa played 21 games for the New Zealand Warriors in the 2023 NRL season as the club finished 4th on the table and qualified for the finals.

2024 Afoa played nine games for the New Zealand Warriors in the 2024 NRL season which saw the club finish 13th on the table.

2025 Afoa played seven games for the New Zealand Warriors in the 2025 NRL season which saw the club finish 5th on the table. The New Zealand Warriors confirmed that Afoa was one of five players released by the club at the end of their season. On 28 September, Afoa played in the New Zealand Warriors NSW Cup grand final victory against St. George Illawarra. On 10 October, the Wests Tigers announced that they had signed Afoa for the 2026 season.

Statistics .

NRL SeasonTeamMatchesTries 2016 New Zealand Warriors 4 2 8 2017 17 1 4 2018 23 0 0 2019 20 1 4 2021 20 2 8 2022 24 1 4 2023 21 1 4 2024 9 0 0 2025 7 0 02026 Wests Tigers5 Career totals 150 8 32