Three-time Super League champion lands new club Down Under after Huddersfield Giants exit
Kevin Naiqama in action for Huddersfield Giants in 2024
Veteran back Kevin Naiqama has linked up with Newcastle Rugby League outfit Western Suburbs Rosellas for 2025 following his departure from Super League, according to reports Down Under.
Three-time Super League champion Naiqama, who won all three of those titles with St Helens and scooped the Harry Sunderland Trophy in the 2021 Grand Final against St Helens, will turn 36 in February.
He brought an end to a two-year stint with Huddersfield Giants at the conclusion of the 2024 campaign, confirming his decision to hang up his boots following his final appearance for Fiji on the international front.
Playing in the Pacific Championships for the Bati, who he is the all-time highest appearance-maker for, the Sutherland-born ace’s professional career ended with a tally of more than 250 career appearances.
128 of those came in the British game, with Naiqama winning both a Super League Leaders’ Shield and a Challenge Cup with Saints during his time at the Totally Wicked Stadium as well as those three titles.
In addition to the Red V and Huddersfield, he also donned a shirt in the NRL for Newcastle Knights, Penrith Panthers, Wests Tigers and Sydney Roosters.
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Three-time Super League champion lands new club Down Under after Huddersfield Giants exit
And though having retired once before, it’s for real this time, Sutherland-born ace Naiqama will play on in 2025 at local level back Down Under with the Rosellas.
The 23-time champions, who last triumphed in 2019, have helped to produce numerous stars that have gone on to feature in Super League including Ben Farrar, Mitch Garbutt and current Warrington Wolves forward Luke Yates.
2024 saw the Rosellas finish 7th on the ladder in the Denton Cup, winning nine of their 16 games, with Maitland Pickers ultimately crowned the champions of the competition.
Naiqama’s signing was all-but rubber-stamped with a report in the Newcastle Herald, the club and competition’s local news outlet.
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