Maika Sivo

Maika Sivo (born 3 October 1993) is a Fijian professional rugby league footballer who plays as a winger for the Parramatta Eels in the National Rugby League (NRL) and Fiji at international level.

Maika Sivo
Personal information
Born (1993-10-03) 3 October 1993
Nadi, Fiji
Height185 cm (6 ft 1 in)
Weight105 kg (16 st 7 lb)
Playing information
PositionWing
Club
Years Team Pld T G FG P
2019– Parramatta Eels 103 87 0 0 348
Representative
Years Team Pld T G FG P
2019– Fiji 8 7 0 0 64
2019 Fiji 9s 3 1 0 0 4
Source: [1]
As of 24 August 2023

Background

Sivo grew up in Momi Bay, Fiji.

Sivo played his junior rugby league for the Gundagai Tigers before playing for St. Mary's in the Ron Massey Cup. He then moved to the Mounties signing with their NSW Cup team in 2016, scoring 35 tries.

Sivo signed with the Penrith Panthers until the end of the 2018 season, scoring 12 tries in his first season with the club's lower grade. In 2018, he signed a two-year deal with the Parramatta Eels.

Playing career

2019

Sivo made his NRL debut in Round 1 of the 2019 NRL season against the Penrith Panthers.[2] He scored his first NRL try against the Sydney Roosters in round 3, scoring two tries in a losing effort.[3]

In Round 6 against Wests Tigers, Sivo scored a try as Parramatta won the match 51–6 in the opening NRL match to be played at the new Western Sydney Stadium.[4] In Round 8 against St George, Sivo scored 2 tries for Parramatta, one of which was a length of the field try. Parramatta would go on to win the match 32-18 after being down 14-0 earlier in the game.[5]

In Round 13 against Cronulla-Sutherland, Sivo scored 2 tries in a losing effort as Parramatta were defeated 42–22.[6] In Round 19 2019 against the New Zealand Warriors, he palmed off New Zealand player Blake Ayshford on his way to the try line. Fox Sports commentator Andrew Voss said of Sivo's fend on Ayshford "If you can get a charge for palming blokes in the sternum, Sivo’s looking at 10 weeks,". Sivo later scored a try in a 24–22 victory.[7]

In round 25 against Manly-Warringah, Sivo scored a hat-trick as Parramatta won the match 32–16 at the Western Sydney Stadium. The victory saw Parramatta finish 5th on the table at the end of the regular season.[8]

Sivo finished the 2019 NRL season with 20 tries, one behind Israel Folau's record of 21 in a rookie NRL season.[9][10]

In the elimination final against Brisbane, Sivo scored two tries as Parramatta won the match 58–0 at the new Western Sydney Stadium. The victory was the biggest finals win in history, eclipsing Newtown's 55–7 victory over St George in 1944. The match was also Parramatta's biggest victory over Brisbane and Brisbane's worst ever loss since entering the competition in 1988.[11]

2020

In round 8 of the 2020 NRL season, Sivo scored four tries as Parramatta defeated North Queensland 42-4 at Bankwest Stadium.[12]

In round 11 against Wests Tigers, Sivo scored two tries as Parramatta won the game 26-16 at Bankwest Stadium.[13]

In the qualifying final against Melbourne, Sivo injured his leg in the first half of the match and had to be taken from the field. It was later confirmed Sivo would be ruled out for the remainder of the season with an MCL injury.[14]

2021

In round 2 of the 2021 NRL season, Sivo scored two tries in Parramatta's 16-12 victory over Melbourne. The following day, Sivo re-signed with Parramatta until the end of 2023.[15]

In round 7 against Brisbane, Sivo scored a hat-trick in Parramatta's 46-6 victory over Brisbane.[16]

The following week, he scored another two tries in Parramatta's 32-10 victory over arch-rivals Canterbury-Banksown.[17]

In round 13 against Newcastle, he scored two tries including the 50th try of his career in a 40-4 victory.[18]

In round 14, Sivo scored a try but was later sent to the sin bin for a high tackle on Wests Tigers player Adam Doueihi in a 40-12 victory. Sivo was later suspended for one match over the incident.[19]

On 24 August, Sivo was ruled out for the remainder of the season after suffering an ACL injury in the club's round 23 victory over North Queensland.[20]

2022

After spending two weeks in the NSW Cup to regain match fitness, Sivo made his return to the Parramatta side in round 14 of the 2022 NRL season against arch-rivals Canterbury. Parramatta would go on to lose the match 34-4 in an upset defeat.[21] In round 19, Sivo scored two tries for Parramatta in a 36-14 loss against Brisbane.[22] The following week, Sivo scored two tries for Parramatta in their 34-10 upset victory over Penrith.[23] In round 21, Sivo scored a further two tries in Parramatta's 36-20 victory over Manly.[24] In the 2022 preliminary final, Sivo scored the winning try for Parramatta in their 24-20 upset victory over North Queensland which sent the club into their first grand final since 2009.[25] Sivo played for Parramatta in their 2022 NRL Grand Final loss to Penrith. In the second half of the match, Sivo dropped the ball over the line when the score was 22-0 in favour of Penrith. Penrith would score only minutes later to make it 28-0 before winning the match 28-12.[26] In the second group stage match of the 2021 Rugby League World Cup, Sivo scored two tries for Fiji in their 60-4 victory over Italy.[27]

2023

On 1 March, Sivo signed a contract extension to remain at Parramatta until the end of 2025.[28] In round 2 of the 2023 NRL season, Sivo scored two tries in a 30-26 loss against Cronulla.[29] The following week, he scored two tries for Parramatta in their 34-30 loss against Manly at Brookvale Oval.[30] In round 6, Sivo scored two tries for Parramatta in their 28-22 victory over bottom placed Wests Tigers.[31] In round 7, Sivo scored two tries for Parramatta as they defeated arch-rivals Canterbury 30-4.[32] In round 10, Sivo scored a hat-trick in Parramatta's 26-24 loss to Gold Coast.[33] Following Parramatta's victory over the Gold Coast in round 20 of the competition, Sivo was handed a four-match suspension for a careless high tackle during the game.[34] In round 26, Sivo scored four tries for Parramatta in their upset 32-18 victory over Penrith.[35] Sivo played a total of 20 matches for Parramatta in the 2023 NRL season and scored 20 tries as the club finished 10th and missed the finals. Sivo finished as the clubs leading try scorer.[36]

Statistics
Year Team Games Tries Pts
2019 Parramatta Eels 25 22 88
2020 21 15 60
2021 21 17 68
2022 16 13 52
2023 19 16 64
Totals 103 83 332

Controversy

On 28 December 2019, it was reported that Sivo had been arrested whilst on holiday visiting family in Fiji. Sivo was later charged with one count of indecent annoyance. It was alleged that Sivo harassed a female bartender at a pool party, tugging on her skirt in order to get her attention. Sivo was granted bail at Nadi Magistrate's Court but was banned from leaving Fiji and was ordered to reappear at court on 7 January 2020.[37][38]

The Parramatta club released a statement saying "The club takes these incidents seriously and will be monitoring the situation closely, As with any legal matter, it is important that we follow due process, and the club will review all information available regarding the alleged incident. We are currently providing support to Maika and his family. The club has informed the NRL integrity unit and will be making no further comment at this time".[39][40]

On 6 January 2020, Sivo had his bail conditions altered so he could return to Australia for Parramatta training.[41] On 9 March 2020, Sivo was cleared to play by the NRL after it was ruled that he was not subject to the no-fault stand down policy.[42]

References
  1. Rugby League Project
  2. "Round 1 NRL team lists". NRL.com. 12 March 2019.
  3. "Eels v Roosters - Round 3, 2019 - Match Centre". National Rugby League. Retrieved 30 March 2019.
  4. "Eels vs Wests Tigers - NRL match centre". Wide World of Sports. 22 April 2019.
  5. "Revealed: Parramatta Eels cult hero being paid the wage of a bricky's labourer". www.foxsports.com.au.
  6. "Cronulla Sharks' Bronson Xerri burns Parramatta Eels in NRL rout". Stuff.co.nz.
  7. "Semi who? 'Superhuman' Eels winger Maika Sivo monsters Warrior Blake Ayshford". Fox Sports.
  8. "Sivo bags a hat-trick as Eels leapfrog Manly into fifth spot". NRL.
  9. "NRL Stats - NRL.com". National Rugby League. Retrieved 7 September 2019.
  10. "NRL rookies: Israel Folau, Mitchell Pearce the stars of 2007 debutants". Fox Sports. 6 December 2015. Retrieved 7 September 2019.
  11. "Parramatta Eels eliminate Brisbane Broncos from the NRL Finals with a thumping 58-0 win". ABC.
  12. "Maika Sivo scores four tries as Parramatta beat NQ". www.foxsports.com.au.
  13. "Parramatta Eels beat Wests Tigers". www.abc.net.au.
  14. "Melbourne defeat Parramatta". www.foxsports.com.au.
  15. "Parramatta Eels beat Melbourne Storm 16-12 in NRL thriller". www.abc.net.au.
  16. "Parramatta thrashes Brisbane Broncos 46-6, Benji Marshall inspires South Sydney to 40-30 NRL win over Gold Coast". www.abc.net.au.
  17. "Sam Walker stars as Roosters hammer Newcastle Knights, but Brett Morris and Lindsay Collins injuries sour NRL victory". www.abc.net.au.
  18. "Milestone men Gutho and Sivo shine; Over-keen Knights 'panic' on old boys day: 3 Big Hits". www.foxsports.com.au.
  19. "Moses makes up for 'bombed try of the year'; Sivo sin bin exposes inconsistent rulings: 3 Big Hits". www.foxsports.com.au.
  20. "Casualty Ward: Sivo's ACL torn; Roosters lose trio; Doueihi out". www.nrl.com.
  21. "'Disgraceful': Mitchell Moses' unforgivable blunder in loss to Canterbury Bulldogs". www.news.com.au.
  22. "Broncos' one-two punch downs Eels; Flyer's finishing battle excites: Big Hits". www.foxsports.com.au.
  23. "Penrith's halves crisis deepens in huge Cleary blow as Eels spine sizzles in rout: 3 Big Hits". www.foxsports.com.au.
  24. "Eels roar home to down Sea Eagles, Storm score bittersweet victory over Titans". www.abc.net.au.
  25. "'See it in their eyes': The late-season pact and 'massive sacrifice' behind Eels surge". www.foxsports.com.au.
  26. "'Parra are our sons': Panther's cheeky Eels sledge as stars run riot, Luai has another dig". www.foxsports.com.au.
  27. "Rugby League World Cup: Fiji thrash Italy 60-4". www.bbc.co.uk.
  28. "Eels extend Maika Sivo". www.parraeels.com.au.
  29. "Reece Walsh stars as Brisbane Broncos beat Cowboys 28-16 in Queensland NRL derby, Cronulla edges Parramatta 30-26 in thriller". www.abc.net.au.
  30. "Manly Sea Eagles prevail 34-30 against Parramatta Eels to maintain unbeaten start to NRL season". www.abc.net.au.
  31. "Moses proves his value and shows Tigers what they've been missing amid Doueihi disaster - 3 Big Hits". www.foxsports.com.au.
  32. "Gutherson makes mockery of 'X-Factor' claims as ex-Eel cops nightmare return: 3 Big Hits". www.foxsports.com.au.
  33. "Magic Round: Gold Coast Titans beat Parramatta 26-24, Nth Queensland Cowboys down Sydney Roosters 20-6, Wests Tigers beat St George illawarra 18-16". www.abc.net.au.
  34. "Judiciary Update: Sivo & Campbell-Gillard". www.parraeels.com.au.
  35. "Luai anomaly to frighten Panthers fans as star set for sideline stint; Gutho's captain's knock - Big Hits". www.foxsports.com.au.
  36. "NRL 2023: Parramatta Eels season review". www.sportingnews.com.
  37. "Maika Sivo to miss Eels' NRL pre-season, blocked from leaving Fiji on assault charge". Fiji Village. 31 December 2019. Retrieved 19 March 2023.
  38. "NRL: Maika Sivo wants travel ban lifted despite indecent assault charge". Stuff. 31 December 2019. Retrieved 19 March 2023.
  39. "Eels star Maika Sivo fronts court in traditional dress, barred from leaving Fiji over indecency charge". Fox Sports.
  40. "Parramatta Eels winger Maika Sivo arrested in Fiji". NZ Herald.
  41. "Sivo back on track for Eels, injured stars lead pre-season returns". www.nrl.com.
  42. "Eels star Maika Sivo to play in Round 1 despite Fiji court case". www.foxsports.com.au.
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