Taane Milne

Taane Milne (born 19 May 1995) is a Fiji international rugby league footballer who plays as a winger for the South Sydney Rabbitohs in the NRL.

Taane Milne
Personal information
Full nameTaane William Milne
Born (1995-05-19) 19 May 1995
Auckland, New Zealand
Height183 cm (6 ft 0 in)
Weight99 kg (15 st 8 lb)
Playing information
PositionWing, Centre
Club
Years Team Pld T G FG P
2016–17 St. George Illawarra 18 1 0 0 4
2019 New Zealand Warriors 1 0 0 0 0
2021– South Sydney 44 20 0 0 80
Total 63 21 0 0 84
Representative
Years Team Pld T G FG P
2017– Fiji 10 4 8 0 32
2019 Fiji 9s 3 0 0 0 0
Source: [1][2]
As of 8 July 2023

He previously played for the St. George Illawarra Dragons and the New Zealand Warriors in the National Rugby League, and was contracted to the Wests Tigers. Milne also played for the Mount Pritchard Mounties and the New Zealand Warriors in the Intrust Super Premiership.

Background

Milne was born in Auckland, New Zealand. He is of Māori[3] and Fijian[4] descent. He moved to Australia at a young age.

He played his junior rugby league for the Clovelly Crocodiles and spent some time in rugby union[5] whilst attending Randwick Boys High School and Newington College (2011–2013), where he played junior representative grades for Randwick as well as NSW & Australian Schoolboys teams alongside future Parramatta Eels backrower Tepai Moeroa.[6][7] He was then signed by the Sydney Roosters.

Playing career

Early career

From 2013 to 2015, Milne played for the Sydney Roosters' NYC team.[8] On 18 October 2014, he played for the Junior Kiwis against the Junior Kangaroos.[9] He was again selected for the Junior Kiwis on 2 May 2015.[10] Milne was released by the Roosters, with "a questionable work ethic, including being late for training and poor training performance, coupled with some minor off-field dramas" said to be contributing factors.[11]

On 27 October 2015, he signed a two-year contract with the St. George Illawarra Dragons starting in 2016.[12]

2016

In round 8, Milne made his NRL debut for the Dragons against the Sydney Roosters.[13][14] After further games in reserve grade, he returned to centre in first grade for six games at the end of season. Teammate Benji Marshall said Milne "has one of the best in and aways and flick passes I've seen at training. He is a very talented kid."[11]

He was named in the New Zealand Māori squad for a match against the New Zealand Residents on 15 October 2016.[15]

2017

Milne played in 11 games in 2017, almost entirely from the bench. He scored his first try in round 11 against the Warriors, his sole match starting at centre for the season, and his only try for the year. On 6 May, Milne made his international debut for Fiji against Tonga in the 2017 Pacific Cup.[16] Milne said, "I received a call from Mick Potter to play for Fiji against Samoa last year but I couldn't due to personal reasons. I was disappointed, but I had let him know that I was keen to play for Fiji this year. This has been an emotional moment for me. One of the best things about being in camp is the devotion time and learning some Fijian songs. This has been one of the best camps I have ever been in."[17]

In June, Milne signed a two-year contract with the Wests Tigers starting in 2018.[18]

Selected for Fiji in the World Cup at the end of the season, Milne scored two tries and kicked two goals in Fiji’s opening match against the USA.[19] In his next game, he scored two tries and kicked three goals against Wales.

2018

Milne was sacked by the Wests Tigers in April 2018 after failing a drugs test. He joined the Mount Pritchard Mounties for the remainder of the 2018 season.[20] On 4 November, Milne signed a two-year deal with the New Zealand Warriors. Milne had written a letter to coach Stephen Kearney asking him for a second chance to play in the NRL. "I told him I'm not a drug addict," Milne said. "I wrote to him – spelling errors and all – telling him that I wanted to play in the NRL again. That I owned up to my errors and I was on the right track. I knew I could offer something to the club".[21]

2019

In round 25 of the 2019 NRL season, Milne made his return to first grade and made his New Zealand Warriors debut against the Canberra Raiders.

2020

On February 15, Milne suffered a badly broken nose in the pre-season NRL Nines tournament.[22] Then, in March, he suffered a season ending knee injury whilst playing for the New Zealand Canterbury Cup NSW team,[23] and made no appearances in first grade for the season.

In October 2020, he signed a contract to join South Sydney for the 2021 NRL season.[24]

2021

Milne made his club debut for South Sydney in round 10 of the 2021 NRL season against the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks. In round 15, he scored his first try for Souths in a 46–0 victory over Brisbane.[25]

In round 17, Milne scored a hat-trick during South Sydney's 46–18 victory over North Queensland.[26]

2022

In round 10 of the 2022 NRL season, Milne scored two tries for South Sydney in a 32–30 victory over the New Zealand Warriors.[27] In round 25, Milne scored two tries in the first match to be played at the new Sydney Football Stadium. South Sydney would lose the match 26-16 to their arch-rivals, the Sydney Roosters.[28] The following week in the elimination final, Milne was sin-binned twice in South Sydney's 30-14 upset victory over the Sydney Roosters.[29] In the preliminary final against Penrith, Milne was sent off for a swinging arm to the head of Penrith player Spencer Leniu. South Sydney would go on to lose the match 32-12, and Milne was later suspended for six matches over the incident.[30]

2023

In round 11 of the 2023 NRL season, Milne scored two tries for South Sydney in their 20-0 victory over the bottom-placed Wests Tigers.[31] Milne played a total of 14 games for Souths in the 2023 NRL season as the club finished 9th on the table and missed the finals.[32]

References
  1. "Taane Milne - Career Stats & Summary". Rugby League Project. Retrieved 28 April 2016.
  2. "Taane Milne Player Stats". Loverugbyleague.com. 17 July 2015. Retrieved 4 August 2016.
  3. "CHANGES FOR QLD TOUR: There have been... - NZ Maori Rugby League". Facebook. 10 October 2014. Retrieved 30 April 2016.
  4. NRL Digital Media. "Fiji and Cook Islands squads named". QRL. Retrieved 3 May 2017.
  5. NRL. "Taane Milne". Dragons. Retrieved 25 April 2016.
  6. Georgina Robinson. "ARU moves to halt young guns' slide to rugby league may have come too late". Smh.com.au. Retrieved 1 June 2016.
  7. NRL. "Generation next: time to get excited". Roosters. Retrieved 24 August 2016.
  8. "M". Nyc Database. Retrieved 25 April 2016.
  9. "2014 JUNIOR KIWIS TEAM ANNOUNCED". Rugbyleagueweek.com.au. 10 October 2014. Archived from the original on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 13 March 2015.
  10. "Representative Round team lists". NRL.com. 28 April 2015. Retrieved 20 December 2015.
  11. Michael Carayannis. "Benji Marshall says St George Illawarra Dragons recruit Taane Milne has 'best in and away' he's seen". Sydney Morning Herald. Archived from the original on 25 July 2016.
  12. "Dragons sign youth". Zero Tackle. Retrieved 25 April 2016.
  13. "Updated team lists: Dragons v Roosters". NRL.com. 28 February 2016. Retrieved 25 April 2016.
  14. NRL. "Late Mail: Round 8 v Sydney Roosters". Dragons. Retrieved 25 April 2016.
  15. "Auckland Rugby League - Auckland Rugby League".
  16. "Late Latu try grabs Test win for Tonga - NRL".
  17. Elenoa Baselala. "Milne's rise". Fiji Times. Archived from the original on 31 October 2017.
  18. "Wests Tigers sign Taane Milne". Zero Tackle. 4 February 2017. Retrieved 9 June 2017.
  19. "Bati vs USA". nrl.com. Archived from the original on 28 October 2017.
  20. Ryan, Nathan (28 April 2018). "Taane Milne receives lifeline after Wests Tigers sacking for second illicit drugs breach". Fox Sports. Retrieved 26 September 2019.
  21. "League: Former Wests Tigers centre Taane Milne signs two-year deal with New Zealand Warriors". The New Zealand Herald. 4 November 2018. Retrieved 26 September 2019.
  22. "NRL Nines 2020: Each club's injury list following tournament". www.sportingnews.com.
  23. "Warriors 2020 coronavirus news update". www.foxsports.com.au.
  24. "Penrith confirm departure of six players". www.foxsports.com.au.
  25. "South Sydney Rabbitohs thrash Brisbane Broncos 46-0, Payne Haas on report". www.abc.net.au.
  26. "South Sydney Rabbitohs defeat North Queensland Cowboys 46-18 in Newcastle". www.abc.net.au.
  27. "Rabbitohs survive big scare to beat Warriors in thriller". www.nrl.com.
  28. "Roosters down Rabbitohs but win proves costly". www.nrl.com.
  29. "SEVEN players binned in historic first after Roosters-Rabbitohs clash explodes". www.foxsports.com.au.
  30. "Rabbitohs' Taane Milne cops big ban as Penrith duo set to dodge suspensions for shoulder charges". www.sportingnews.com.
  31. "Raiders beat Parramatta Eels in Canberra, Rabbitohs and Cowboys also win". www.abc.net.au.
  32. "'Absolute madness': Potential Latrell switch slammed as a 'band aid' for broken Bunnies". www.foxsports.com.au.
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