The Seattle Seawolves re-signed Joey Iosefa for the 2021 Major League Rugby season. The 29-year-old center (30 in June) is 6’0″ and 250 lbs.
Joey re-signed with the Seawolves in 2020 and was a reserve in the team’s last four matches of the COVID-19 truncated season.
The center was a mid-season Seawolves addition in 2019 and added significant coverage to the backline. He played 78 minutes in two games, made 11 carries for 98 meters, had one line-break, two tackle-breaks, and one offload on offense along with 8 tackles. He also played in 2019 with the Seattle Saracens.
In 2018, Joey signed with the Houston SaberCats and played 128 minutes in six matches, starting once, and scoring one try.
Joey is from Pago Pago, American Samoa, and attended Fagaitua High School. He played three years of football at quarterback, free safety, and linebacker with the team winning back-to-back Championships his final two years. He was the 2009 season MVP and All-Purpose Player. Joey also played soccer, volleyball for the Lauli’i Spikers Volleyball, and rugby for Lauli’i ‘Moli Ole Ava’.
Joey attended the University of Hawaii at Manoa from 2010-2015, majoring in Civil Engineering. After redshirting in football in 2010, he played the following four years at running back.
In 2015 he was drafted in round 7 at the 231st pick in the NFL draft by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers but was waived on the last cut. He then played with the Brooklyn Bolts in the Fall Experimental Football League before signing with the New England Patriots in 2015 as a fullback and played until 2016.
In 2018 Joey was signed to The Spring League in Austin, Texas, and then joined the Houston SaberCats, making his debut on April 28, 2018, against Austin Elite Rugby. He then played with the Seattle Saracens in the CDI Premier League and played in an exhibition season match with the Seattle Seawolves, starting at outside center against San Francisco Golden Gate Rugby Club on January 5, 2019. He also played for the Seattle Saracens in a preseason exhibition match against the Seawolves on January 17, 2019.
Joey made his 2019 MLR debut for the Seattle Seawolves on March 31 as a reserve. He now enters his third season with the club
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