Nofoaluma Bounces Back

Two years ago, a week early in March remains as one of the memorable ones.

Salford rid themselves of their last big hoodoo and 44 years of hurt by defeating St Helens on their own turf, at long last, 24–20. The highlights being Tim Lafai’s luscious back door pass to Deon Cross, and Joe Shorrocks’s colossal effort to cut down Alex Walmsley close to the line for an otherwise certain try at the death.

The following week, Salford hosted Wigan, the reigning champions and favourites to do it again in 2024 (which they duly did). After turning around a ten-point deficit, the Reds led 12–10 with five minutes to go. While Salford were under the cosh, Wigan had been reduced to twelve men for the rest of the match after the sin-binning of Harry Smith. Just five minutes to hold out…

In an otherwise player-of-the-match performance, Marc Sneyd opted for a short dropout. The flew towards the right wing, where debutant David Nofoaluma and Nene MacDonald rose to spill the ball into the hands of the waiting Jake Wardle, who took the gift in for a try. Moments later, the elusive Bevan French put the cherry on the top for Wigan, who won with a flattering scoreline of 22–12.

Sneyd’s decision, while disastrously decisive, was far from being a brain explosion. This seemingly reckless act was the pure essence of Rowleyball – high risk, high reward; living by the sword, and dying by it. ‘My words were “it happens”,’ said Paul Rowley afterwards. ‘He won’t get any kicks from me… It was a misjudgement at the wrong time. There were 79 other minutes where he was brilliant.’

Nofoaluma would play just one more match for Salford, a defeat in early April at Castleford, where his opposing winger Innes Senior would bag four tries. He didn’t look right; out of sorts and seemingly out of his depth at the top table.

However, on Friday just gone, almost two years after that infamous Salford debut, David Nofoaluma put in a man-of-the-match performance for York as they defeated Hull on their own patch. His journey back to Super League has been remarkable.

. . .

Salford took a late punt on David Nofoaluma towards the beginning of the 2024 season. An NRL veteran and scorer of over 100 tries for Wests, his acrimonious split with the Tigers ended with a severance payment of AU$300,000 to end his contract prematurely. A contract that was reportedly worth worth AU$525,000 per year. Nofoaluma was a free agent.

Despite his pedigree – Dally M Winger of the year for 2020 with Josh Addo-Carr, no less – Nofoaluma didn’t have much of a pre-season in the bank. And it showed. While Salford pounced for his signature, it was a month or so before Nofoaluma made his debut for the Reds. It’s fair to say the punt didn’t come off.

After Salford released Nofoaluma, and having made a fair amount of noise on social media, particularly petulant towards his old club Wests, he would land in the third tier of the Australian Rugby League pyramid with Glebe in the Ron Massey Cup.

Glebe are one of the old names in Sydney, a founder member of the Australian rugby league’s NSW competition. Despite this, the club won only one notable competition, the City Cup in 1913, with the great Frank Burge in their ranks. By 1929, and having struggled for a few years with Burge having left for St. George, Glebe were expelled from the competition with a paper-thin majority of 13–12, and not to be seen again until their revival in 2018.

Nofoaluma was a crucial signing for Glebe. He scored two second-half tries in the Ron Massey Cup final against Wentworth Magpies, earning player of the match as the Dirty Reds look the spoils by 19–6, adding another title to their scant list of honours.

That autumn saw Nofoaluma being picked for Serbia, his first foray into the international arena for over two years since he scored four tries for Samoa against the Cook Islands. I can only guess that he was pivotal in Serbia’s defeat of Ukraine in Perpignan, having scored a try.

Shortly afterwards, Nofoaluma moved to France, signing for a Pia Donkeys outfit with Harrison Hanson and Hakim Miloudi in their ranks. At the conclusion of the French season, Nofoaluma signed for Halifax midway through 2025. After starting the 2026 season with the Panthers, their recent lurch into administration meant Nofoaluma was a free agent once more.

Gateshead approached Nofoaluma, who agreed to terms, but as quick as a flash, York stepped in to take Nofoaluma on loan, offering him another bite at the big time. And last Friday, he took that chance with both hands, scoring two tries in his debut for York as they defeated Hull FC away 17–16. (All of York’s points were scored by ex-Reds, with Ben Jones–Bishop and Danny Richardson bagging the remainder.)

You can’t say he hasn’t done it the hard way.