Paul Aiton

Paul Aiton
Personal information
Born (1985-05-29) 29 May 1985
Mount Hagen, Papua New Guinea
Height 175 cm (5 ft 9 in)[1]
Weight 88 kg (13 st 12 lb)[1]
Playing information
Position Hooker, Lock
Club
Years Team Pld T G FG P
2006–09 Penrith Panthers 72 8 0 0 32
2010–11 Cronulla Sharks 36 5 0 0 20
2012–13 Wakefield Trinity Wildcats 47 7 0 0 28
2014–15 Leeds Rhinos 47 3 0 0 12
2016- Catalans Dragons 10 2 0 0 8
Total 212 25 0 0 100
Representative
Years Team Pld T G FG P
2004–13 Papua New Guinea 12 1 0 0 4
As of 19 June 2016
Source: Love Rugby League, RLP

Paul Aiton (born 29 May 1985 in Mount Hagen, Papua New Guinea) is a Papua New Guinean rugby league player who has signed to play for Super League side Leeds Rhinos from the 2014 season [2]

Aiton previously played for Wakefield Trinity (Heritage #1309) in England's Super League. He previously played for the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks and the Penrith Panthers in the Australian National Rugby League (NRL). He primarily plays at hooker.

Career

Penrith Panthers

With his family, Aiton moved to Caboolture, Queensland in the early 1990s. He played his junior football with the Caboolture Snakes before signing with Wests Panthers in Brisbane. His stint at the Penrith Panthers' feeder club led to a contract with the NRL club in 2003 and he finally made his NRL debut in 2006. Aiton played for the Penrith Panthers until the end of the 2009 season making 72 appearances and scoring 8 tries.

Cronulla Sharks

Aiton signed a 2-year deal with Cronulla in 2010 and went on to make 36 appearances, scoring 5 tries. At the end of the 2011 season it was announced he was to leave Cronulla to go play in Super League.

Following his departure, he was one of seventeen Sharks players found guilty of using illegal substances under the club's 2011 supplements program. When the case was eventually concluded in 2016, Aiton had twelve month suspension recorded against his name, although he served none of the time due to backdating of the sanction.[3]

Wakefield Wildcats

Aiton moved to Wakefield Trinity in England on a two-year contract from 2012.[4] He made 47 appearances for them in 2 years scoring 7 tries.

Leeds Rhinos

In 2014 Aiton moved to Leeds on a two-year deal in the hope of winning silverware. He was awarded the number 9 shirt. He won the Challenge Cup in his first season, which was Leeds' first in over a decade. He missed part of the 2014 season due to medication he was taking that prevented him from playing. Aiton was injured towards the end of the 2015 season and missed out on winning the Treble with Leeds. He left making 47 appearances scoring 3 times.

Catalans Dragons

On the 5th of August 2015, Aiton decided not to sign a new deal with the Leeds Rhinos, instead moving on to play for France's biggest rugby league franchise the Catalans Dragons. Aiton said “I will always be honoured to have played for Leeds Rhinos but the opportunity to move to France from next season and be part of the Dragons was something that excited me at this stage in my career." He signed a three-year deal with the Dragons beginning in the 2016 season.[5]

International Career

In 2004, Aiton was selected to play for Papua New Guinea against Australia.[6]

Aiton was named in the Papua New Guinea training squad for the 2008 Rugby League World Cup.[7]

He captained Papua New Guinea in the 2010 Four Nations tournament.

He played for Papua New Guinea in the 2013 Rugby League World Cup. During the World Cup, Paul signed a three-year deal to play with Super League heavyweights Leeds Rhinos starting in 2014.[8]

Honours

Challenge Cup: 2014

References

  1. 1 2 "Paul Aiton Leeds Rhinos". www.superleague.co.uk. Rugby Football League. 2015. Retrieved 18 July 2015.
  2. ↑ "Leeds Rhinos sign Paul Aiton from Wakefield Trinity Wildcats". BBC Sport. Retrieved 8 November 2013.
  3. ↑ Zemek, Steve (13 October 2016). "Sharks finalise ASADA deal". Yahoo!7. Retrieved 13 October 2016.
  4. ↑ "Aiton joins Wakefield". rleague.com. 17 December 2011. Retrieved 17 December 2011.
  5. ↑ "Catalans Dragons sign Paul Aiton from Leeds Rhinos". SkySports. 2015-08-05. Retrieved 2015-08-09.
  6. ↑ "Paul Aiton, our wantok". Post Courier (Papua New Guinea). 25 September 2007. Retrieved 6 September 2008.
  7. ↑ "PNG name preliminary squad". RLWC.com. 1 August 2008. Retrieved 6 August 2008.
  8. ↑ "Leeds Rhinos sign Paul Aiton from Wakefield Trinity Wildcats". BBC Sport. 2013-11-05. Retrieved 2015-08-09.
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