Agnatius Paasi

🇹🇴 Tongan forward ‘Iggy’ Paasi is a powerhouse…

Saints confirmed the signing of Paasi back in November 2020 from New Zealand Warriors where he was one of their outstanding players.

A 2011 NYC premiership winner with the Junior Warriors, Paasi made his NRL debut in 2014, before joining the Gold Coast Titans making 54 appearances between 2015-2017. He re-joined the Warriors in 2018, and that year saw Paasi lead the Warriors to their first NRL finals for seven years, starting in 23 of the club’s 25 matches. By the end of the season, Paasi had also won selection in the Kiwis’ 24-man squad for the one-off Test against Australia and the three-match series in England.

Iggy was almost ever-present for the Vodafone Warriors in 2019, missing just one match in that campaign in which he made his 100th NRL career appearance. Averaging over 100 metres and 28 tackles a game in that season alone, he made 107 appearances in the NRL, scoring 14 tries along the way.

Paasi played 21 times in his first Saints season in 2021, mainly off the bench, but his impact from it was crucial in Saints winning our third straight Super League Grand Final and a first Challenge Cup for 13 years.

In 2022 he made 29 appearances for the Saints, scoring two tries and was a real stand-out performer as he impressively filled the big shoes of Alex Walmsley, who had his season cut short through injury. In 2023 it was Paasi who then had his game time limited due to an injury, but he was part of the side that secured history in our World Club Challenge win over Penrith in Australia!

After suffering a horrific ankle, MCL and ACL injury in the 2023 Challenge Cup Semi Final, Agnatius worked incredibly hard on his recovery. At the end of May 2024, he marked his Super League return on home turf with a battling win over Catalans Dragons, and scored his first try after the return in July.