As training for the 2024 NRL season continues, the Wests Tigers’ official podcast Behind The Roar is highlighting
some of the team’s younger players this summer.
Five players from the club’s top-30 roster and six players on NRL Development contracts are involved in the
preseason series. All but two of the seven players who have yet to make their NRL debut have been part of Wests
Tigers pathway squads.
This week, we speak with Kit Laulilii, a dynamic young lock who debuted for the Wests Tigers in the NRL against the
Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles at Brookvale Oval during the 2023 season’s final round.
Along with his journey through Wests Tigers pathways, his love of country music, his pre-season goals, his strong
family values, and his role as a young leader, Kit shares a few additional things that drive him.
Laulilii, the captain of the Wests Magpies Harold Matthews side that won the premiership, talks about how he was
raised with a strong sense of leadership.
“I will always remember being that Matt’s team captain was incredibly special,” he remarked.
Making his NRL debut the previous season was another memorable rugby league experience for this modest
eighteen-year-old.
“It brought a tear to my eye and was a moment I will cherish for the rest of my life, similar to winning the Matts
[Harold Mathews] grand final.”
Several players from the 2022 side, including Kit, are now an important member of the Wests Tigers NRL team.
“Some of my best friends who are also here at Wests Tigers today played junior football at Liverpool Catholic Club,”
he remarked.
After that, I transferred to East Campbelltown Eagles, where Tallyn Da Silva, another local kid who debuted in the
NRL last season, played along with many of us.
“The fact that we are all local juniors and are so familiar with one another is the best aspect of our development.”
Laulilii, whose younger brother Luke is a member of the elite team as well, expresses his admiration for the way the
younger players have managed the demands of training with the NRL squad.
“It seems like some of the younger boys are really putting in the work and embracing the expectations that Benji has
for us,” the girl said.
