[2] He played his junior rugby league for the Mascot Jets[citation needed], before being signed by the South Sydney Rabbitohs.

Talakai was unable to break into the first grade team and spent the remainder of the year playing for Penrith's Intrust Super Premiership NSW side.

[13][14] Talakai played for Newtown in their Canterbury Cup NSW grand final victory over the Wentworthville Magpies at Bankwest Stadium.

It was alleged that Talakai had been stopped by police on Captain Cook Drive at Caringbah where it was discovered he had an expired drivers licence.

In Game 3 of the series, Talakai made 2 errors which proved to be costly in New South Wales 22-12 defeat to Queensland at Lang Park.

[25] In round 4 of the 2023 NRL season, Talakai kicked the first goal of his career in Cronulla's 40-8 victory over rivals St. George Illawarra.

[28] From round 4 of the 2024 NRL season, having started his last 43 games at centre, Talakai made a positional change to the forwards due to injuries suffered by other Cronulla players.

Replaced at centre by Kayal Iro, Talakai mostly played as an interchange forward, but also started 6 games (as of round 25) at his old position of second-row.