Waqa Blake (born 26 October 1994) is a Fijian professional rugby league footballer who plays as a centre and wing for Bradford Bulls in the RFL Championship and Fiji at international level.
He previously played for the Penrith Panthers and the Parramatta Eels in the National Rugby League and New South Wales City.
[9][10] On 28 September 2014, Blake played at centre in Penrith's 2014 New South Wales Cup Grand Final against the Newcastle Knights and scored a try in the club's 48-12 win.
[20] After New Zealand international representatives and usual backline starters Peta Hiku and Dean Whare suffered season ending knee injuries, Blake made the right centre position of his own, having some blockbusting performances in the late rounds of the season during the Panthers charge into the finals, a great transformation after he explained that he returned to pre-season training 12 kilograms overweight and coach Anthony Griffin mentioning to him that "if you want to play in the outside backs, you need to trim down, otherwise you'll be playing in the forwards".
[23] After the Penrith club's Round 5 clash against the Melbourne Storm, where they lost 28-6 at AAMI Park, Blake alongside Panthers captain Matt Moylan and Peta Hiku were dropped to Penrith's NSW Cup team for 1 match after they breached the booze curfew by being out in the Melbourne nightlife into the early hours of the next morning.
[25][26] In Round 26 against the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles, Blake suffered a season-ending shoulder injury during the Panthers 28-12 loss at Brookvale Oval, unfortunately resulting him of missing the finals series and representing Fiji for the 2017 Rugby League World Cup.
[28] As Blake showed great form in the early rounds, unfortunately in Round 5 against the Parramatta Eels, who the Penrith clubplayed against a month earlier, Blake suffered a high-grade syndesmosis injury in his right ankle in late in second-half as the Panthers walked away with a close 12-6 win at ANZ Stadium.
Blake would play the first 10 games of the season for Penrith as the club struggled on the field winning only 2 of their first 9 matches which left the side last on the table.
[36] Blake played a total of 22 games for Parramatta in the 2020 NRL season as the club finished third but were eliminated in straight sets from the finals.
[40] Blake made a total of 17 appearances for Parramatta in the 2021 NRL season including the club's two finals matches against Newcastle and Penrith.
[47] After a number of indifferent performances to start the year, Blake was demoted to the NSW Cup for the club's round 6 match against the Wests Tigers.
[49] Following a few indifferent performances, Blake was left out of the Parramatta side for their round 23 match against St. George Illawarra as he was replaced by Isaac Lumelume.
[52] In round 1 of the 2024 Super League season, Blake made his club debut for St Helens in their 40-4 victory over the London Broncos.
[53] Following an indifferent start to his time at St Helens, Blake was demoted to the clubs reserves team ahead of their Good Friday match against Wigan.