Wellington product Danny Levi represented New Zealand at the 2017 World Cup after bursting onto the NRL scene with Newcastle Knights.
A Randwick Kingfishers junior, the classy hooker’s talent was recognised by the Knights, who signed Levi as a 16-year-old. He was named in the NYC Team of the Year and represented Junior Kiwis in 2014-15, breaking into first grade during the latter season.
Levi became an NRL regular in 2016 and played every game for Newcastle the following season before being named in the Kiwis’ World Cup squad. The 20-year-old featured all four matches at the tournament, coming off the bench in three pool fixtures and starting at hooker in the gut-wrenching quarter-final loss to Fiji.
The emergence of dynamic Melbourne rake Brandon Smith saw Levi slip down the pecking order, but he represented Samoa in post-season Test against Fiji in 2019.
Levi left Newcastle at the end of 2019 and embarked on one-season stints with Manly and Brisbane. After 112 NRL games, he took up a Super League contract with Huddersfield Giants in 2022 and started in four matches for Samoa during its watershed World Cup foray, though he missed the semi-final and final due to family reasons.
Returning to the NRL with Canberra in 2023, Levi started the year with the No.9 on his back was ultimately restricted to four top-grade appearances with a broken jaw interrupting his strong early form. With the likes of Brandon Smith and Jeremy Marshall-King unavailable, Levi received a Kiwis recall for the Pacific Championships after a six-year absence.
Levi missed out on a Kiwis dummy-half role during the tournament to Fa’amanu Brown and Kieran Foran, but he was excellent for Kiwis A in their win over Tonga A at Eden Park.
