Hitro Okesene

Hitro Okesene

Personal information
Full name	John Haitrosene Okesene
Nickname	Nitro
Born	(1970-09-22) 22 September 1970 Auckland, New Zealand
Playing information
Height	180cm
Weight	95kg
Position	Prop, Hooker
Club
Years	Team	Pld	T	G	FG	P
1980–93	Manukau
1989–92	Carlisle	68	17	3	0	74
1994	Counties Manukau	23	3	0	0	12
1995–97	Auckland Warriors	22	2	0	0	8
1998	Hull Sharks	22	0	0	0	0
1999	Featherstone	32	3	0	0	12
2000	XIII Catalan
2001–03	Workington Town	93	10	0	0	40
	Total	260	35	3	0	146
Representative
Years	Team	Pld	T	G	FG	P
1988	Western Samoa
1992	American Samoa
1990–94	Auckland	9	1	1	0	6
1994–95	New Zealand	5	1	0	0	4
Coaching information
Club
Years	Team	Gms	W	D	L	W%
2003–05	Ellenborough
Source:

Hitro Okesene is a New Zealand former rugby league footballer of the 1990s and 2000s who represented three countries; Western Samoa, American Samoa and New Zealand. His brother Paul also played international rugby league.

Playing career

His early years saw him play in both Auckland competitions, for the Manukau club, and for Carlisle in the English competition during the New Zealand off-season. In 1994 he captained the Counties Manukau Heroes in the Lion Red Cup and in 1995 was part of the inaugural Auckland Warriors squad. He stayed with Auckland for another two seasons before moving the England to play in the Super League. He played for both the Hull Sharks and Featherstone Rovers before settling at lower division club, Workington Town. There, as in Auckland, he became a cult figure.

Representative career

Okesene was a Junior Kiwi in 1988 and 1989. In 1988 he also represented Western Samoa in the Pacific Cup. He later represented American Samoa at the 1992 Pacific Cup alongside his brother Paul.

He played at either Prop or Hooker and represented the New Zealand Kiwis on five occasions both on the 1994 tour of Australia and Papua New Guinea and at the 1995 Rugby League World Cup.

Retirement

In 2003 he retired due to knee troubles and became coach of the Ellenborough Rangers who competed in the Cumbria Amateur Rugby League. He was replaced in 2005 but remains in Cumbria, working in the construction industry.

Personal life

Now residing in Cumbria Okesene lives with his wife, Donna and they have three children named Shakayla, Giovanna and Lerocco.