Ben Nakubuwai has agreed to re-join Queensland Cup outfit Norths Devils for the 2025 campaign, the club have confirmed. Nakubuwai was released by Leigh Leopards last month with the forward returning to Australia after almost three years with the club.
The Fiji international joined Leigh in 2022 after a season and a half stint with Norths and he went on to make 44 appearances for the club. In his first year at Leigh Sports Village he helped the club to promotion and the following season he got his hands on the Challenge Cup as Leigh established themselves as a major threat in the top division.
However, he found game time hard to come by last season and that followed on into 2025, with Nakubuwai’s last appearance for the Leopards coming last April when the club lost to Hull KR in the Challenge Cup.
As such, he was released from his deal by Leigh Leopards and he will now be linking up with Queensland Cup title holders and State Championship winners Norths.
The second tier outfit are coached by former Leeds Rhinos head coach Rohan Smith and with three games played this season, they sit on top of the Queensland Cup table, having won all three.
The club are an affiliate of Brisbane-based NRL outfit the Dolphins and regularly see top flight players step down to the reserve grades for game time, with Tesi Niu and Herbie Farnworth doing that in recent seasons.
Nakubuwai started his career in the NRL reserve ranks with Sunshine Coast Falcons and Tweed Seagulls, with his only NRL experience coming in 2017 with Gold Coast Titans. That was before he made the move to Salford Red Devils for his first spell in Super League, where he made 41 appearances.
2021 Devils premiership forward Ben Nakubuwai is back at Bishop Park. pic.twitter.com/5KEHJcEcRy
— NorthsDevilsRLFC (@NorthsDevilsRL) April 1, 2025
