Ex-Warriors star Manu Vatuvei pleads guilty to importing methamphetamine

Warriors legend Manu ‘The Beast’ Vatuvei faces prison time after pleading guilty to importing methamphetamine.

Rugby league gun Manu ‘The Beast’ Vatuvei faces prison time after pleading guilty to importing methamphetamine into New Zealand.

The NZ Herald has reported the retired Warriors star, 35, pleading guilty in a New Zealand courtroom on Wednesday, with the case adjourned for sentence in December.

The 2019 NZ Dancing with the Stars winner will remain on bail to abide with restrictions, including a curfew.

Vutavei was one of four people, including his brother Lopini Lautau Mafi, 48, who were arrested in 2019 following an investigation by NZ police and customs.

Manu Vatuvei during Tonga rugby league training at Blacktown. Picture: Phil Hillyard

Vatuvei (centre) reacts to defeat in the Round 25 NRL match between the New Zealand Warriors and Wests Tigers at Auckland, 2016. Picture: David Rowland

His brother will be sentenced for the same charge at the same hearing in December.

In May 2021, Vutavei - who played for the Warriors between 2004 and 2017 - admitted he had been charged by police via a social media video and said he was innocent.

“In 2019 I was charged with importation, possession and supply of methamphetamine … I‘ll be fighting my innocence for these charges,” Vatuvei said in his social media post.

Police have since dropped the possession and supply charge.

Vatuvei tackled by cowboys captain Johnathan Thurston during the Round 24 NRL match between the North Queensland Cowboys and the New Zealand Warriors in 2016. Picture: Michael Chambers

Will Hopoate and Manu Vatuvei during Tonga rugby league training at Blacktown. Picture: Phil Hillyard

Vatuvei has an impressive track record, playing professional rugby league for Europe’s Salford Red Devils.

But he has been in the press for the wrong reasons in the past, including in 2016 when he took medical leave after a night of partying with teammates in Auckland.

In 2018, Vatuvei told the media he had some friends in gangs, after appearing in a video promoting the ‘Head Hunters’ outlaw motorcycle club, founded in Auckland.

He said he did not know he would be used in the video.