Brad Tucker

New Zealand lock/back row Brad Tucker played in Major League Rugby between 2019-2025. He represented the Seattle Seawolves (2019-2022), the Rugby New York Ironworkers (2023), and the Chicago Hounds (2024-2025).

Brad is the brother of former MLR-er Will Tucker, and came up through the Canterbury system in NZ. He played with Waikato in the 2016 Mitre 10 Cup (now the NPC) before moving to the Taranaki Bulls in 2017, and the Manawatu Turbos in 2018. In the December of 2018, the Seattle Seawolves announced the signing of Brad Tucker ahead of the 2019 MLR season. During his debut season in North America, Tucker appeared in all 18 games of their 2019 campaign, and 1 of just 2 Seawolves to start every game, along with Brock Staller. As of the conclusion of the 2023 season, all 7 of Tucker’s MLR tries came this season. Tucker became an MLR Champion as the Seawolves completed the repeat when they defeated the San Diego Legion 23-26 on the last play of the game, with Tucker himself scoring the Shield-winning try. Tucker earned 10 Team of the Week Selections during the 2019 season, behind only Paddy Ryan with 11. He finished as MLR’s top tackler with an incredible 275, and finished 10th on Meters Gained with 1,138m, earning him 2019 MLR Player of the Season honours. Tucker and the Seawolves advanced to the MLR Final once again following a controversial 2022 season, but fell 30-15 to Rugby New York.

Through his 4 seasons with Seattle, Tucker earned 43 caps (36 starts). He moved to the Rugby New York Ironworkers ahead of the 2023 season, just as his brother Will returned to New Zealand to play in Super Rugby. Brad earned 14 further caps in New York (13 starts) to pass the 50 MLR cap mark. He gained over 350m with ball in hand and delivered 117 successful tackles. In early December 2023, MLR and the Ironworkers announced that the Ironworkers would not compete in the 2024 season due to financial difficulties, and Tucker opted in to the Dispersal Draft for NY & Toronto players (the Arrows announced that they would not compete in 2024 a week prior to NY). He was selected 14th overall in the draft by the Chicago Hounds, who announced the signing of Brad Tucker on 16th December 2023, ahead of the 2024 season. As he opted in to the dispersal draft, Tucker’s 2024 salary did not count against the Hounds’ cap hit. He earned 11 appearances for the Hounds from the bench as they qualified for the post-season for the first time in their history. On January 9th, 2025, the Chicago Hounds confirmed the return of Brad Tucker for a second season with the team in 2025, his 7th in the league.

Achievements

  • 2022 MLR Runner-Up: Seattle Seawolves
  • 2019 MLR Champion: Seattle Seawolves
  • 2019 MLR Player of the Year
  • All-MLR 1st XV Selection: 2019
  • MLR Team of the Week: 2019 – Championship Final
  • MLR Team of the Week: 2019 – Semi-Finals
  • MLR Team of the Week: 2019 – Round 19
  • MLR Team of the Week: 2019 – Round 18
  • MLR Team of the Week: 2019 – Round 14
  • MLR Team of the Week: 2019 – Round 13
  • MLR Team of the Week: 2019 – Round 11
  • MLR Team of the Week: 2019 – Round 10
  • MLR Team of the Week: 2019 – Round 8
  • MLR Team of the Week: 2019 – Round 5

Riekert Hattingh

South African raised USA Eagle Riekert Hattingh played in Major League Rugby between 2018-2026. He represented the Seattle Seawolves for his entire MLR career, captaining the club throughout his tenure with them.

Hattingh worked his way through the Blue Bulls development system in his native South Africa, progressing through the U16, U19, and U21 sides and represented the Blue Bulls in the 2016 Currie Cup and was included in their Super Rugby Squad that same year. Having made the move to the US in 2015, Hattingh played with the Ohio Aviators in the short-lived PRO Rugby competition, the spiritual predecessor of Major League Rugby.

Hattingh has been a stalwart of MLR since the league’s first season, captaining the Seawolves in every season of Major League Rugby since 2019, leading them to back-to-back Shields in the early years of the competition. He has developed a reputation as a ferocious runner of the ball and solid tackler, and has two standout seasons where he gained over 1,000m AND completed over 200 tackles, putting him in the top 10 of both categories in those seasons, finishing 2nd league-wide for meters gained and 4th in tackles in 2019. Hattingh leads all forward in Meters Gained all-time, and is one of just a handful of players with over 5,000m. He is also one of the most capped played in MLR history with a total of 80 appearances through the 2024 season.

Hattingh also sits 2nd on the all-time Try Scorers list, on 42. He trails only Dylan Fawsitt in this category. He finished T-2nd with Houston’s Dean Muir for MLR try scoring in 2022, with 10, and scored a PB of 12 in 2023 when he finished 3rd in MLR Try Scoring, before unfortunately missing much of the 2024 season through injury. Hattingh was forced to watch from the sidelines as the Seawolves defeated the San Diego Legion and the Dallas Jackals to advance to their 4th MLR Championship Game, where they fell 11-20 to the New England Free Jacks. The Seattle Seawolves confirmed the return of Riekert Hattingh for his 8th season with the team when they revealed their full roster for 2025 on January 14th, 2025. Hattingh added another 14 appearances (all starts once again) for the Seawolves in 2025, adding 139 tackles to reach 950 tackles completed in his 94-game MLR career and passing 5,500m gained with 342m gained and 6 tries scored. Hattingh remained the 2nd highest try scorer in MLR history, adding 6 tries in 2025 to take his career total to 48. On 23rd February, 2026, just over a month before the 2026 season kicked off, the Seattle Seawolves announced the return of club captain Riekert Hattingh for his 9th season with the team.

achievements

  • 2024 MLR Runner-Up: Seattle Seawolves
  • MLR Team of the Week: 2024 – Rd 8
  • MLR Team of the Week: 2024 – Rd 6
  • 2023 All-MLR Selection: Honourable Mention XV
  • 3rd in MLR Try Scoring: 2023 (12)
  • 2022 All-MLR Selection: Second XV
  • 2022 MLR Runner-Up: Seattle Seawolves
  • T-8th in MLR Tackling: 2022 (201)
  • T-2nd in MLR Try Scoring: 2022 (10)
  • 1st in MLR Try Scoring: 2020 (5)
  • 9th in MLR Tackling: 2020 (63)
  • 2019 All-MLR Selection: First XV
  • 2019 MLR Champion: Seattle Seawolves
  • 4th in MLR Tackling: 2019 (203)
  • 2nd in MLR Meters Gained: 2019 (1,374m)
  • 2018 All-MLR Selection: First XV
  • 2018 MLR Champion: Seattle Seawolves

Peter Smith

Australian Fly-Half Peter Smith played in Major League Rugby during the 2018 season, representing the Seattle Seawolves with whom he won the inaugural MLR shield.

Smith ended his playing career following the 2018 season, and joined the Toronto Arrows as Attack Coach before being named as their Head Coach ahead of the 2022 season. He held the Head Coach role with Toronto until 2024.