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Man of the mohawk: Fifita starts to step up the plate
Chris Barrett
August 23, 2010
The young Tigers prop has put his hair-raising teenage years behind him, writes Chris Barrett.
When Tim Sheens caught a glimpse of Andrew Fifita at Concord Oval on Saturday, the veteran coach saw a target. ''The kid needs to keep his head down … last week he played well and he turned up with a haircut that said 'Come and get me','' Sheens said. ''All I'm [asking] is he concentrates on being able to back it up.''
The 21-year-old rookie did just that yesterday, following up his two-try effort against Penrith the previous Sunday with another good performance capped by a crucial four-pointer in the second half. After the track-laden mohawk variation Fifita was sporting yesterday, looking as if he had been spear-tackled into a shredder, who knows what exactly he will request from the barber this week.
If the haircut was a statement, so has been his delivery on the field. A genuine weapon in attack and defence (just ask Tim Mannah, who was monstered by Fifita in the closing stages yesterday) he is a giant of a young man.
Perhaps a little too big, he admits, after wolfing through a standard issue post-game pasta in the Tigers dressing room beneath Parramatta Stadium. A member of the Tigers staff cheekily suggested Fifita had eaten three of them.
''They give it to me,'' Fifita said with a smile of the jibes from teammates about his size. ''I'm trying to get my weight down … and I'm trying to build on bulk as well. I'm shredding the weight, so it's all good.''
The Andrew Fifita story is a yarn of the rags-to-riches genre. Heading perilously towards a life of crime in Blacktown in his teenage years, he and twin brother David, also in the Tigers system, packed up and moved on their own to Griffith in search of quieter pastures and less temptation.
''At the age of 16 we went down to the bush … we got in a bit of trouble here so just moved down there to get out of trouble,'' he said. ''We moved in with our uncle and then we ended up moving out of home after three months and we were just on our own.
''It was our choice … I wanted to do my mum [Linda] proud, I wanted to succeed at school, so we had to get out of there. I was just hanging round with the wrong crowd, that's how I'd put it. I could have ended up in jail, or really hurt.''
The decision proved a life-changer for Fifita. He finished his HSC, and is now living with his brother in Sydney, having been picked up by the Tigers in Griffith. He was a revelation in the club's Toyota Cup side last year, emerging alongside fellow graduates to the NRL, Robert Lui and Simon Dwyer. David Fifita is playing in NSW Cup with Balmain, waiting for his own opportunity.
''Hopefully one day I get to play with him on the same paddock in the NRL,'' Andrew said.
Sheens and the Tigers were well aware of the Fifitas' background when the club recruited the twins.
''They were getting away from the influences that they were under,'' Sheens said. ''[Andrew] has some life issues, there's no doubt, and he's had one or two episodes where he's got to be careful but, overall, he's coming along well.''
That is about the extent of the adulation from Sheens at this stage, though. Fifita is on his way but it will take more than a flashy head of hair and a few big games for the coach's tendency towards caution to be appeased.
''He came up with a good try but I wouldn't have said he was the player he was last week … whereas Todd Payten, Keith Galloway, Chris Heighington, Gareth Ellis and Liam Fulton deliver strongly each game,'' Sheens said. ''He's a big raw-boned thing that's got to get 50 games under his belt before I start giving him too much praise.''
Chris Barrett
August 23, 2010
The young Tigers prop has put his hair-raising teenage years behind him, writes Chris Barrett.
When Tim Sheens caught a glimpse of Andrew Fifita at Concord Oval on Saturday, the veteran coach saw a target. ''The kid needs to keep his head down … last week he played well and he turned up with a haircut that said 'Come and get me','' Sheens said. ''All I'm [asking] is he concentrates on being able to back it up.''
The 21-year-old rookie did just that yesterday, following up his two-try effort against Penrith the previous Sunday with another good performance capped by a crucial four-pointer in the second half. After the track-laden mohawk variation Fifita was sporting yesterday, looking as if he had been spear-tackled into a shredder, who knows what exactly he will request from the barber this week.
If the haircut was a statement, so has been his delivery on the field. A genuine weapon in attack and defence (just ask Tim Mannah, who was monstered by Fifita in the closing stages yesterday) he is a giant of a young man.
Perhaps a little too big, he admits, after wolfing through a standard issue post-game pasta in the Tigers dressing room beneath Parramatta Stadium. A member of the Tigers staff cheekily suggested Fifita had eaten three of them.
''They give it to me,'' Fifita said with a smile of the jibes from teammates about his size. ''I'm trying to get my weight down … and I'm trying to build on bulk as well. I'm shredding the weight, so it's all good.''
The Andrew Fifita story is a yarn of the rags-to-riches genre. Heading perilously towards a life of crime in Blacktown in his teenage years, he and twin brother David, also in the Tigers system, packed up and moved on their own to Griffith in search of quieter pastures and less temptation.
''At the age of 16 we went down to the bush … we got in a bit of trouble here so just moved down there to get out of trouble,'' he said. ''We moved in with our uncle and then we ended up moving out of home after three months and we were just on our own.
''It was our choice … I wanted to do my mum [Linda] proud, I wanted to succeed at school, so we had to get out of there. I was just hanging round with the wrong crowd, that's how I'd put it. I could have ended up in jail, or really hurt.''
The decision proved a life-changer for Fifita. He finished his HSC, and is now living with his brother in Sydney, having been picked up by the Tigers in Griffith. He was a revelation in the club's Toyota Cup side last year, emerging alongside fellow graduates to the NRL, Robert Lui and Simon Dwyer. David Fifita is playing in NSW Cup with Balmain, waiting for his own opportunity.
''Hopefully one day I get to play with him on the same paddock in the NRL,'' Andrew said.
Sheens and the Tigers were well aware of the Fifitas' background when the club recruited the twins.
''They were getting away from the influences that they were under,'' Sheens said. ''[Andrew] has some life issues, there's no doubt, and he's had one or two episodes where he's got to be careful but, overall, he's coming along well.''
That is about the extent of the adulation from Sheens at this stage, though. Fifita is on his way but it will take more than a flashy head of hair and a few big games for the coach's tendency towards caution to be appeased.
''He came up with a good try but I wouldn't have said he was the player he was last week … whereas Todd Payten, Keith Galloway, Chris Heighington, Gareth Ellis and Liam Fulton deliver strongly each game,'' Sheens said. ''He's a big raw-boned thing that's got to get 50 games under his belt before I start giving him too much praise.''
