Player Column with Ava Seumanufagai

[Guest]

Courtesy of the official Wests Tigers website:
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That Ava Guy talks… Eels trial

Ava Seumanufagai
Thu 12th February, 07:46PM
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Each week, Wests Tigers forward Ava Seumanufagai will give a special inside look at his life in the NRL. Since making his debut early in the 2013 season, Ava has quickly amassed 40 NRL games for the Club, and will be looking for another big year in 2015.

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Hi guys! This week’s column is coming from Alice Springs this week where we’re getting ready to take on Parramatta tomorrow night!

It is a lot different coming up to Alice Springs this time with some of the more experienced boys joining the squad.

I think last year it was just me and Sarge [Kyle Lovett] that are in the team again this year, so it’s good to have some of the bigger boys in the team this time around to give it that extra energy.

I think with a different group of players there’s a bit more focus and anticipation to see how we’ve gone and what we’ve learned in pre-season and what that’s going to look like on the field tomorrow. Not that that wasn’t there last year or anything; I guess there’s just an added intensity this time around.

But the heat is the same. It’s very hot. Always hot.

I’m excited to be up here for our first trial of the year.

To be honest, I’m always happy to see the back-end of pre-season.

But I think this trial will be good to see how I’ve progressed and how the team has progressed in that time since JT came in for the start of pre-season.

We’ve got a big pack this time, which I think will help us.

There’s a long bench and lots of forwards, so I think there will be lots of interchanges.

For me, whether I’m starting or off the bench, I always want to come on and do my job. I want to bring some muscle into the group and make sure I’m tight.

I just want to see how my body feels after my first stint, and then see if there’s any noticeable difference in my performance.

It’ll be interesting for me to see how I’m feeling after that first stint — I feel fitter than I have done before — so it’ll be interesting to see whether that’s the case when I’m out there!

I guess I’ll let you know tomorrow night at about 10:00pm how fit I am!

You don’t really read too much into it for a trial match, but you know, I think Parra will be a good test for us. I know a lot of the boys from when I used to be there and I know a lot of the juniors that have come up from there.

I know how I like to play; they’ve got a bit of flair and a bit of youth in there so it’s good for them. There’s some massive guys in there too, especially some of their young guys, so lots to watch out for I guess!

But we’re ready.

We all just want to rip in, come out injury free and get ready for the season ahead!

Looking forward to speaking with you next time having chalked up a big W!

 

[Guest]

Courtesy of the official Wests Tigers website:

That Ava Guy talks… Sharks trial

Ava Seumanufagai
Fri 20th February, 03:52PM

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Hey everyone! I'm back for another week here and getting ready to finish pre-season with a strong performance this Saturday night against the Cronulla Sharks.

It’s a bit of a funny turnaround for us this week, having played against the Eels in Alice Springs on Friday night. It was a good result for us and I think the boys played really well on the night but it’s made this week a really big week for us. I never noticed until JT brought it up, but the away trips really do rattle you a bit throughout the week. You don’t really get the chance to catch up on sleep all week so I’ve just been a little conscious of that this week.

It’s been a big week too. We’ve been in schools around the Macarthur area, which has been really good, but it’s meant we’re a bit rushed with that down-time that we normally have at Concord or something, so I’m just conscious of that.

To be honest, it’s been a really busy few weeks since the Nines, so it’ll be nice to get this trial done and have the weekend off to get completely ready for Round 1.

But I guess to close off that Parramatta game, it was a really good result for us.

I think what we took out most from the win was good feedback regarding what we’ve been practicing throughout pre-season. It’s seeing those systems that have been put in place by JT and the coaching staff, and seeing them work well in the team, but also seeing the team come together with the systems and pull them off.

The coaching staff was really happy with the result.

There’s always things they want us to work on and that kind of thing, but I think to be able to execute a lot of the things we worked on throughout pre-season was really pleasing to them.

The try that they scored was just off an error, but other than that, our defence was really good too, which is something we’ve spoken a lot about.

JT’s said a lot that having one of the top few defences this year is a benchmark for us and nothing less, so that was a really good result for us on the night.

And that kind of leaves us with this week, which should be a big test for us.

Trials are funny matches to play in, in a way.

One of the biggest things that’s important for us is having the team that will play in Round 1, or close to it, so we can apply some of the positives from the game.

If you have a different team to the one that’s going to play in Round 1, it can be hard to do that so having that normal team really helps people know where they fit in and you can work on all the real combinations and things like that.

The Sharks have got almost a full strength team and so do we so it’ll be good to see how we go and how the boys coming back from injury will go.

They’ve got a solid pack, so I’m just looking to make sure I do my job.

It’s good to come up against the best players in your position so you can test yourself and see where you’re at, so hopefully we’ll go well with all the new changes again and deliver against a team that should be a lot stronger this year.

I’m looking forward to having the likes of Brooksy and Teddy back from injury this week; it’s always good to have boys back from injury.

I think it’ll just be good to see both of them back on the field playing together again; they’re both great guys and I think they’ll be fine once they settle into the swing of things.

There might be some rust but I’m sure they will be fine.

The big thing for us this week is to try and make us more of a solid team.

We don’t want to leak easy points and that starts this week.

Now is the time to get those things right so we’re all good for Round 1.

Bring on the Sharks!

 

[Tigermama]

Exciting. Can't wait for the season to begin!

 

[Geo]

That Ava Guy talks… life off the field

Ava Seumanufagai

Fri 27th February, 04:00PM
Each week, Wests Tigers forward Ava Seumanufagai will give a special inside look at his life in the NRL. Since making his debut early in the 2013 season, Ava has quickly amassed 40 NRL games for the Club, and will be looking for another big year in 2015.

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Hi everyone. Ava Seumanufagai here again for another week, and it’s getting to the point now where all we can think about is the start of footy coming back!

We’re on next week against the Titans, but I don’t really want to talk about that now — we’ll leave that for next week, I think, and talk more about that then.

To be honest, I don’t really want to talk all that much about footy right now, which is sometimes really important to do when you have time off.

You definitely try to keep the mind off footy when you’re not training at Concord or playing games or things like that. You get it a bit from family, asking how footy is going and that kind of thing, but it’s not really what you want to focus on that much when you have a break so I sometimes try to change the subject and keep my mind on other things.

When you talk to the older boys who have been in the NRL a long time, they say it’s really important to have that break between footy and everything else.

I love to go for a swim or walk the dog — I’ve got a French bulldog, so that’s fun.

If not, maybe play some FIFA, some GTA or even a bit of COD.

Or you visit family. That’s always good to do when you have the chance.

It’s a bit hard to do for me because I don’t have that much family over here, everyone else is still in Wellington and New Zealand.

I’m just waiting for the season to start so Mum and Dad can come over and see a few games.

Off the field as well, I’m trying to do some study and that kind of thing to try and make sure that I’m set up for life after footy.

I’ve got to enroll in a Bachelor of Social Work and see how that goes.

Hopefully they’ll accept me mid-semester.

You know, that’s something I’m really interested in and I’m interested as well as doing some work with the NRL like that when I finish footy.

The plan is just to do that part time. If I could, I’d do it full-time, but it’s probably a bit unrealistic to try and do while I’m training and the season is going on.

I kind of see this degree as a stepping stone and something I need to do to have myself in a good position to help some people when I eventually finish.

Not that I’m hoping that’s anytime soon, of course!

I love playing footy too much for that.

I remember when I first started playing in the NRL, it was a bit of a surreal feeling and it was a bit weird to think I was finally playing in first-grade.

But I guess I’m a bit more settled now, and I just think about wanting to do my job for the team more and make sure that I’m performing week in and week out.

At the season launch, they were showing clips of 2014 and I think myself and a few of the other boys got really excited about it the year ahead.

I can’t wait to rip in, and I’ll be doing everything I can to try make that day come sooner in my mind! We’ll talk more about the game next week!

http://www.weststigers.com.au/news/2015/02/27/that_ava_guy_talks_l.html