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New Wests Tigers signing Joe Ofahengaue relieved for change of scenery after Broncos hell
WESTS TIGERS
George Clarke
March 3, 2021 3:49pm
GEORGE CLARKE
Source: FOX SPORTS
Joe Ofahengaue has a lot to get off his chest.
In a new city and with new club, he’s feeling fresh after moving from the Broncos to the Wests Tigers.
“Besides getting swiped off the road, Sydney’s good,” he says with a smile.
“No indicators, no nothing, they push in, everyone’s in a rush. There are some crazy drivers. I’m settling in well, though, and the club has a really good family culture.”
Ofahengaue admits he needed a new start.
A guy who turned out for Queensland as a starting front-rower and played a role in Tonga’s stunning win over Australia was reduced to a shadow of his former self as Brisbane slumped to the wooden spoon in 2020.
It didn’t help that under Anthony Seibold, Ofahengaue changed position every week, give or take. Prop one week, lock the next, followed by a spell in the back-row.
And he’s hopeful that playing in the middle under Michael Maguire on a weekly basis can help him recapture his form after Brisbane’s year from hell.
“Yeah it got really bad... I’m not going to sugar-coat it,” he tells foxsports.com.au.
“Things got really bad and I went away from a lot of things I knew I was good at. I just wasn’t buying into my footy and wasn’t playing to my potential.
“I was starting in Origin the year before that. I think I just let the losses really affect me.
“And that’s not really me. But if you ask any of my teammates, I’m usually the happiest guy in the club.
“I’m the one who is trying to get the boys around me going and get the energy up.
“Yeah, last year was just a really, really bad one for me and the club.”
One of the critiques of Brisbane was their fitness.
Last year it seemed as if they were gassed after 50 minutes where opposition sides would turn the screw and rack up a big scoreline.
“We were fit, bro,” he counters.
“We just weren’t winning, you know?
“And when you’re when you’re losing your players lose belief in your coach, it’s hard to get the team to click because everyone’s minds are in different places.
“You know, some boys maybe believed in the coach. Some boys didn’t, that’s what the Broncos were last year.
Did Ofahengaue believe in Seibold?
“At stages, and I’m not going to badmouth Seibs. I think he was a great guy,” he says.
“I think his coaching strategies were nowhere near what we needed last year.
“Us players as well, we were at fault as well, because we weren’t honest [with Seibold] sometimes. He’d say we need to do this? And as players we just agreed.
“So we played a big part in that as well. It wasn’t just a coach like, I’m not going to fault Seibs. It was on all of us as a club.
“You know, we lost belief in our processes, belief in each other our beliefs, and our teammates and belief in our coach.
“All in one, bro, no one really believed us. And that’s what it showed, you know, that’s not the Broncos spirit.
Another criticism was how Seibold had a gamelan for every 10m section of the field like an NFL-style playbook.
It’s something the Broncos players found frustrating and when things turned sour, they went away from everything they had trained for.
“Sometimes we were just too structured and sometimes some players would get the s**ts and say we don’t want to run that play, or they just didn’t get a match style of footy,” he says. “But that’s all in the past.
“I wish Seibs all the best. And I was pretty sad when he was telling us he got fired, it’s a man losing his job.”
The good news for the Tigers is that Ofahengaue will be staying in the middle.
He’s trained on the edge during the off-season, but that’s purely as a back-up option.
He’s likely to start with James Tamou in the front row when the Tigers face the Raiders in Round 1 and also has eyes on returning to the representative football.
“Tonga is my main goal. I want to play in that World Cup,” he adds.
“If Queensland comes then it’s a bonus. On the rep side of things, Tonga is my main aim and I want to lead with those boys like Jason Taumalolo.
“Hopefully we can go all the way. My main season goal, though, is to play consistent footy for this club. That’s what this club needs and that’s what I hope to deliver.”
