Stefano Utoikamanu #241

[Geo]

'Hardest decision in my life': Utoikamanu grateful to Eels for debut despite switch to Tigers
Adrian Proszenko
By Adrian Proszenko
July 21, 2020 — 5.00pm

Stefano Utoikamanu says the decision to leave Parramatta was the hardest of his life, but is grateful it hasn’t cost him the chance to play in the NRL this year.

Utoikamanu will join Thursday night’s opponents, Wests Tigers, from next season after accepting a lucrative three-year deal. The Tigers have been agitating for the Eels to release him early, but the blue and golds refused.

Rather than hold Utoikamanu’s defection against him, the Eels handed the former Australian Schoolboys star his first-grade debut against Newcastle a fortnight ago. His involvement was limited to one hit-up, but the prop retained his place in the loss to Manly and will get a chance to face his future employers at Bankwest Stadium.

Utoikamanu’s transfer to the joint-venture outfit hasn’t caused the rancour of Ryan Matterson’s switch to Parramatta, with the lead up to the blockbuster clash dominated by suggestions the back-rower left because he didn’t believe the Tigers had a premiership in them.

Speaking for the first time about his own switch, Utoikamanu said he appreciated the chance to make his debut for his junior club.

“Tough decision, but I have to do what is best for me and my family,” Utoikamanu said.

“It was probably the hardest decision I've had to make in my life.

“I stayed here and wanted to put my head down so I could get my debut this year. I’m grateful that Brad gave me that opportunity.”

Asked if he was motivated to impress against the Tigers before joining them, the 20-year-old said: “Nah, I've just got to go out there and do my job for the boys and make sure I am reliable.”

Utoikamanu’s NRL debut was a short but memorable affair. When the game against the Knights ended, he headed straight to the sidelines to share the moment with friends and family. In doing so, he breached the NRL’s biosecurity measures and was cleared to return to team duties only after relatives passed a COVID-19 test.

“I wasn't thinking,” he said. “Everything just kind of went out of my head. I just ran up to my family, I was happy to see them. It was not the best decision I have made.

“Everyone just celebrated my first game and got me all those necklaces and stuff to show how much they love me. It was good. I love them also.

“I had no clue. I was scared. Lucky Sults [Eels football manager Craig Sultana] helped me out a bit, or a lot. He pretty much got all my work done for me. I was scared, shitting myself.

“I thought maybe I might be out for two weeks, or I didn't even know how long. It was scary.”

Asked which was more confronting - the ramifications of his biosecurity breach or telling Arthur he had signed with the Tigers - the front-rower replied: “I don't know, they're both pretty scary.”

 

[Geo]

Doesn't sound like a young man who will backflip no matter what Parwa try..

 

[Cairnstigers]

I thought it was nice he got Lei'd in the end..

You should be flayed for that joke .....shocking

Dad jokes thread is that way ➡️

Exactly Steve ....he isn't leading from the front again

@hobbo1 for a MOD traineeship

No thanks
I’d prefer to stay a commoner

You could be @willow intern ...you'd love it

I’ve been banned 3 times ..
I’m on my 4th user name ..
And I hold the record for the most weeks spent in the cooler ..
I don’t qualify ?

No makes you the perfect candidate ...you understand when to ban someone ....mein Fuhrer

Go away

?

You should become a MOD
You could be in charge of the QLD branch and you’d get to represent all the two- heads and toad lickers that frequent the forum !

Us toads up here eat you roaches for breakfast
Then when we have finished digesting you we leave you in a little pile on your front door step

 

[TrueTiger]

I thought it was nice he got Lei'd in the end..

You should be flayed for that joke .....shocking

Dad jokes thread is that way ➡️

Exactly Steve ....he isn't leading from the front again

@hobbo1 for a MOD traineeship

No thanks
I’d prefer to stay a commoner

You could be @willow intern ...you'd love it

I’ve been banned 3 times ..
I’m on my 4th user name ..
And I hold the record for the most weeks spent in the cooler ..
I don’t qualify ?

No makes you the perfect candidate ...you understand when to ban someone ....mein Fuhrer

Go away

?

You should become a MOD
You could be in charge of the QLD branch and you’d get to represent all the two- heads and toad lickers that frequent the forum !

Us toads up here eat you roaches for breakfast
Then when we have finished digesting you we leave you in a little pile on your front door step

Geez you Qlders have some very funny eating habits....I always said you lot have strange habits and crap anywhere....:grin: :grin: :grimacing:

 

[Moh]

Doesn't sound like a kid who hates the club to me.

 

[Sco77y]

"Rather than hold Utoikamanu’s defection against him..." Lol, yeah right. He's been a pretty rare sighting so far. Hopefully he's playing for us on Thursday - couple of 5m hit ups with a slow play the ball, knock on's in their own red zone etc.

 

[Elderslie_Tiger]

Doesn't sound like a young man who will backflip no matter what Parwa try..

Not a good start to his NRL career 10 seconds game 1 loss game 2 loss game 3.

 

[balmain boy]

Anyone have the copy of today's article on him in the telecrap? 'Why tigers poaching raid really hurt the eels'

 

[Snake]

Anyone have the copy of today's article on him in the telecrap? 'Why tigers poaching raid really hurt the eels'

There’s a copy in the news agency !

 

[TheDaBoss]

If he has a blunder against us

I will take it with a grain of salt

 

[JC99]

Anyone have the copy of today's article on him in the telecrap? 'Why tigers poaching raid really hurt the eels'

Why tigers poaching raid really hurt the eels

At a Concord coffee shop last November, Wests Tigers coach Michael Maguire laid out a vision for young star Stefano Utoikamanu that would lure him from Parramatta and continue the alarming trend of the Eels losing their best young juniors.

The Tigers had identified prop Utoikamanu and Penrith backrower Shawn Blore as forwards they could anchor their pack around in the next three years.

Blore got an early release from the Panthers and switched to Leichhardt this year, and could make his NRL debut against the Eels on Thursday night

Utoikamanu, at that point yet to play first grade, had a three-year deal worth $900,000 in front of him from the Tigers, and a constant reminder at home of how insecure a future can be.

His older brother, Filia, had shown even more promise than Stefano through the juniors and was expected to become an NRL star before tragedy struck in 2017. Filia suffered a serious neck injury – doctors initially feared paralysis – before he recovered to walk, but will never again play football.

With the Eels having signed props Junior Paulo from Canberra and Reagan Campbell-Gillard from Penrith, and the money and opportunity on offer from the Tigers, Utoikamanu signed with the Tigers.

“It was a tough decision, but I have to do what is best for me and my family,” Utoikamanu said.

“It was probably the hardest decision I’ve had to make in my life.”

But Utoikamanu was already signed by the Eels for 2020, and despite the request for an early release, Parramatta refused.

Eels coach Brad Arthur would not budge, despite the Tigers granting an early release for Ryan Matterson – their best performer last year – to join Parramatta this season.

Matterson, a Parramatta junior, has strenuously denied that he told the Tigers he wanted to leave because they weren’t capable of winning a premiership.
.
Nevertheless, the suggestion alone, and back and forth trading between the club’s players and staff – Eels assistant coach David Kidwell and general manager of football Mark O’Neill were previously employed by the Tigers – has set up a grudge match unlike any other in the NRL.

To Arthur’s credit, rather than leave Utoikamanu languishing in reserves just to spite the Tigers, he has blooded the 20-year-old this season and will throw him in against the club he’ll join next year at Bankwest Stadium on Thursday night.

“I stayed here and wanted to put my head down so I could get my debut this year, I’m grateful that Brad gave me that opportunity,” Utoikamanu said.

But his loss beyond 2020 underscores a worrying statistic — no Parramatta junior who has remained at the Eels has debuted in State of Origin in a decade.

Former skipper Tim Mannah, who played for NSW in 2010, was the last.

Blake Ferguson and Michael Jennings have since represented the Blues, but aren’t Parramatta juniors, while Tony Williams had moved to Manly when he broke through to play Origin in 2012.

Blues coach Brad Fittler named Utoikamanu as a potential Origin bolter earlier this year, comparing him to David Klemmer and Payne Haas, so it was particularly galling for Eels fans to hear of his defection to their rivals across Parramatta Road.

Alex Twal had been another Eels forward of the future. A Junior Kangaroos and NSW under-20s representative standout, Twal signed a three-year deal with the Tigers from 2018, but was released by Parramatta immediately, midway through the 2017 season, to join them.

At the time, Eels officials dismissed Twal’s departure as a blow to their forward stocks, instead talking up the emergence of then 17-year-old props Utoikamanu and his childhood friend Oregon Kaufusi.

But, having spent years investing in their stagnant nursery, to produce an Origin-calibre junior only to watch a rival swoop in and sign him, hurt the Eels.

They had only just started filling the U16, U18 and U20s Origin teams with blue and gold talent after a long, dry spell.

Now, they’ll be looking over their shoulder wondering whether rivals will try to take talented youngsters Sean Russell, Cody Parry and Will Penisini in coming years.

That path from Parramatta’s juniors to the NRL hasn’t always been clear.

Unfortunately for the Eels, amid the much-hyped arrival of Matterson in the off-season, another rising junior star – Uinitoni Mataele — became concerned about his journey to first grade.

The Newcastle Knights sensed an opportunity and poached Mataele earlier this year, infuriating the Eels.

Matterson’s controversial defection sets up a juicy showdown with the Tigers, but for Arthur – who is attempting to secure the Eels their first premiership since 1986, 14 years before Utoikamanu was born – the feud is irrelevant.

“I don’t have time to get caught up in it, it’s just about two good footy teams wanting to go out there for teammates and fans and club and doing their best,” Arthur said.

“This week’s no different to last week, or the week before.”

While Parramatta are second on the NRL ladder and undefeated at home in 2020, the Tigers cannot be dismissed as a club building for the future.

The signings of Utoikamanu and Blore, and retention of Tommy Talau paint a bright future, but Tigers veterans Benji Marshall, Chris Lawrence and Russell Packer are desperate for success in 2020.

Under then coach Ivan Cleary, the Tigers signed Russell Packer in 2018 on a $750,000-a-year deal until the end of 2021 that hasn’t yielded the results they’d hoped

It was only during last week’s 48-0 drubbing of the Broncos, after Tigers staff had identified how to treat a foot injury that had hampered the prop since last year, did Packer show his quality by running 148 metres and making 30 tackles in 52 minutes on the field.

Utoikamanu can expect a rough reception from Packer – who is keenly aware the rookie will be trying to take his starting spot in 2021.

Now seventh on the table and with the third-best attacking record in the competition, the Tigers loom as a tricky opponent not only for their foes but the rest of the NRL.

“I don’t think the boys are actually satisfied with where they’re at,” Maguire said.

“A lot of this is actually coming through the players now, that’s what I’m trying to achieve, is that they control what we’re doing and drive what we’re doing.

“The fact that we’ve done it once, they’re hungry to do it again and again.

“That’s when we can be talked about as the team on the run to where we want to get to.”

 

[BalmainJnr]


 

[pawsandclaws1]

He is a project for Madge ..... and when complete ..... watch out.

I see the same potential in Saab, similar to Luciano Leilua.

 

[cqtiger]

How many runs in first grade did Stefano get with parra this year? Didn’t see anything at all but I didn’t watch a lot of footy.

Will he be a regular first grader with the Tigers or just a fill in? Does he have a good motor or will he be limited minutes off the bench?

Can he tackle?

 

[Moh]

Really haven't seen enough of him, but I do think he'll be a regular off the bench - at least to begin with. What happens from there depends on if he reaches that potential or not.

 

[happy_tiger]

Im guessing he woll need lots of eork on his n
Motor

 

[GNR4LIFE]

Jury is still out for me. I feel like if he was really that good, he’d be a bigger part of the Eels side this year. There’s so much expectation on him that he’ll be labeled a plodder by the halfway point of next season. Mark my words.

 

[momo_amp_medo]

Only young but already with some first grade Experience (curtesy of Brad Arthur) ....... so that’s where it will stay unless he is really really special ..... development of forwards is slow business ...... and if you expect too much too soon you’ll probably be disappointed.
Patience required from those with “nuffy” placards at the ready.

 

[weststigerman]

Don't expect him to hit the ground running round 1 2021, but I'm expecting him to be able to be a good starting front rower by mid 2022.

He's a long term investment.

 

[momo_amp_medo]

Jury is still out for me. I feel like if he was really that good, he’d be a bigger part of the Eels side this year. There’s so much expectation on him that he’ll be labeled a plodder by the halfway point of next season. Mark my words.

Oh really .... here we go .... just can’t wait to write people off.
Sign a mature forward .... a plodder.
Sign young well qualified forward with potential ..... a plodder.
Release a forward in mid development like Siro or Paseka and they turn out good .... it’s crap recruitment or we have crap coach time.
Just can’t win with some on here.