Were you eligible for any other countries?

Yeah, I had Samoa.

Samoa was on the team as well in terms of playing for them.

But I had a conversation with my dad and I was leaning towards Kiwis.

And my dad, since he's Samoan, he's a Matai, I had a feeling he might, you know, favour Samoa, but he gave me the talk and told me that.

He's really gave me everything, my career, he's given me a life.

And for him to say that to me, it's like a, he's off my shoulders a bit.

You really care about your dad's opinion on that sort of thing? It's very family-focused?

How special was that when Stacey Jones gave you the phone call?

Yeah, it was pretty crazy.

Um, as I was saying before, I was just cleaning at home.

And he gave me the call and then just jumping up and down because I saw who it was and then showed my missus, shoved it in her face-

Could you ever have imagined this is how 2026 would play out for you? And have you had a chance to reflect or not yet?

Nah, I had no chance to reflect yet.

Uh, sort of wanna, you know, get through with this and, yeah, that'll, that'll come later on.

But, yeah, just happy the way the season's, my season's gone so far and sucks the way that I, you know, I ended it, but it is what it is, and move on.

Did you feel that

over the weekend? Yeah, a little bit.

I think that's what Webby's really good at.

He's making our roles more simpler each time the round goes on.

And he just made it clear, like, at the end of the day, it's rugby league.

Like, you don't need to complicate it.

And if you are, we've got people that help us.

The younger guys, who's leading that charge? I'd

How long did it take for that process?

Oh, no, yeah, so, do you remember my blonde tips at the start of the year? Yeah, I remember that.

Yeah, so I went to try, like, I went to professional and done that, and then I tried to do it myself to get more.

I ruined it, turned orange, went back to black, and I thought I'll just leave it at that, and then this hairdresser reached out to me.

So, yeah, it was all done by professionals, so, yeah.

I mean, are you guys feeling good about and trying to stay in the zone or have you got lots of noise on the outside at the moment?

Yeah, when I saw that at training, I rocked up and was like, oh, damn, we're actually here, Final 40.

But I think it's just trying to, like, avoid any, you know, like he told us, you know, just don't read anything on social media.

People think you're being thrown in there, but you have got some miles on the clock with these boys, haven't you?

Yeah, yeah.

I would say me and Ali were the experienced ones on our edge, and I felt like obviously even though we did win, we probably didn't want as much as we conceded.

But yeah, we got a little bit of experience in terms of, you know, not new, but yeah, we got experience there.

Is that right?

Yeah, yeah.

No, we go way back.

I think we first met at the Warriors Academy.

What, what are the small percentages that you're still working on as a team?

Um, obviously last weekend with the Bunnies, just probably our right side.

That was myself included, just our edge defense.

Feel like if we can chase that this week with, you know, obviously Pong is shifting, um, their teams are yardage shift team.

So if we can shut them down and have less tries scored on us then-

How do you find that mix?

mix?Yeah, I think we talk about it.

Um, like when we, it forces us to play footy and if, you know, if offload's on or if the pass is on, then so.

What, what are the small percentages that you're still working on as a team?

Um, obviously last weekend with the Bunnies, just probably our right side.

That was myself included, just our edge defense.

Feel like if we can chase that this week with, you know, obviously Pong is shifting, um, their teams have yardage shift team.

So if we can shut them down and have less tries scored on edge then-

How do you find that mix?

Yeah, I think we talk about it.

Um, like Webby forces us to play footy and if, you know, if offload's on or if the pass is on, then throw it.

What, what did it feel like to, to get that win over, over the Panthers?

Yeah, it was a good one.

Um, you know, it was a special week.

Um, you know, all the boys practicing the haka, um, indigenous round, and sort of just to give back at Penrith for, you know, earlier in the year.

And then, yeah, it was a special night.

Did the haka, made history, and then put on a performance like that and, you know, pretty much we sort of benchmark for how we wanna play for the rest of the year.

You- nothing's changed, so it's gonna be the same team from, from, uh, the Panthers match.

Yeah, um, so whatever, uh...

Has that always been a strength for you? And every time there's a kick on the six, you're putting your hand up for the kick as the kicker to you?

Yeah, it's something I've sort of always, not always had, but I used to play wing when I was playing union.

So I had some aerial experience and then just in pre-season, just working on my craft and just trying to work on the technique properly and just pretty much compete for the ball.

What does that look like for you? And what has been the conversation to ensure that that message is delivered come game day?

Yeah, I think he's just more talking about once we're in the arm wrestle flow, things are just going back and forth, I think, just in attack.

And as a background, making sure that if the halves want to pull shape, I'm running my lead line as hard as I can and, you know, either sitting down three men or getting through the three men.

And it's just like having more options in attack rather than more just going through the cycle.

But, yeah, that's probably what he means by throwing more punches.

Has that always been a strength for you? And every time there's a kick on the six, you're putting your hand up for the kickers to kick it to you?

Yeah, it's something I've sort of always, not always had, but I used to play wing when I was playing union.

So I had some aerial experience and then just in pre-season, just working on my craft and just trying to work on the technique properly and just pretty much compete for the ball.

What does that look like for you? And what has been the conversation to ensure that that message is delivered come game day?

Yeah, I think he's just more talking about once we're in the arm wrestle flow, things are just going back and forth, I think, just in attack.

You know, as a background, I'm making sure that if the halves are in poor shape, I'm running my lead line as hard as I can and, you know, either sitting down three men or getting through three men.

And it's just like having more options in attack rather than more just going through the cycle.

But, yeah, that's probably what he means by throwing more punches.

Has that always been a strength for you? And every time there's a kick on the six, you're putting your hand up for the kickers to kick it to you?

Yeah, it's something I've sort of always, not always had, but I used to play wing when I was playing union.

So I had some aerial experience and then just in pre-season, just working on my craft and just trying to work on the technique properly and just pretty much compete for the ball.

What does that look like for you? And what has been the conversation to ensure that that message is delivered come game day?

Yeah, I think he's just more talking about once we're in the arm wrestle flow, things are just going back and forth, I think, just in attack.

You know, as a background, making sure that if the halves want to pull shape, I'm running my lead line as hard as I can and, you know, either sitting down three men or getting through three men.

And it's just like having more options in attack rather than more just going through the cycle.

But, yeah, that's probably what he means by throwing more punches.

You know, what are you expecting from them this weekend?

Yeah, obviously, we've seen them earlier in the rounds this year.

They're a good footy team and, you know, if we give them a sniff then...

It'll be a bad day for us, but hopefully we can just be on our toes and just be ready for them.

What are your thoughts on that?

No, I'm happy.

Those boys have been carving away a cop and if they get on, I know that they'll do the job.

I'm just happy to be next to them when they

Um, what, what are you happy with and, and what do you still want to work on to, to develop your game even further?

Um, yeah, there's a lot of things to be happy with, but, um, I just feel like if I can just keep improving each game, um, learning off the experienced boys like Kepwell, boys in my position, Morata, um, just chipping their brain off, uh, even more, um, then, you know, probably help my footy IQ a bit, um, and yeah, help me be efficient around the field.

Do you know exactly when you're gonna take the field?

Um, no.

So ever since the rule came in, he's pretty much told the whole team, whoever's on the bench, doesn't matter if you got 17 or 18, like just be expected to play 'cause like the rules sort of work in his favor.

You know, if a outside back goes down and we have a fullback on the bench, then, you know, why not put him on the field? It just makes sense and it's just stuff like that.

So he's told us just to be ready if you're on the six-man bench.

Um, you know, don't just because you're at the seven- uh, the 18, 19, don't, you know, slack off or don't think you're not playing.

Do, do you feel like you, you really belong at in, in first grade?

Yeah, I feel like, um, what would you say? Getting a bit comfortable.

Um, you know, this is my third year playing NRL now.

Debuted in '24, two years young.

And then, no, yeah, just feel like every game just getting a bit comfortable and, um, what is it? Uh, it's just, it's just nice having those older players with the experience, you know, around me and guiding me and, you know, making sure that we're still training hard for us, and yeah

Do you know exactly when you're gonna take the field?

Um, nah.

So ever since the rule came in, he's pretty much told the whole team, whoever's on the bench, doesn't matter if you got 17 or 18, like just be expected to play.