The ink is barely dry on his new multi-million-dollar NRL contract, but Andrew Fifita has revealed his big plans to play rugby union.
Less than a month after signing a four-year deal reportedly worth more than $3.5 million to join Canterbury from Cronulla next season, making him the highest-paid prop in rugby league history, Fifita says a code switch down the track is inevitable.
The tearaway Kangaroos front-rower, who held discussions with Wallabies coach Ewen McKenzie late last year, says it’s not a matter of if, but when he returns to the game he grew up playing – and loving.
In an extraordinary confession, Fifita even said he wished he picked rugby union over league this month such has been the flak he’s copped for leaving the Sharks.
“If I could go back now, I wish I chose rugby and then I wouldn’t be getting all the s*** I’ve been catching now,” Fifita told AAP ahead of his return against Newcastle on Sunday from a two-match suspension for a shoulder charge.
“I grew up playing rugby so it was one of the best things.
“It’s always going to be there and I will eventually go to union.
“It’s another dream and I just want to chase another dream.
“I’ve pretty much got everything in rugby league except a premiership and that’s all I really want, and to win an Origin series.”
A destructive inside centre or No.8, Fifita represented NSW Country in junior rugby union and earned a place in the Brumbies development squad.
“So I had the opportunity to play for the Brumbies or go to Wests Tigers,” he said.
It’s history now that Fifita chose the Tigers, who offloaded him to Cronulla at the end of 2011.
While his “heart’s still in Cronulla and it always will be” and he also admits “I may end up back here in four years’ time”, Fifita says it’s wrong to say the Sharks plucked him out of reserve grade from the Tigers to give him a second shot at the NRL.
“They never got me out of reserve grade,” he said.
“I was playing first grade and then as soon as I signed for the Sharks they (Wests Tigers) put me back to reserve grade.”
Fifita credits the birth of his 15-month-old son Latu Jay – or LJ – for inspiring his meteoric rise to State of Origin and Test star last season.
“I always knew I could potentially go far in football but I never really committed to it, or didn’t want to show it until I had a child,” he said.
“That really gave me an eye opener that life’s too short. I realised that to give my son the best in life and my wife the best in life I had to succeed in football.
“Last year, as soon as I had him, it was the life changer of my world. My eyes lit up and as soon as I saw that training paddock, I was a hundred miles an hour.
“I had to get out there and flog myself and do those extras off the paddock. That’s where it got me last year.
“I can’t say the Sharks made me the player I am. I changed my life to be that player.”
Bevan Phillips
Guest
Everyone else wishes you chose union as well, Fifita is really showing his lack of intelligence in the storm game
brain
Guest
The economy will sort that out in the long term ;) Unite or die will be the only two choices available for the 3 eggball codes ;) And even then it will only be the small sister of Football ;)
RF
Guest
I think the longer Izzy is in rugby the more this is going to happen. I mean he's really showing people the light here. You get to travel the world representing your country and province playing a genuine international sport. And if you're good enough you become an Idol to kids in all corners of the globe. It's hard to put a price on stuff like that. I hope Fifita and others make the switch. Would love to see more league players in action for the Wallabies! Also hope the ARU look at league as a genuine 3rd tier comp of picking talent for the game.
Crosscoder
Roar Guru
All schools in whatever shape or form,public or private,secure govt grants one way or another(taxpayers' money) to improve facilities ,educational aspects for the benefit of the many. When GPS and Associated schools(hardly some schools) have a sporting policy that includes rugby,soccer,basketball and indeed in some cases AFL,and lays down a barrier to rl,it makes your comment (Reality) appear rather hollow. These are the bastions of the free enterprise system ,yet unable to exercise it when it comes to the sporting curriculum.The old school tie brigade holds sway,as I found during and after my school years.
Crosscoder
Roar Guru
This is not coming from a gent(the irony) whose code poached junior rl players eg Beale via a rugby school,or SBW for that matter,or Burgess. One hundred years of lambasting professionalism,they sure as hell embraced it enthusiastically,when it came to the crunch. Maybe one day the rugby schools will give junior rl players particularly from the bush, who attend,an opportunity to play their preferred code as part of a school comp.Now wouldn't that be a magnanimous gesture.
Crosscoder
Roar Guru
Just like Beale was ripped out of junior rugby league to go to Joeys on scholarship.Fifita is no different.Spare me the emotional claptrap..
Crosscoder
Roar Guru
Actually league does have money as a bargaining chip,it's just the selfies who believe they are God's gift to both rugby codes who ignore it. The ARU has not the money to float a boat,so the RWC is hardly going to lead to an exodus from the NRL. As Izzy is virtually rugby in NSW ,judging by his efforts /PR why would he not stay.Hell they could almost change the name to Izzyball.
john badseed
Guest
Just get the man a job at AWH. I'm sure there are managers out there in tight with the principals.
Sleiman Azizi
Roar Guru
That argument only works if Fifita cares about being a 'superstar' or an 'entertainment brand'. If he has little to no interest in these things, then as long as he is playing well, no team will care that their hands have been nibbled on.
chris
Guest
Can we just have one Rugby code now as what we should of had 100 odd years ago.
Ed Norton
Guest
Yeah because Rugby players love going to league even though it's less money and more entertaining. Oh wait....
Steve Kerr
Roar Rookie
Morally, he's done nothing wrong, but if you want to be a 'strictly business' professional, you need to act like one: talking down your employer, insulting your company and 'customers' is a bad look in any business, and a *terrible* look if you want to be some sort of superstar or entertainment brand. It's a little like when Shia LaBoeuf called his Indiana Jones movie crap. He was right, but he made sure the fans stayed away, and he made sure his co-workers and the people in the industry would think twice about working with him again. Now I know Union isn't Hollywood, but it does look like Fifita fancies himself a 'superstar': if you're looking to build a brand, you don't insult the fans and you don't bite the hand that feeds you.
Dan
Guest
I honestly don't see a single thing wrong or unfair with anything Fifita has said. The guy is a brilliant player and is just being forthright about how sick he is of all the crap he is copping for capitalising on all his hard word by accepting a better contract.
Dan
Guest
Mate, please grab a ladder and get over yourself. Don't you get that Fifita is just expressing his own exasperation with all the sooks and whingers out there who have been attacking him ever since this deal was announced? And for what? For taking a better deal? Seriously, some people need to grow a brain if that's really that shocking to them. Being an NRL player is a job, and if you're good at your job, you're gonna get head-hunted and offered more money. Believe it or not it doesn't make him a bad person for taking it, just like it doesn't make all the clubs evil for spending money on the most promising talent. It's not rocket science.
Dan
Guest
Wow... that's a low blow. O'Connor is a manipulative little twerp who manages to turn people against him at every club and gave his new employers KPIs. He got so hated here that he had little choice but to head overseas. So please, explain to me how Fifita, a hard working team player who basically just wants to get the most our of his playing days for his young family, is like O'Connor? The source of his comments are all the sooks in the NRL who don't get that this is a job to him and that he's got every right to go where he likes if they're offering a better deal. If you want to talk about loyalty and all that, just go back to the 1950s with Tony Abbott and pretend to be English with all the other people here who like living in bygone eras.
I'mastormtrooper2
Guest
Sportsman like Fifita make me wonder, about their greed and psychology ... IGNORAMOUS - A person who bites the hand that feeds you and your family ... The NRL need to wise-up about having people like Fifita in "our" game ... Last weekend, a young man lost his ability to play the game he was hoping and praying to learn and succeed in- a game he loved, supported by those who cared and loved him ... May God bless that young man and may the Rugby League community support him for the remainder of his life. This week, Fafita, who obviously thinks he's above everyone else and or having a career or life ending experience, gets on his high-horse because he's sealed a lucrative contract in a sport he obviously neither loves nor respects ... Except for THE MONEY, and a dream to use Rugby League as a stepping stone to a career in another sport - A sport he wishes he was playing this weekend ... Well, MR FAFITA you don't impress me and personally I don't give a fig about people or sportsman like you, or what the commentators or the Bulldog's believe you are or what you will do for the game or your Club ... Your comment has blemished not only the Bulldogs, but Rugby League - YOU ARE A DISGRACE ... May Karma kick you where it hurts !!!
Scrubbit
Guest
Well I think to a certain extent it can become too miserable for a player. He was a joke in afl (a bad one at that). SBW I'd say only came back to league for money (around 1mil+ per season I believe) so to each his own I guess.
SamSport
Guest
The boxing thing is pushing it a little. SBW can and does make sure he signs these short term contracts, and can box in between them. But who cares -- it's obvious these guys aren't just swapping between codes just for money. That'll upset Cathar and the other diehards. But if it was all about the dollars, why isn't Folau playing AFL this weekend?
Reality
Guest
Calm down, schools can pick whatever games they want to play. Some in my area only play AFl, some League some union, get over it. And all the reporting suggests he was pretty good at union, from what I have read he only started playing league at 18, I'd be interested to see evidence to the contrary.
Scrubbit
Guest
The SBW part isn't true. He earns more at the chiefs because he is allowed to participate in "boxing" (if you can call beating up bums and has beens boxing) as well as the many endorsements he receives which he wouldn't playing in Toulon. But you're right about Thorn though. Folau would probably be playing league if the NRL hadn't of made such a big deal out of trying to force parra to pay 400k