On Wednesday, talented young outside back Moses Suli was released by the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs, the second club to release him in the space of a month.
Both the Bulldogs and his other club, the Wests Tigers, had the same reasons to let him go: laziness.
Suli burst onto the scene as an 18-year-old at Wests Tigers in 2017, signing a contract that was reportedly the largest for a player yet to make his first-grade debut.
He went on to debut for Tonga in the mid-year Pacific Test, before an ankle injury brought his rookie season to an end. In his time out of the game, Suli piled on a stack of weight, with reports in January revealing he had gained 15 kilograms over the off-season.
He was also renowned for showing up late to training, leaving early and even sleeping in his car before arriving. This was enough for the Tigers to release him in early February.
He was quickly snapped up by the Bulldogs, but his problems followed him out to Belmore. The Bulldogs did everything they could to help him, moving him to closer to their training base at Belmore Sports Ground and having senior players, namely former Tigers captain Aaron Woods, mentor him.
This still didn’t help Suli and within three weeks Canterbury were ready to terminate his contract. He begged for one last chance and received it, but showed up late to training once again and was released on Wednesday.
Suli’s story is one that has been heard before. A young player brimming with talent, but lacking in motivation and effort.
Many players have missed out on NRL careers because they were lazy, believing natural talent would be enough for them to make it as a first-grader.
Some of these players have been able to turn it around, such as Latrell Mitchell who was dropped for a month due to a poor attitude in 2017.
He was able to turn it around and get back into the team playing a key role in the Sydney Roosters top two finish.
Some have taken several years to get it right. However, there are plenty of others that have not made it back, disappearing from the NRL forever.
Moses Suli’s double sacking must be a warning for all players, current and future, that they can’t just sit back and rely on talent to make it in the NRL.
The greatest players in the game are also the greatest trainers.
Cameron Smith, Paul Gallen, Billy Slater, Johnathan Thurston, Cooper Cronk all put in the hard yards on and off field and have been rewarded with 15+ year careers and massive contracts.
Young players have to follow their example, they have to put the effort in, otherwise they will be nothing more than a footnote in the game’s statistics.
The Barry
Roar Guru
WDD - I really think this might be the best thing for him. Because of the masssive deal he signed he’s not had that part of his career of being a young bloke at a club, playing with his mates and working hard to get an opportunity. Hopefully Manly have signed him to an incentive or performance based deal and not a mega bucks contract. I’m sure there’s Tigers and Dogs fans that hold a grudge but I just hope he gets his head sorted and does what he wants to do, be that rugby league or whatever else. Come speak to me when he’s playing first grade and destroying teams though - my take might be a little different.
William Dalton Davis
Roar Rookie
Already signed I heard. Wanted to go to manly because all his friends play in the 20s there. I hope he didn’t get himself sacked just to go hang out with his mates.
The Barry
Roar Guru
...and embracing him in the family club culture. After a few weeks it will be “mum who...?” ?
Gray-Hand
Guest
Apparently it involves tearing some poor, naive, young lad away from his loving family!
The Barry
Roar Guru
I agree Rob. But I doubt it’s the young bloke getting other clubs on the phone and selling himself. The irony is it would be in the manager’s own best interest to look after Suli and try to ensure that he has a long, successful and lucrative career but it seems he can’t look beyond squeezing out the next short term, big money, ill fated deal.
Rob
Guest
While I can appreciate what all of you have said previous to me, the fact that his manager is already talking to Manly says a lot to why I can not feel so sad for this young kid. Granted he may be under pressure from his family, so are many other people from other cultures and walks in life but aren't getting paid no where near the amount of money of what this kid was going to be paid. The way I see it is he got excited about the money but didn't want to put in any real hard work. Maybe they need to go back to the days where league players had full time jobs to get paid and the reason they played was for the love. Talking to a new club so soon shows to me that nothing was learnt from this at all and the fact that it is Manly, who 6 of his mates were playing in the NYC finals last year clearly doesn't bode well on any level when we look at this. Why hasn't anyone from NRL HQ stepped in to see if this kid needs help? Why did he not learn from the second club dumping him? Why has his manager not been spoken to? and if he has been, what was the outcome? So many questions could be asked and never seem to be. The wheels keep turning and in the meantime the NRL never learns from it's mistakes.
Emcie
Roar Guru
according to foxsports he's already in talks with another club
The Barry
Roar Guru
Gray-Hand? You should call yourself backhand...? What about our culture...?
Gray-Hand
Guest
Also, they did cut him loose within a reasonable time after they realised that he wasn’t ready for professional football. It’s a bit sad how it’s turned out, but he’ll almost certainly get another chance with another club down the track. I think this is possibly the only example over the last 18 months of the Bulldogs actually managing an issue fairly and appropriately.
TK
Guest
Just seems like he was under a lot of pressure built was put on him, with no real guidance. Seeing as he is a Pacific Islander *like myself* a lot of pressure comes from your family to be able to support them and what not. Which means at 18, he could be forced into the situation without no real choice. We see how young teens even struggle to go to school when they don't want to. Majority of us don't even like to go work, but we are kinda forced/have to. Just seems like Suli was forced into the situation he is in, with no real decision coming from him.
Nat
Roar Guru
I read they also moved him into a 'Bulldog' house to encourage him to get with the boys and make it to training and interact more. You can only do so much before they are expected to help themselves.
Rick
Guest
The amount paid to sign him by the Tigers was ridiculous for somebody who had yet to play in the NRL. The expectations, and resultant stress, being put on these young people is absurd and borders on criminal.
The Barry
Roar Guru
Maybe. I don’t know what happened at the Tigers but the Bulldogs set him up with a couple of senior players as mentors including Woods who he knows. The Dogs moved him into a club house near Belmore so he could get to training. He was repeatedly late for training to the point that he was sent home for a few days to think about it. He wasn’t putting in at training, he was constantly trying to get into the rehab group to avoid training. I read this morning that while other players would show up to a 8.30 session at 8.00 to get strapped and changed, he’d show up at 8.27 thinking he was on time. Despite the warnings his behaviour never changed. The Dogs were ready to sack him last week but on Monday he begged for another chance. He was late to training that afternoon. This was all in the space of a month. My understanding is that the expectations were made clear to he and his manager up front. While I believe a different approach initially would have been better, unfortunately once you’re on 300k a season there are expectations that come with that. I don’t think ‘mothering’ him would do him any favours. Setting expectations for him that differ from everyone else is bad for him and bad for the club. The Dogs probably erred signing him to another big deal. They would have been better structuring it so that he could get to the 300k (or more) based on performance. If Suli does want to play footy this might be the best move for him. Play u20s park footy for a while. Try and get a NYC contract. Do what other blokes his age are doing to crack the big time. I think he’ll know pretty quickly if he wants to play or not. He was on a 300k NRL contract before he’d completed a NYC game. It all seems a bit silly in hindsight and hasn’t done him any favours.
Nat
Roar Guru
We've all know/know of someone who had tremendous talent but without the mental strength to commit to the rigors of professional football. It's unfortunate for this young man that his fall has been so public. I think it's unfair to call him lazy because at 19 just without the required discipline that was never required from him as a young superstar. We should laud those who do make it at that age instead of crucifying those who didn't.
Lachy
Guest
If that's the case the Barry, then it shows a lack of senior leadership at both the tigers and bulldogs. Senior players should have recognised this and spent more time helping him mix in, and even having someone collect him for training. Dragons have a bus, Im sure the dogs could as well. Probably needed more mothering than kicking to the kerb
peeko
Guest
agree with you Barry, this is an over simplistic article viewing Suli as just being lazy. even the sensationalistic telegraph gives a deeper insight into the life of Suli today and suggests reason for what has happened
Emcie
Roar Guru
I have concerns that the signing of players as a young age has the potential to become a big issue for the NRL down the track. Much like concussions, we're only one impact study away from people deciding/realising that this is a much biggger issue then it appears. The current system doesn't have much in the way protections for young players and is a recipe for a bad news story
The Barry
Roar Guru
Yes he lacked motivation but it’s a sad story in a lot of ways. Apparently he’s painfully shy, found it difficult to mix with older players that he didn’t know and just wanted to play with his mates. I don’t think the massive contracts did him any favours. Reading between the lines it seems like it’s sent an immature young man hurtling down a pathway he just wasn’t ready for. No doubt there are the “suck it up princess” brigade “you’re only earning 300k a year”. And that’s ok to a point. It’s hard for clubs under pressure to lock up the precocious talent but in this case it seems getting to know the person may have lead to a more suitable strategy. Really the person best suited to protect his interest - his manager - is the person least likely to do so. “Add another zero and we’ve got a deal ! What’s my cut !” Hopefully Suli can get his head together and work out what’s important to him. If that’s rugby league - great. But either way good luck to him.