KEEP MY CULTURE STRONG
Gela-Mosby driven by Darnley Island in his return to the NRL
ALMOST all of the 400 people living on the tiny Darnley Island will gather in front of the island’s one big-screen television tomorrow night as they cheer on Cowboys speedster Gideon Gela-Mosby.
The enigmatic winger makes his return to the Cowboys top grade side for the first time this season, and it could not have come at a better time.
The Cowboys will don their indigenous jersey against the Raiders in Canberra as the NRL celebrates its annual indigenous round. Gela-Mosby was taken aback when he first laid eyes on the jersey, and said he could not wait to represent his island’s culture with pride.
Darnley Island, or Erub as it is known in the local language, is the furthest north you can go before reaching Papua New Guinea, and has a hospital, a school, two general stores and no cars.
It also has no rugby league, but that did not stop a young Gela-Mosby from always dreaming of the big leagues.
Now that he has reached the top level of the game, the 21-year-old winger keeps himself grounded by remembering his roots.
“I always think about the island, and think about going home but life gets hard down here such as training and (you) have to keep going. But every chance I get, I try to go back home,” he said.
“I always remember my roots. I wouldn’t know how many people would be living there now, but I will be playing for all of them.
“There is a bit of resilience, keeping your culture strong and showing where you come from. I love keeping my culture strong. To perform, there is no better place than the NRL, and it is an honour and a privilege that I get to represent my little island on that stage.”
Gela-Mosby has had to show all of that Torres Strait resilience and then some after he was overlooked for a Cowboys wing spot that many thought was his at the start of the season.
The speedster had set the former under-20s competition alight when he first joined the Cowboys, and has since made eight appearances over two seasons in the top grade, scoring six tries.
After Scottish international Kane Linnett left for the Super League this season and an early injury to Kyle Feldt, Gela-Mosby was highly considered for a Cowboys wing spot come Round 1, but missed out to Javid Bowen and Nene Macdonald.
It was a missed opportunity that left the Cowboys hopeful thinking he might never make a return to the top grade.
“At first I did think like that, but coming to training every day with the boys kind of made me push myself to get to the position I am in now,” GelaMosby said.
“It was the off field stuff that I needed to work on and I did that. Just coming to the end of the tunnel now I can see the light and this is where I am now. “I am just going to keep on moving forward and all the stuff that I did wrong, I am going to leave that behind me.”