TINOHADA GRANDPLAN
TITANS-bound Tino Fa’asuamaleaui is one win away from an NRL premiership with the Melbourne Storm and it’s all happened because he rejected the advances of two rival clubs.
The North Queensland Cowboys and Sydney Roosters tried to lure Fa’asuamaleaui in recent years but he ultimately decided his future was with Melbourne.
TINO Fa’asuamaleaui will be a key weapon for the Storm in Sunday night’s NRL grand final against Penrith but the Melbourne giant could easily have joined glamour club the Roosters or the Cowboys.
The Roosters and Cowboys were so keen on Fa’asuamaleaui they invited the former Broncos young gun to inspect their respective set-ups in 2017.
At the time, the Cowboys were on the way to making the 2017 grand final, which they lost to the Storm, while the rich Roosters were on the verge of two consecutive premierships in 2018-19.
The 112kg back-rower or prop, off contract at the Broncos and unsure of his future, flew to Townsville for talks with then Cowboys coach Paul Green before heading to Sydney to meet Roosters mentor Trent Robinson.
Fa’asuamaleaui, who will join the Gold Coast Titans next year, has been a revelation this season for the Storm and is set to make his Queensland debut in Origin I on Wednesday week.
“I spoke to the Cowboys,” he said.
“I met with Paul Green and I looked around the set-up in Townsville, but I just felt the Storm had a special culture as a club and I have never regretted my decision.”
Fa’asuamaleaui’s manager Simon Mammino said the 17year-old rookie was blown away to meet the likes of Robinson, Green and Storm coach Craig Bellamy.
“Tino was chased by four clubs including the Roosters, the Cowboys and Newcastle,” Mammino said. “The Knights didn’t end up putting an offer in but the Roosters and Cowboys went hard.
“We flew up to the Cowboys, we looked at the set-up and Tino had a good chat with Paul Green.
“Then we flew to Sydney to meet with the Roosters and inspect their set-up. It was a pretty extensive process.
“In the end, the Roosters also pulled out. I don’t know the reason why but Tino did speak to Trent Robinson.
“The clincher for Tino was the system Melbourne had. They probably showed more desire to get him than any other club and Tino, being a country kid (from Gympie), liked that Melbourne were a bit isolated from the rugby league hype in Sydney.
“He has a great work and liked Melbourne’s culture of working hard.”