Brotherly love the draw for Cowboys recruit
GEHAMAT Shibasaki wants to help his younger brother Jamal succeed in the NRL, and he was willing to do whatever it took to be there for him.
Shibasaki returned to Townsville last year after NRL stints at the Broncos and Knights, before he played a season of rugby union in Japan with the Green Rockets Tokatsu, where he played under the guidance of former Wallabies and Lebanon rugby league coach Michael Cheika.
The 24-year-old centre completed his inspiring homecoming earlier this week when he signed a one-year deal with the Cowboys. “I had time by myself and I reflected on a lot of things and I sort of wanted to come back home and see my family, my partner and everyone else,” Shibasaki said.
“I just wanted to come back home, I’ve been away for too long.”
He said a big factor in his decision to return to Townsville was Jamal graduating and joining the Cowboys Young Guns program for 2023.
“Jamal is the youngest out of the three of us and I missed out on a couple years with him doing juniors,” Shibasaki said.
“That was another reason why I wanted to come back, because he’s just starting his senior football and I thought I wanted to do it with him and give him some pointers of what I’ve learned in the past, or some of the stuff I could have done better – I want him to do his best.”
Shibasaki made 13 NRL appearances for the Broncos and 14 for the Knights, before his season of rugby in Japan.
In 2022, the former Iggy Park student scored two tries and had 28 tackle-breaks in five games for the Mackay Cutters, averaging 178 running metres per game.
He will bolster the Cowboys’ outside back stocks after the departure of Hamiso Tabuai-fidow.