SHOULDERING NEW CHALLENGE

Younger cousin of Titans enforcer David Fifita faces biggest task in rugby league when he takes on the Townsville Blackhawks in Qcup

JOJO Fifita has barely scratched the surface of his rugby league education, but already he faces an enormous test against one of the Queensland Cup’s finest wingers.

Having been parachuted into the Gold Coast Titans squad as a schoolboys rugby union star, the 19-year-old is now free of a shoulder injury that hindered his 2021 campaign.

Fifita will be put to the biggest challenge of his career for Tweed against the Townsville Blackhawks when he faces off against Kalifa Faifai Loa in North Queensland on Sunday.

“I was actually working for the Titans when Kalifa was there, I knew him well,” Tweed Seagulls coach Ben Woolf said.

“I think it will be (Fifita’s greatest challenge) and I think Kalifa will challenge him on a few things out there. It’s going to be tricky.”

JOJO Fifita has barely scratched the surface of his rugby league education, but already he faces an enormous test against one of the Queensland Cup’s finest wingers.

Having been parachuted into the Gold Coast Titans squad as a schoolboys rugby union star, the 19-year-old was hindered by a shoulder injury throughout his 2021 campaign.

However, the athletic flyer is at last free of those setbacks and he has taken to the Tweed Seagulls flank with a vengeance in his first four games of senior rugby league.

Averaging 116 running metres a game, to go with four tries and five linebreaks, Fifita has showcased the natural ability that pegged him as a future Titan before even picking up the Steeden.

But despite the hype around the youngster, and his continued presence in the NRL side’s extended game day bench, Tweed coach Ben Woolf has tempered expectations.

He said for the all the flair he brought to the field, and the demands his surname brought as a cousin of Titans’ million-dollar man David Fifita, there were still areas for him to grow.

“He’s really improved but he’s still very green. When the comp started he had only played a handful of league games in his life because of his shoulder injury,” Woolf said.

“He’s improving, he’s learning how to get tougher yardage carries and he’s willing.

“He’s very athletic, I don’t know exact numbers but he runs under 11 seconds over 100m, and for his size and physique to run that speed is very impressive.

“He’s a really good kid and has the ability to learn quick. (But) I think he needs a good year of Queensland Cup under his belt before he looks above.”

Fifita will now be put to the biggest challenge of his career thus far against the Blackhawks when he faces off against Kalifa Faifai Loa.

The Townsville veteran, and former Seagull and Titan, has undergone something of a renaissance since the ill-fated 2020 campaign that ended due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Since the competition returned, the 32-year-old has run for more than 100m a game in every appearance he has made.

With 62 tries from 97 Qcup clashes, to go with his pair of Test caps for New Zealand, Faifai Loa has defied his age to be arguably the Blackhawks’ most threatening prospect.

For Woolf, the match up against the 75-NRL game strike weapon was just the task Fifita needed to truly see how far he had come.

“I was actually working for the Titans then when Kalifa was there, I knew him well,” Woolf said. “I think it will be (Fifita’s greatest challenge) and I think Kalifa will challenge him on a few things out there.

“It’s going to be a tricky one.” Tweed will be without the services of hooker Brent Woolf, who dislocated his shoulder in the club’s last outing against Burleigh.

He is set to be sidelined for four weeks, with former Canterbury Bulldog Craig Garvey to assume the number nine jumper.