Coach Rennie moves to reassure Fijian flyer
Aphone call from the new Wallabies coach has shored up Fijian-born Storm NRL winger Suliasi Vunivalu’s move to rugby later this year.
Dave Rennie called the Melbourne excitement machine from his quarantine base in New Zealand late last week, multiple sources have told the Sydney Morning Herald. Rennie wanted to touch base with the Fijian flyer who played for Auckland’s St Kentigern College, and presumably calm any fears Vunivalu might have harboured about rugby’s recent turmoil affecting the contract he signed with the Reds and Rugby Australia (RA) late last year.
SETTLED NERVES
The move has settled nerves at RA headquarters but will come as a disappointment to Storm coach Craig Bellamy, who benefited from the 24-year-old’s lethal step and finishing class in his side’s 26-12 win over the Knights on Saturday night.
Vunivalu took a floating pass from his captain Cameron Smith metres out from the line, wrong-footed a Knights defender then fended off another to score in the corner.
It typified the strength and precision that would have attracted Rennie, Reds coach Brad Thorn and RA director of rugby Scott Johnson to the Fijian rugby league international in the first place. RA were confident the code was on firm ground contractually, having signed him for two years in December on a monster deal worth a reported A$1.8 million (FJ$2.7m).
FINANCIAL IMPACT
But as recently as last Friday there was doubt over the youngster’s commitment in the face of the financial uncertainty facing rugby, with no broadcast deal in place yet for 2021, no competition structure and the threat of further pay cuts at the end of the year. It is not known whether he will be asked to take a pay cut in his first season.
“If my contract is still there then I’m happy to go on with it but if not then we’ll see where we go from there,” Vunivalu said.
“My kids and family are all here in Melbourne so this is where I want to stay.
“I love the city and especially the club so if they still want me here then I’d want to stay.”
FEED THE DRAMA
Bellamy was happy to feed the drama, telling reporters he would be happy to keep Vunivalu on if things fell over with rugby.
“It’s a funny thing I had a little bit of a chat with him about that this morning. We’d certainly be very, very interested if Suli wanted to stay,” he said.
“But at this stage, I’m not sure rugby union is quite sure of the position they’re in and what they can and can’t do … it’s going to take a little bit of time.
“Having said that if they can’t guarantee that they can honour Suli’s contract then we’d certainly be interested in looking at Suli staying here. I don’t know where that stands and what union are doing with their player contracts.
“We’d love Suli to stay and if we have that opportunity well look at that. He has got a contract with the ARU (Rugby Australia), and Suli’s got to want to do that as well.”
Rennie’s call will not put a reversal beyond doubt, with RA unable to guarantee any player’s contract at this stage of the year.
The remainder of the Australian 2020 competition is now locked in for a July 3 kick-off and backed by broadcaster Foxtel, but the code will not be able to give its players total clarity on its financial firepower going forward until it has decided a competition structure for next year and sold it to a broadcast partner.
REDS ROSTER
Vunivalu would be a welcome addition to the Reds roster and the 12test league international is eligible for a Wallabies call up, having lived in Australia since 2014.
His final season with the Storm will bring to an end a six-year spell in rugby league, during which time he topped the NRL’s try-scoring tally in 2016 and 2017 and won a Premiership in 2017.
Vunivalu grew up in rugby, however, having moved to New Zealand from Fiji when he was 16 to play for Auckland’s St Kentigern College. He also had a stint in the Auckland academy before moving to Melbourne to play for the Storm under- 20s.
At the end of last season, Vunivalu boasted a total of 72 tries in 94 appearances at the Storm and played in the last three NRL grand finals, including the 2016 decider with team-mate and now-Wallaby Marika Koroibete.
-Rugby News