Moimoi claims former coach betrayed him
Parramatta cult hero Fuifui Moimoi claims he was ‘‘betrayed’’ by Eels coach Brad Arthur in his final year at the club, alleging a personal vendetta denied him the opportunity to play his farewell match at Pirtek Stadium.
Moimoi, now with the Leigh Centurions in England’s secondtier competition, is about to release his biography Fui Speaks and reveals the story of one of league’s men of mystery, a player who wriggled out of interviews by telling journalists ‘‘English no good’’.
At a time when NRL player workloads are an issue, his language couldn’t be more cutting in describing the anger he feels towards Arthur, saying they fell out when he refused to return early to pre-season training after representing Tonga in the 2013 World Cup.
‘‘I think Brad was angry at me from the beginning of the [2014] season because I wanted to go home to Tonga after the World Cup,’’ wrote Moimoi. ‘‘Test players were supposed to get time off after the World Cup before returning to training, but he wanted me to come in early. Every player in the NRL gets a certain amount of time off at the end of each year. Apparently he did not care about this for me. I asked him why and he said, ‘I don’t want you to train, I just want you to come in and be around the boys’.
‘‘I said it was a waste of time for me to come back early, and tried to explain that my family lived overseas, I had a baby living in the States and I needed to see my mum and brother in Tonga. I said, ‘I don’t have enough time’ and he told me that if I didn’t return to the Eels early then don’t be upset if I ended up missing the first five games. I couldn’t believe he tried to pressure me like that, but as I’ve mentioned earlier, I’m not the type of person to get angry or blow up.
‘‘So I just told Brad, ‘well, if that’s what you want, I’m happy with that’.’’
‘‘He said he’d give me a bye week off to go to see my family later in the year. I said I didn’t need that week off and that I’d rather spend time with my family straight after the World Cup, which was at the end of a long year. But Brad just wouldn’t budge and I started to get frustrated with him.’’
Arthur wouldn’t comment, but a club spokesperson said Moimoi was considered a Parramatta ‘‘legend’’ and is respected for having played more than 200 firstgrade games there.
Instead of being strongarmed by Arthur to return to Australia straight after the World Cup, Moimoi was granted an extended break. ‘‘Fui was provided an extra three weeks of leave,’’ said the spokesperson. ‘‘He was contacted by the club once he had failed to return . . . by the agreed time.’’
While Moimoi said he was better than the some of the 17 players selected for the final game at Pirtek Stadium, the club spokesperson said he was promoted to first grade towards the end of the 2014 season because Junior Paulo was suspended.
‘‘Paulo returned to the side [against] Manly after serving a two-week suspension,’’ he said.
Moimoi wanted to know why Parramatta’s Australian and New Zealand representatives appeared to receive more favourable treatment but he was enraged by Arthur’s suggestion he promised Ricky Stuart he would return early after representing Tonga.