Shannon Frizell is an early riser
Kahu Marfell, said we’ve got to get this kid. Before we know it he’s at Kahu’s club, Marist.’’
Frizell’s parents, who often flew to New Zealand to watch their son play for Tasman the past two years, made the trip to Nelson when he signed with the province in 2016.
‘‘Everyone knew he was something special, and we all think he’s going to be better than his brother, who is obviously a very, very good league player,’’ Lewis said.
Frizell impressed in his first season with Tasman in 2016, but it was last year when he started raising eyebrows, even before he went on to make seven appearances at lock, one at blindside flanker at one at No 8 in the NPC.
During a pre-season match between Counties and Tasman about a year ago, Frizell put on a show in front of scouts and agents from most New Zealand and Australian Super Rugby sides, Lewis said.
‘‘Everyone was fighting for him, from the Brumbies, to the Crusaders, to the Highlanders. They were all after his signature, so you knew he was something special.’’
Though Frizell ended up in Dunedin, his preference was to play for the Crusaders.
‘‘To be honest, Shannon never wanted to go to the Highlanders but his agent drove a pretty hard bargain that he wanted game time. If he’d gone to the Crusaders he would have got a lot of games this year, but at that stage there was Kieran Read and there was All Blacks everywhere,’’ Lewis said.
‘‘I think Shannon was looking at needing game time. The Crusaders were quite upset to lose him. And Tasman, from our perspective, we would have preferred it if he’d gone to the Crusaders.’’