NRL Finals 2020: How Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad developed through the Altona Roosters in Victoria
Just one player in the blockbuster prelim final between Melbourne and Canberra comes from a Victorian background – and he doesn’t play for the Storm. Read the inside story of how the Altona Roosters created an NRL star.
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There’ll only be one Victorian junior on the field when Melbourne play Canberra on Friday night and he won’t be wearing a Storm jersey.
Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad took a winding road to NRL stardom with the Raiders and it might never have gotten going if not for his days with the Altona Roosters in the Victorian Rugby League.
Nicoll-Klokstad’s family moved to Melbourne from New Zealand when the future Canberra custodian was 15 after his mother was jailed for drug-related offences and the young Kiwi pulled on the boots for the Roosters before he was scouted for the Storm’s SG Ball side.
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A five-eighth in those days, Nicoll-Klokstad has since become one of the Green Machine’s best and was close to best on ground in the win over the Roosters last week.
But back in Altona he didn’t look like a future NRL star.
“If you were to ask me who was going to make the NRL I never would have said Charnze,” former teammate and current Altona president Jackson Brenchley said.
“But he’s the perfect example of someone who didn’t stop, didn’t quit, just kept working on it until he found his way to the top.
“He’d never bag anyone, never giving anyone shit, just the nicest bloke to everyone.
“One of the things that says everything you need to know about Charnze is the time one of the boys had three or four bananas in his bag and when he got them out and they were all crushed and he said ‘they’re stuffed, I’ll throw them in the bin’.
“Charnze said ‘hey, there’s kids starving in Africa. Give them to me and I’ll eat them’. And he did! They were smashed up, absolutely terrible.
“But that says everything you need to know about him. He’s grateful for everything and super humble, and he worked his arse off, he worked so hard.”
Nicoll-Klokstad eventually progressed to the Storm’s Under 20s side in 2014-15, where he played alongside the likes of Cameron Munster, Christian Welch, Suliasi Vunivalu and Nelson Asofa-Solomona, who he’ll face on Friday night.
Nicoll-Klokstad also played alongside Broncos prop Matt Lodge and Canterbury pair Dean Britt and Joe Stimson.
A utility back during his Storm days, Nicoll-Klokstad played fullback, wing, centre and five-eighth through his two years with the club and won back of the year in 2015.
His final game in Storm colours was perhaps his best - playing in the halves in Round 26 of 2015, Nicoll-Klokstad ran in five tries in a 48-12 belting of Brisbane at Suncorp Stadium - the venue of Friday’s preliminary final.
From there he joined the Warriors before ending up at Canberra, where he’s become one of the top fullbacks in the NRL.
“He’s the type of guy who says ‘if you want me to get on a video call, or you need help with anything, I’ll do it’,” said Brenchley.
“We’re incredibly proud of his achievements but you know if you ever needed support if there was anything he could give back to our club he could do it and he would want to do it.
“That’s the stuff we’re most proud of.
“If he was a shit bloke his achievements would still be great, but the type of person he is, that’s what we’re more proud of.
“He’s the type of role model the game needs and the type of person we want kids looking up to.
Altona have produced a handful of NRL players, including former Storm premiership winners Jeremy Smith and Gareth Widdop and homegrown Victorian Jamayne Taumoa-Brown.
Like everyone south of the border, the Roosters have felt the COVID-19 pinch – the club is running raffles to raise funds ahead of their return to the field next season.
For details, visit the club’s Facebook page or altonaroosters.com.au
How the Raiders built a title contender
It doesn’t matter if they’re from just down the road, the north of England or tiny mountain villages in Fiji — if they’ve got the right stuff, they can be a star in Canberra.
The Raiders will gear up for their third preliminary final in five years with the most eclectic playing group of any NRL contender with the Green Machine drawing on talent from all over the rugby league map.
From local products Nick Cotric and Jarrod Croker to star English imports George Williams and John Bateman to rookie Fijian Semi Valemei, so long as they fit in with what the Raiders have built they’ll make it just fine.
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“I think what you need to do is find players who fit the culture of the club, and that’s what Ricky (Stuart) wants here,” said Raiders recruitment manager Peter Mulholland.
“The players need to fit the club rather than the club fitting the player.
“It’s a bit of a different idea but it’s worked a treat and I think it’s important to the success of the club that the players fit what he wants, on and off the field.
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“You can always see their ability, that’s something he looks at and thinks ‘perhaps I can change that, perhaps I can help him improve’ and Rick looks more at what he can do rather than he can’t do.”
Teasing improvement out of recruits has been key in Canberra’s rise to the NRL’s elite.
Jordan Rapana was cutting hair and pulling beers to make ends meet while training with ACT Brumbies before the Raiders took a chance on him — he’s since become one of the best wingers of the modern era.
Likewise, Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad spent a whole year in reserve grade at the Warriors and only joined the Raiders two months before the 2019 season kicked off.
He finished as one of the club’s best in the grand final loss to the Roosters and has only gone from strength to strength since.
More recently, Tom Starling has gone from a train and trial deal to blossoming as an injury replacement for Josh Hodgson while Hudson Young has overcome an 18-month ban for testing positive to a banned substance and two lengthy suspensions for gouging to become a key man in Canberra’s premiership charge.
The knock-on impact of that improvement makes the club a more attractive destination and helps them land bigger fish like Bateman, an English Test stalwart who was a Man of Steel runner-up in 2018.
“Josh Hodgson wasn’t an international when Ricky signed him, Elliott Whitehead was only just on the scene - it attracts others,” said Mulholland.
“We’ve done it without really going out and spending a fortune on recruits.
“We’re paying for Jack Wighton now, but he’s a locally developed kid, we’re paying for Josh Papalii but he’s a locally developed kid, they’ve both been here since Under 17s.”
Valemei is typical of the club’s success stories in recent years.
The 21-year old was unlikely to play first grade this year before COVID and injuries struck - now he’ll lock horns with fellow Fijian Suliasi Vunivalu with a grand final berth on the line in just his tenth first grade match.
“We have a little Academy in Fiji and he was in there. I went over and watched him three or four years ago to watch some games in Nadi,” Mulholland said.
“He’d had a previous experience of going to Caloundra, but nobody liked what they saw and sometimes Fijian passports are expensive for clubs to pursue and there’s no guarantees on them.
“I watched him play and he stayed in our Academy, and we brought him out for a month of trials in January the year after.
“Semi came out, had a trial match and (Raiders assistant coach) Brett White said he wasn’t going home.”
CANBERRA RAIDERS
1. Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad - Let go by the Warriors.
2. Semi Valemei - Spotted playing for the club’s Academy in Fiji.
3. Jarrod Croker - Signed from Goulburn as a junior.
4. Jordan Rapana - Was training with the ACT Brumbies and cold-called Don Furner asking for a chance.
5. Nick Cotric - Signed from Valley Dragons as a junior.
6. Jack Wighton - Spotted playing junior football in Orange.
7. George Williams - The club’s newest English import joined from Wigan this year.
8. Josh Papalii - Spotted playing for Logan Brothers in Queensland.
9. Tom Starling - Let go by the Knights and was headed for Tweed Heads before signing with Canberra on a train and trial after Hudson Young recommended him.
10. Sia Soliola - Joined from St Helens after five years in Super League.
11. John Bateman - One of the club’s few big-money recruits, Bateman signed from Wigan two years ago.
12. Elliott Whitehead - Signed from Catalans Dragons.
13. Joseph Tapine - Signed from Newcastle and joined early as the other side of a player swap for Mitch Barnett.
14. Siliva Havili - Unwanted by the Dragons and rescued from the scrap heap after a strong showing for Tonga in the 2017 World Cup.
15. Dunamis Lui - Former journeyman who went through three clubs in four years before settling in Canberra.
16. Hudson Young - Played SG Ball at the Knights before testing positive to a banned substance kept him sidelined for 18 months. Linked up with Canberra’s Under 20s side afterwards.
17. Corey Harawira-Naera - Signed earlier this year after securing a release from Canterbury.
Originally published as NRL Finals 2020: How Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad developed through the Altona Roosters in Victoria