The incredible events that have led to Auckland mates Starford To’a and Asu Kepaoa playing their first NRL game against each other
What do Sonny Bill Williams, Latrell Mitchell and Alex McKinnon have in common? They all played a role in Auckland duo Starford To’a and Asu Kepaoa hitting the NRL big time. And they face each other on the field for the first time.
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If Alex McKninnon’s career wasn’t tragically cut short by injury.
If Sonny Bill Williams’ Super League club didn’t withdraw from the competition amid the COVID-19 pandemic with crippling debt.
If Starford To’a didn’t move out of home aged 15 to sleep on his sister’s couch.
If Asu ‘AJ’ Kepaoa’s parents hadn’t been so thrilled to watch Latrell Mitchell play that they named their youngest son after him.
This is the extraordinary sequence of events that has led childhood friends To’a and Kepaoa to start against each other on Saturday when Newcastle host Wests Tigers.
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“We started playing club footy back in New Zealand in the under-10s for a couple of years,” To’a said.
“Then we went on to win a national championship in under-15s.”
The year prior, McKinnon’s playing career was ended when his spine was damaged in a tackle against Melbourne Storm.
After rehabilitation, he began working for the Knights in recruitment.
It just happened that McKinnon was tuned into that under-15s match, and urged the Knights to sign To’a.
“I got picked up playing in the national under-15s comp by Alex,” To’a said.
At the same time, Kepaoa had signed with the Gold Coast Titans.
But the Roosters were keen on his talents, and coach Trent Robinson organised to meet with Kepaoa in Auckland in 2017 while his team was in town.
It just so happened that Mitchell was walking past. Kepaoa’s parents were thrilled: “We named our son Latrell after you,” they told him.
It was a done deal, Kepaoa would join the Roosters.
The club’s recruitment expert, Adam Hartigan, was poached by the Tigers last year.
When the Roosters urged Williams to return from Europe last month, after Toronto Wolfpack announced they would not be playing in the coming Super League season, they needed to release a player to accommodate the dual-international.
Hartigan realised the Tigers could swoop on Kepaoa, and the Roosters released the 20-year-old to create space for Williams.
Two weeks later, Kepaoa will make his NRL debut on the Tigers wing, directly opposite To’a, who is playing his second match in first grade.
Even after he’d signed a deal with the Knights at 15, To’a always desired to stay in Auckland, despite bleak prospects beyond a sporting career in his rough neighbourhood.
“I look back and a lot of my friends back home never really made it out,” To’a said.
“It just motivates me to see how far I’ve come and where I could have been.”
The move out of home, and then the move to Newcastle, were two crucial factors to To’a’s development.
“I never wanted to leave my family, I never had a thought of living in Australia, I always wanted to play for the Warriors because it was the home based team,” To’a said.
“But now that I’m here, I’m happy, I’m glad I made a good decision.
“When I went to high school I was always independent, always done things on my own, it wasn’t too different.
“I lived in Glen Innes, east Auckland and school (St Paul’s) was in Ponsonby, one-and-a-half hours away. I did that travel for three years.
“It was cost as well, it was too much for my mum at the time, it was an expensive school.
“The easiest thing was to move in with my sister, she helped me.
“I moved out of home, moved in with my sister so I was away from my parents because it was easier to get to school, so I built that independence.
“Leaving home wasn’t easy, it was a sacrifice I had to make, and has made me who I am now.”
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Watching on proudly from Auckland will be his family.
“My mum was a single mother, she always worked hard for me and my family, she made things possible, so I always wanted to make her proud,” To’a said.
“She was pretty excited when I told her I was playing this week.”
Kepaoa, who also came to Sydney on his own, will have a similar cheering squad back in New Zealand.
To’a said: “We have a good relationship, we’re good mates, last year we played Junior Kiwis together, so we’ve been through quite a bit, me and AJ.
“It feels good to be a part of his debut, it’s a special game for him, and it’s also special for me to play against an old mate of mine.
“We obviously knew we both wanted to achieve it, we never really talked about it but we had the same goal to play in the NRL.”
Rewind 10 years. Two boys, not saying much, but passing a footy back and forth between each other in Auckland, just wondering, ‘What if?’
Originally published as The incredible events that have led to Auckland mates Starford To’a and Asu Kepaoa playing their first NRL game against each other