Knights’ Sam Mataora looks to young daughter for inspiration to turn his career around
BIG Sam Mataora says the daughter he rarely sees is the inspiration behind turning his career around, declaring: “I want to make something of myself for her”.
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BIG Sam Mataora says the two-year-old daughter he rarely sees is the inspiration behind turning his career around, with the in-form Newcastle prop declaring: “I want to make something of myself for her”.
After picking up three players’ player awards for the Knights in the opening five rounds, Mataora has emerged as one of the game’s most improved forwards.
It comes after an off-season ultimatum from coach Nathan Brown to lose some serious weight or forget about an NRL career at the club as a catalyst for the transformation.
But while acknowledging Brown’s influence, Mataora 25, says his daughter Manea, who is living in Canberra with her mother, is the real driving force behind his early season form after he stripped around 11 kgs from his 117kg frame before the season kicked off.
“Browny told me I needed to lose the weight if I was going to be a part of his plans and I knew I had to do it for my daughter Manea,” he said.
“I want to make something of myself for her and not waste what God has given me.
“I don’t see her too often, which is really hard for me because she is living in Canberra. We (he and his former partner) tried to make a go of it. It didn’t work but we are both happier now.’’
Brown says all the credit for the transformation has to go to his prop.
“We had a conversation about where he was headed and I just told him straight what he needed to do,” Brown said.
“But you have to want to do it. You have to want to make the sacrifices and put in all the hard work and that is what he has done.
“He has cleaned up his diet and trained harder than he ever has and is reaping the rewards for it. He has been really good for us.”
After losing nothing by comparison to big name props Ben Matulino (Warriors) and Jesse Bromwich (Storm) over the past fortnight, Mataora faces another big test up against Wests Tigers skipper Aaron Woods on Sunday at Hunter Stadium.
“It’s another challenge. It’s been a challenge the last couple of weeks with Bromwich and Matulino,” he said.
“I’ll just focus on my own preparation — it’s been working for me so far.”
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Originally published as Knights’ Sam Mataora looks to young daughter for inspiration to turn his career around
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