NRL 2023: Inside Addin Fonua-Blake’s journey from outcast to one of the best props in rugby league
He may now be the most in-demand best prop in the game, but just eight years ago Addin Fonua-Blake was sleeping on the floor and training for free. Here’s how the Warriors star survived the NRL scraphead.
NRL
Don't miss out on the headlines from NRL. Followed categories will be added to My News.
Only eight years ago, powerhouse Warriors prop Addin Fonua-Blake was sleeping on a floor, training for free and begging for a chance. Now he is the highest-paid prop in the game, on a contract paying him more than $1 million a season, and has set alight the NRL's free agency market after requesting a release from New Zealand, despite having three years remaining on his current deal.
His story of redemption is one of the tales of the NRL finals series. He arrived at the Warriors after stints at South Sydney, Parramatta, St George Illawarra and Manly, having been banned by the NRL and narrowly avoided a jail sentence.
He has flirted with rugby league oblivion and somehow emerged a player who led the Warriors to last season's preliminary final. It took a remarkable show of faith from former Manly coach Trent Barrett and Sea Eagles legend Bob Fulton to save a career on the brink — and the Warriors to realise his enormous potential.
With rival clubs now on high alert to potentially add the star forward to their roster for the 2024 season, this masthead has revisited his rise from NRL outcast to contender for the crown as the best prop in the game, through the eyes of the coaches who have guided Fonua-Blake’s career.
NRL BEGININGS
Fonua-Blake’s first experience in a professional sporting environment was with South Sydney’s Harold Matthews Cup side in 2011, where he was coached by Chris O’Connell.
It was a squad loaded with potential with the likes of current NRL stars Dylan Walker, Josh Addo-Carr and Alex Johnston key members of the squad.
O’Connell, the head of PE at Marcellin College, had an existing connection to the Fonua-Blake family, having taught Addin’s older brother Tyrone.
It led to a genuine trust between O’Connell and the family which would see the coach often dropping Fonua-Blake home from Rabbitohs training.
“He was 14 and had arrived to us up an age in the local comp, so he was already playing above himself,’’ O’Connell said.
“He was big, he was fast, he was mobile. He was more of an edge backrower back then and he was a lot leaner than what he is now.
“But he could run. He was a gun. I used to pick him up and drop him home from training. He lived at Maroubra, so I’d quite often drop him from Erskineville to his house.
“I always felt that if he put his mind to it, he was going to be better than most. That’s how good he was.
“He was feared. He was intimidating. His reputation preceded him, but he was always kind and respectful.’’
Fonua-Blake didn’t last long at the Rabbitohs. Given his talents, he wasn’t short of suitors. Parramatta took note and swooped on an enormous talent who was living life on the edge.
Fonua-Blake was flirting with trouble off the field when he arrived at the Eels for the 2012 season, playing SG Ball under then-coach Greg Boulos.
The issue wasn’t what he could produce on the field. The challenge was making sure his life was in order off it.
“We grabbed him from Souths at the time,” Boulous said.
“He was strong, powerful and explosive — everything he is at the moment. When he needed to play tough, he could play tough.
“He had that sleight of hand with the skill, he had the late footwork at the line. He just went out and destroyed teams based on natural talent.
“You just knew he had that natural talent, speed and power to be able to dominate sides from that young age. He was able to tear apart forward packs.
“Like all NRL players, Addin has overcome challenges and has developed into one of the dominant forwards in the NRL.”
Fonua-Blake lasted one season at the Eels before he landed at St George Illawarra. In 2014, he co-captained the side and was named on the interchange bench in the NYC team of the year.
He finished the 2014 season being named in the Junior Kiwis side alongside Nelson Asofa-Solomona, Joseph Tapine, Sione Katoa and Te Maire Martin.
Former Dragons premiership-winning captain Ben Hornby knew from the moment he first laid eyes on Fonua-Blake in 2013 that he was special, offering a frightening insight into what made him so-Blake special.
He described the Warriors spearhead as the epitome of what a dream NRL front-rower should look like.
“He turned up at an SG Ball trial at St George and as soon as I saw him run on the field and said ‘we have to get him’,” Hornby said.
“Parramatta were good enough to release him to us and he had a couple of good years. Saints wanted to keep him, but Manly had a bit more money to give him.
“He’s always been good, he’s just getting noticed more now. I believe he’s still got more (improvement) in him. He’s got that intangible that you need as a front-rower to start off with and that is that most people are a bit scared of him.
“You put the skill, footwork and offload, that’s a pretty good package when you’re looking at a front-rower. When you walk out onto the field, there’s two things that happen.
“The other team is a little bit scared and your team is a little bit more confident. It’s a great attribute to have. In his own age group he was obviously even more devastating.
“It’s just great to see him fulfilling his potential, I always liked him as a person.’’
Fonua-Blake signed a new deal with the Dragons before he found trouble again. In January 2015 he was stood down by St George Illawarra after pleading guilty to assaulting his girlfriend.
The club eventually terminated his contract midway through 2015 and he was forced to rely on a lifeline from Manly to revive his career.
Fonua-Blake was told he would be free to resume training with Manly on November 1, played five games in the NSW Cup and was finally granted a clearance to start his NRL career after the integrity unit was satisfied that he had completed a counselling and development program.
Barrett handed him his first grade debut against his former club Parramatta in round seven.
“He got into strife and was not playing,” Barrett said.
“Me and Bozo (Fulton) went and saw him and (Fonua-Blake’s agent) Tyran Smith. He was just looking for an opportunity. We had to go through a fair bit of stuff with the integrity unit.
“The thing that struck me with him was he trained the whole pre-season and was there at 5am every morning — we had to get him fit because he was overweight — for no pay until Christmas.
“We said if you can do that, we will give you a contract. He did it and was never late. He worked really hard and he had to.
“I think he was living with his mum, sleeping on the floor. He had Ana (his partner) and the young kids. He had no money.
“It is a fair story to where he is now. He has kicked on from there. He is one of the best front rowers in the comp now.
“The biggest thing with Addin was surrounding him with good people. He is a larrikin — most of the good ones are.
“He was very popular with his teammates as well. Ana, his partner, is a lovely person as well. He has unbelievable footwork and unbelievable power, and he is extremely smart. He knows footy.
“He certainly isn’t stupid. His footwork and power was there — we had to get him fit. I enjoyed coaching him — good bloke and a good player.
“You always have a soft spot for certain players and he was a bloke I did have a soft spot for.”
Fonua-Blake spent five years and played nearly 100 games at Manly. It wasn’t all smooth sailing. In round eight of 2020, Fonua-Blake was sent off after full-time in a match against Newcastle for abusing referee Grant Atkins.
He apologised but at the end of that season, with two years remaining on his contract, Fonua-Blake handed in a transfer request. He wanted out of Sydney.
There were all sorts of stories behind his desire to leave. Whispers of being chased by bikies and wanting more money. Fonua-Blake insisted his sole motivation was to start a new life for his family at the Warriors.
It appeared a marriage made in heaven but now looks like being cut short as personal reasons have him seeking a return to Australia, rated alongside Payne Haas and James Fisher-Harris as the top props in the game.
The Warriors have thrived under the coaching of Andrew Webster and Fonua-Blake had laid the platform for halfback Shaun Johnson to produce one of the best seasons of his career.
“I actually coached against him in the under-20s when he was at the Dragons,” Webster said.
“He is just an absolute athlete, a wrecking ball, hard to handle. When he was at Manly, every time I saw him play I struggled to see teams handle him defensively.
“The biggest thing I (wondered) was — not knowing him — what his leadership was like, and the type of person he was.
“He is actually a real footy head — he can tell you a lot about the opposition. When he talks, the whole group is completely focused on what he is saying because he actually says the right things.
“I wouldn’t say it caught me off guard but you just don’t know. Him and Shaun have been a bit of a one-two combination in the sense that Shaun is playing well off the back of what him, Dylan Walker, Mitch Barnett, Tohu Harris (are doing).
“Any time Shaun has won an award this year or a man of the match …. he has credited Addin and the forward pack. That hasn’t been a throwaway comment.
“Shaun is the best player in the competition this year and I think Addin is the best front rower, although I am sure Kevin (Walters) will probably disagree with me.
“Him and his wife are amazing people, amazing people. He is humorous, he is funny, he is caring. I have seen him be a good role model for our younger players.”
More Coverage
Originally published as NRL 2023: Inside Addin Fonua-Blake’s journey from outcast to one of the best props in rugby league
NRL Rich 100: Walsh among nine snubbed Maroons stars
Reece Walsh is among a posse of Queensland Origin stars that didn’t make the 2024 Rich 100 list, in proof that big bucks doesn’t guarantee big-name performances. See the analysis of notable omissions and underperforming inclusions.
Coach unleashes blistering NRL attack
Outgoing Dolphins coach Wayne Bennett has taken aim at the NRL as he launched a scathing attack on the controversial Bunker system.