Waratahs Atasi Lafai fights back from injury with help from Dragons NRL star brother Tim
He’s a rugby league player making good in the NRL. But to his sister he’s a source of inspiration for her comeback to Super W rugby.
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Atasi Lafai doesn’t need to look far for inspiration when she needs it.
At family dinners, it’s just across the table..
And in recent times Lafai has needed big serves of both inspiration and motivation.
The Campbeltown Harlequins player said it was her brother Tim, a star of the St George Dragons in the NRL, who helped her through tough times as she fought back from injury to be named in the Waratahs extended squad ahead of the 2020 Super W season.
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“It was a tough year not playing any football at all the whole year. It was tough missing all the opportunities,” said Lafai, sidelined by an ACL injury which required surgery.
“My brother really helped me, missing out on so much because of the injury.
“He has been injured himself in the past and he told me to keep looking at the positives, that this would only make me hungrier.
“It was good advice.”
I’ve been inspired by my brother watching him create something out of nothing
The 25-year-old, who lives at Minto and works at Liverpool, played for the Waratahs in 2018 before missing the 2019 season with injury.
But her path to the Waratahs was less than unorthodox.
“I didn’t play in any organised sport when I was a kid, just played in the street with my brothers,” she said.
“Then at high school I started playing with Campbelltown.”
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Before her injury Lafai received her first call up to the Wallaroos and played against New Zealand prior to the Bledisloe Cup last August.
“It was a pretty awesome experience, a dream come true,” she said.
“This is quite serious for me, it is something I want to do.
“I been inspired by my brother watching him create something out of nothing.”
A preliminary 47 strong squad has been named for the 2020 Super W season to be coached by newly appointed Campbell Aitken.
The current squad, reduced to 30 in the lead up to the 2020 Super W season, begins training later this month ahead of the third season of Super W.
The Waratahs, based at Moore Park, will be chasing their third consecutive title in 2020 but will be without former Wallaroos captain Ash Hewson for the first time following her retirement.
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The NSW squad features eight internationals, including Grace Hamilton, Emily Chancellor, Emily Robinson and Mahalia Murphy.
Both Lafai and Ariana Kaiwai are returning from long-term injuries while Georgina Friedrichs has joined from the Australian Sevens set up, following her first season with Randwick Magic in the Jack Scott Cup.