Sea Eagles: Moses Suli’s wake-up calls that saved his career
THEY are the wake-up calls that have helped young centre Moses Suli resurrect his NRL career with the Sea Eagles.
Manly
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THEY are the wake-up calls that have helped young centre Moses Suli resurrect his NRL career with the Sea Eagles.
Each day he makes the long haul from Fairfield in the western suburbs to Narrabeen with teammates Addin Fonua-Blake and Manase Fainu.
“If we need to be here at 7.30 we leave home around 5.30 or six,” Suli said.
At the end of the day’s training there is another two hour trip back home. But Suli is certainly not complaining.
“It’s just a commitment that I have to make and a sacrifice I have to do,” he said.
After being shown the door by the Bulldogs at the end of February just four weeks after he parted company with the Tigers, Suli seems to have found his football home at the Sea Eagles.
The talented 20-year-old has made the most of the opportunity handed to him by coach Trent Barrett, impressing with his performances so far in the NRL.
“I’m loving it here, I’m loving the boys, a good bunch of blokes, having a laugh and doing what I can for the team,” Suli told the Manly Daily. “Training’s going well too.”
Suli, who played for Tonga last year, believes his football has got better since moving to the beaches.
“But I’ve still got more space to learn and improve more week in and week out,” he said.
It has been a big turnaround for Suli who had struggled with the demands and pressures of being a professional footballer.
His only hiccup since arriving at Manly was when he was dropped for the game with the Warriors in Auckland after missing a training session in Sydney.
“I just had a few dramas with my passport but I’m over that and I’m just looking forward,” he said.
Barrett said if he let him get away with little things like that, he wasn’t going to learn anything.
And Suli said; ‘He was just being honest, l’ve just got to cop it on the chin,”.
Teammate Brad Parker said Suli has become a real asset to the team.
“Especially attacking wise, he is a big unit with a bit of speed behind him,” Parker said.
While Suli does most of his talking on the field, he is starting to come out of his shell as his confidence grows.
“I think he said three words over three months when he first came here,” Parker said. “Now he’s starting to get a bit cheeky and warm up to the boys. He’s good to have a laugh with.”