Maroons rookie Gehamat Shibasaki set to earn $160k following stunning NRL revival
Just 12 months ago he was languishing on the NRL scrap heap. Now Gehamat Shibasaki has hit the jackpot, with the Maroons bolter set to pocket $160,000 this season following his stunning resurrection.
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Gehamat Shibasaki has hit the jackpot with the Maroons bolter set to pocket a $160,000 bonanza this season following his stunning resurrection with the Broncos and Queensland.
This masthead can reveal Shibasaki initially knocked back the Broncos’ train-and-trial offer, fearing the $1200-a-week deal would not be enough to sustain his young family if he moved from Townsville to Brisbane.
But the 27-year-old had a change of heart and accepted the Brisbane lifeline which not only saved his NRL career, but paved the way for one of the most head-spinning debuts in Origin history this Wednesday night.
Shibasaki is the only player in Origin’s 45-year history to play for Queensland or NSW while still holding a development contract, underlining the incredible transformation of a Maroon who was on the NRL scrap heap 12 months ago.
Broncos recruitment boss Simon Scanlan – the man who played a pivotal role in bringing Shibasaki back to Red Hill over summer – revealed how close the Maroons debutant came to being lost to the NRL forever.
“He actually pulled out after we offered him the train-and-trial deal,” Scanlan revealed ahead of Shibasaki’s Origin III baptism.
“He said to us he couldn’t do it.
“He told us it would be too hard to do with his family commitments.
“Gehamat would have to leave his partner and young child up there (in Townsville) initially to come down and prove himself.
“But then, after further discussions, he recommitted.
“Since then his family have made the move to Brisbane, so it’s a credit to ‘Gem’ for sticking at it and working so hard.
“All he is doing now is fulfilling the potential that he always did have, but he just knew this was his last chance and he had a responsibility to his young family.
“It was bigger than just Gehamat, he took a risk and it’s paid off for him which is wonderful.”
Now the newly-minted Queensland centre will reap the fiscal rewards of the best season of his rollercoaster seven-year NRL career.
Shibasaki’s current development contract is worth $85,000, but under the NRL’s Collective Bargaining Agreement, players on ‘dev deals’ are entitled to an extra $3000 for every first-grade game they play.
Shibasaki has played 15 games this season for the Broncos, which has delivered a $45,000 bonus thus far.
If he plays all 24 games of the regular season, Shibasaki will pocket $72,000, plus additional payments if the Broncos reach the NRL finals.
The rugged centre’s superb form this year has also seen him rewarded with promotion to a top 30 NRL contract next season, which means his base salary will rise from $85,000 to $140,000 in 2026.
Throw in his State of Origin debut, which comes with a match payment of $30,000, and Shibasaki has already earned an extra $130,000.
If he stays injury-free for the rest of the season, and plays at least one finals game, the reborn Bronco will celebrate a $160,000 windfall.
The six-figure financial bonus will be the ultimate sweetener as Shibasaki looks to tick off his next achievement – buying a home for his partner and young daughter.
Shibasaki’s manager Wayde Rushton said the four-club journeyman’s fightback from NRL oblivion, via a brief stint in Japanese rugby in 2022, is one of State of Origin’s greatest fairytales.
“No-one deserves this more than Gem. He honestly has hit the jackpot,” Rushton said.
“Who would have thought six months ago that Gehamat Shibasaki would be playing State of Origin? He is definitely the lowest-paid Origin player this year.
“We didn’t even put any Origin bonuses in his Broncos contract because at that stage we were just hoping he could play some first-grade games.
“When you meet a person like Gehamat, you hope good things happen.
“We know nice guys don’t always get what they want, but Gem is a good person first and foremost and that’s why I decided to take him on.”
Before Christmas last year, Shibasaki didn’t even have an agent, let alone hope of an NRL comeback. But Rushton praised Broncos coach Michael Maguire for giving the Knights, Souths and Cowboys discard a chance to prove himself.
“’Madge’ (Maguire) needs a huge wrap for turning Gehamat around,” Rushton said.
“He is a man’s man and his training might not be for everyone, but Gem has thrived on Madge’s culture.
“He came down and lived with an uncle and tried his luck on a train-and-trial deal.
“When it came close to whether Brisbane were going to keep him or not, two or three clubs started to show interest.
“They were Sydney clubs, but Gem wanted to stay at the Broncos because that was the club where it all started for him in the under-20s with Patty Carrigan.
“In December, he didn’t have a club, contract or manager and six or seven months later he is an Origin player.
“It’s remarkable.”
Just as fascinating is his backstory. Shibasaki is the descendant of a Japanese pearl diver who emigrated to the Torres Strait in the late 1800s.
The region is littered with tombstones of Japanese immigrants who came to Australia in search of fortune in the pearl-diving trade.
Scanlan is not exactly shocked by Shibasaki’s resurrection.
Such was his talent as a teenager, the Townsville junior was chosen for the Queensland under-20s team in three consecutive seasons, a feat no other NRL player has matched.
“Gehamat had been in our program before so I knew what he was capable of,” said Scanlan, who has signed a generation of Broncos including Reece Walsh, Queensland’s 18th man in Origin III.
“The way he played in the juniors is how he plays now. He was always very good defensively and a very good size for a centre.
“Gem always had the talent, but I think seeing his mates he played with (such as Carrigan) go on to play regular NRL and representative football, that gave him the motivation and confidence that he could do it also.
“He just had this burning desire to make it. The only thing that changed was his mindset … this was his last shot at it.”
Shibasaki’s stunning call-up reunites him with Queensland coach Billy Slater. In 2018, when he was chosen for the Queensland Residents, then coach Jon Buchanan invited Slater to present Shibasaki with his jersey.
Slater accepted. Now Shibasaki wants to repay the Maroons coach with the game of his life.
“It was pretty crazy to get a call from Billy, he was one of my heroes as a kid,” Shibasaki said ahead of his Origin debut.
“This means a lot to me, especially for all the Indigenous kids out there, some guys come down (to Brisbane) for boarding school and get homesick and go back home.
“I’ve shown those kids it’s possible if you work hard.
“I have played against a few of the NSW boys (in junior representative teams), but this is a more senior level.
“I will be prepared for this. I’ve done the hard work.”
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