Raw, unfiltered: Jeremiah Nanai on why he’s staying with Cowboys

Jeremiah Nanai has given his first interview since becoming the NRL’s latest millionaire three days before his 20th birthday. Read the full transcript.

Jeremiah Nanai has given his first interview since signing becoming the NRL’s latest millionaire three days before his 20th birthday.

His four-year contract, worth on average $900,000 per season, has made the 19-year-old into one of the highest-paid players in his position.

He faced the media to give his first public reaction.

Jeremiah Nanai has signed a big extension. (Photo by Ian Hitchcock/Getty Images)

Q: Congratulations. How are you feeling?

Pretty happy. Happy, actually. It just feels good, you know? I’ve always wanted to stay here. This is my home and I’m glad my manager got it done and I’m just happy that, yeah, we got the deal.

Q: Is there a sense of relief that all the speculation about where you might be in the future has come to an end and you can just focus on the road ahead here in North Queensland?

Yeah, yeah. Bit of a relief there. I wanted to get it done before the start of the season, which was good. Yeah. Lot of pressure going off my chest now the deal’s done and I can focus on footy this year, and hopefully have a cracker year, again.

Q: Is there anywhere you were particularly attracted by?

Nah, not really. My thanks to the home club, you know. My manager came out to me and spoke to me about nine other clubs wanted me but I told him I really want to stay and I’m just happy that he got the job done. Thanks to him.

Q: What was it like this morning telling the boys and getting the group around you and letting them know you’re going to be here for a little while longer?

Yeah, the boys were stoked. Toddy came up to me this morning before training and said make sure you have a speech and I was like oh, yeah, all right, sweet. It was good to tell the boys before we got out and I’m just happy to be playing alongside with them too.

Q: What goes into that decision? I know there’s lots of parts but is it about the fact that you’re staying here for a long time. We could see Vai (Nanai’s brother) come up here as well, you could play with him – does that kind of thing come into the process?

Yeah, 100 per cent. Yeah my brother’s in his last year at school and hopefully he gets scouted somewhere. It would be good to be playing alongside him one day and yeah, it would just be crazy to have him alongside me. The other thing, I’m close to my family just down the road and it’s good to have them around and I just bought a house too so I don’t want to move around and move stuff around early in the year so I’m just happy we got the job done.

The Cowboys' Jeremiah Nanai and his partner Jordii buy their first house.

Q: Off the back of last year … what are you looking to bring this year which might be different or improved that you’re focusing on?

For myself, personally, it’s always try to get better and get better every year. I’m just working on how I can be better this year and what to bring to the team this year. We had a cracker year last year and you know, try to focus on the small things this year, you know, preparation and diet. So that’s what I’ve been focusing all pre-season this year and which is my biggest focus this year.

Q: With a lot of players on long-term contracts, yourself now being one of them, what does it say for your team and playing group knowing that you’re going to have a core group sticking together a number of years now and you’ll be able to build with that moving forward?

Yeah, we’ve got a young group coming up, and I’m glad you know, they all resigned too. We’ve got something big going on. And hopefully in the next couple of years, or maybe this year we can bring a title to Townsville. And if you don’t, then you know, we can work on that. And yeah, that’s just our goal this year is to you know, get that trophy and bring it home.

Q: It does seem with all these signings that there’s a really good culture at the club. What is about the club, besides the personal stuff you’re talking about, that makes it really worth staying for?

Just good vibes around the whole club. Everyone, you know, even the younger boys coming through, you know, they’ve been good. And I don’t know everyone’s just connecting well, and just you know, getting along with each other. And I think that makes us a better team and just helps a lot. With the coaches too, you know, they’ve been great to us too, and it’s just yeah, good vibes around the club. That’s been the thing for me.

Jeremiah Nanai praised the Cowboys’ good vibes. (Photo by Ian Hitchcock/Getty Images)

Q: Does that stem from the local pathways the club has? Todd said last week he was really proud how this club finds players in the region and develop them as opposed to Sydney clubs who poach around different regions. Do you think it’s really about the local pathways the Cowboys offer as well?

100 per cent. There’s a lot of talent around North Queensland coming through and, you know, it’s just good to have local boys play for their hometown and this is probably special for them too. They lived here all their life and it’s just great to have local boys coming through.

Q: You’re still early in your career but could you see yourself becoming a Cowboy for life?

Yeah, that’s the goal. Hopefully win a title before my contract ends and yeah, I’ve always wanted to stay here and that’s the goal to achieve.

Q: We’d better ask about how pre-season is going. How much are you looking forward to getting back into footy in the lead-up to round one?

Yeah, pre-season has been good. I came back a bit sloppy to be honest. I had to work my weight down again and yeah. It’s been tough lately. I’m glad it’s over now. And I’m just keen to play some footy. I’ve worked really hard this pre-season to get down, slim down and all that and I’m just excited for round one and hopefully get the season started.

Q: What’s your No.1 focus heading into the Broncos match?

Probably just preparation, preparing well. Our main focus this week is to complete our sets and stuff like that.

Originally published as Raw, unfiltered: Jeremiah Nanai on why he’s staying with Cowboys