Kevin Walters says Tautau Moga is ready to realise his huge potential at Newcastle Knights
QUEENSLAND coach Kevin Walters has offered a message of hope to injury plagued Tautau Moga as he attempts to revive his career at Newcastle: “We are watching”.
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HE’S Newcastle’s latest recruit who as a schoolboy was being compared to a young Israel Folau.
And ahead of Tautau Moga’s first official training run with the Knights on Tuesday, Queensland coach Kevvie Walters has offered a message of hope to the injury-plagued 23-year-old: “We are watching”.
After debuting for the Sydney Roosters in 2012 as an 18-year-old, Moga appeared destined for the game’s highest honours.
But he then had to overcome three knee reconstructions that limited him to just 32 NRL games in his first five seasons.
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Now coming off his best season when he played all 27 games for Brisbane, Moga said his aim was to take his career to the next level at the Knights.
“Obviously it is a new club, new chapter,” the quietly spoken centre said. “I am still fairly young, I am still learning the game myself.
“I am just happy to be back playing. It has been tough.
“The people around me and the clubs I have been with have pretty much helped me through.
“Obviously it is hard to move on but I am just happy to be at the Knights and start afresh.”
Still recovering from a shoulder injury, Moga will start running on Tuesday but won’t be able to do contact work until January.
He concedes he’ll be pushing to be ready for round one, but the form he showed in 2017 has reignited his representative dreams.
Walters said Moga’s talent was never the issue, and the perseverance he has showed speaks of his character.
“He must be pretty resilient,” Walters said. “He obviously has a lot of mental toughness to keep coming back the way he has.
“To play the football he did for Brisbane this year was really impressive. We had him in our Queensland under 20s a couple of years back and then he got injured.
“We have always watched him with interest because he is a big fella and pretty hard to handle on the edge. But that is what you have to do to get to the next level, put some good football together, and that’s what he’s done.
“I guess the big key for Tautau now is to repeat it again next year at the Knights. If he can continue to improve the way he has, well, we are watching him, that’s for sure.
“He has all the talent and all the ability. It is just a matter of him getting that consistency with his football.”
This will be Moga’s fourth NRL club after stints with the Roosters, North Queensland and Brisbane.
He said linking back up with former Roosters teammates Aidan Guerra and Shaun Kenny-Dowall has made the move to Newcastle an easier transition for him and his wife, who have an eight month old baby daughter.
“I’ve only been here a couple of days, it is a beautiful place,” he said. “Obviously having familiar faces makes it easier.
“I am just happy to be back playing first grade again and playing back-to-back games.”