Code-hopping Dragon Asipau Mafi loving life in women’s NRL
SHE’S the one that got away from AFL to make a mark in rugby league.
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SHE’S the one that got away from AFL to make a mark in rugby league.
St George Illawarra Dragons player Asipau Mafi never played league as a kid.
Never followed a team and never really watched games.
Then a chance encounter with the game late in her teens changed her life.
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“I was kind of sporty, the tom boy in my family,” said Mafi, 24. a games development officer for the NRL
“In my family the girls didn’t really play sport. I didn’t really stay playing rugby league until I finished school.
“My background is AFL. Like many Islanders I played AFL and then club AFL when I finished school.
“But where I was training there was a leagues club next door. I saw the girls were starting a women’s team when I was 18 or 19 and thought I’d try it. I went to one of the training sessions and got hooked.”
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Hooked to the extent she has now played State of Origin for Queensland and moved from her home in Brisbane to Sydney to be part of the first NRL women’s premiership with the Dragons.
“They call me Asi Power and I think my body is better built for league than AFL,” said Mafi, one of the NRL’s top 40 elite players who also does cross fit and weightlifting.
“I didn’t even think about having another crack at it (AFL) after trying league. I was in league then. I just loved it.”
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The Dragons have kept alive their hopes of making the first final in the new competition with their shock win over round one winners, the Warriors, on Sunday in their second match of the new competition.
The Daniel Lacey side must on Saturday topple pre-competition favourites, the Roosters, who have yet to score a win in the new competition, and rely on the Broncos beating the Warriors on Friday to book a spot in the final.