Maika Sivo’s debut for Parramatta is a story to inspire all rugby league fans
A small Fijian village gathered around a TV on Sunday to watch the NRL debut of Maika Sivo, the latest chapter in an amazing tale that belongs on the big screen.
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In the small Fijian village of Momi, extension leads cover the dusty ground, dragged in and out of the tiny shacks that Maika Sivo calls home.
There are no beds in the shanties, the reason why the Parramatta winger has felt more comfortable sleeping on a hard floor since arriving in Australia.
Water supply in the village is improvised, electricity is hit and miss, while Fox Sports is a rich man’s luxury.
Which is why, 3238km away from Penrith Stadium on Sunday, the proud Momi community of 450 hooked up power leads to their one or two satellite dishes, in the hope of catching a glimpse of their boy.
Five years in the making, Sivo Sunday arrived.
The journey from super-shy teenager to the bright lights of the NRL, where Sivo made his debut for the Eels against the Panthers, is nothing short of extraordinary.
Yes, it’s a rugby league story. But it’s also much more.
It’s one man’s leap of faith — and the result of replacing severe apprehension with trust, belief and persistence.
And it’s all thanks to a rugby league-loving couple from Gundagai, Don and Kathy Tuckwell.
“You know that movie Blindside with Sandra Bullock. It’s about this kid called Big Mike,’’ Don smiles. “Well, Maika, he’s our Big Mike.
“It’s the same story. We picked up a bloke out of nowhere and gave him a new life experience. To see him run out on Sunday, his village, the whole family, the whole town of Gundagai, are as proud as punch.’’
On a family holiday in Fiji in 2013, Don was just a tourist.
“I was wandering around looking for information on parasailing for my son, who was having his 15th birthday in Fiji,’’ Don said.
“I was wearing my Gundagai Tigers shirt, when this bloke spotted the shirt and so we got chatting about footy.’’
The local told Don there was a game on the next day and that the former NRMA breakdown mechanic, who lives and breathes rugby league for Gundagai, should come and have a look.
“So I turned up,’’ Don said. “But the game was cancelled and instead we went and saw the village. What I saw was they had nothing. And I mean nothing.
“They told me they would swap boots when a player came off the field during games because there weren’t enough to go around.
“They didn’t have water bottles. They had a bucket of water on the sideline and a plastic Coke bottle, for the team to all share.
“I said to my wife, ‘I’ve got to do something about this’.”
So Don did something.
He returned later that year with a box of water bottles, boots and strapping tape. He presented jerseys, too, all supplied by the Tigers.
The more Don asked for, the more the town of Gundagai kept rallying — and not just for the Momi rugby union team. They brought backpacks and boxes of coloured pencils for the schoolkids. They sent supplies to help build a new classroom.
It would be two years before Don and Kathy left Momi with a gift of their own.
Offering nothing but an opportunity and a new life experience, the couple asked four Fijian rugby union players to take a chance by playing for the Gundagai Tigers during the 2015 season.
One of the boys was Sivo.
“From the very first training session, we knew we had something special,’’ Tigers secretary Martin Hay said.
After that first Tuesday night training session, Sivo’s name quickly made it to the front bar of Gundagai’s Family Hotel.
“Dane O’Hehir was a seriously talented player of ours, a fullback who was the fastest in Group 9,’’ Hay said. “On this night, Dane and Maika lined up to do a 100m sprint and Maika, he beat Dane easy.
“We couldn’t believe it. Word got to the pub, ‘Dane just got flogged by a bloke that has turned up from Fiji’.’’
Under the wing of the entire town, Sivo began to call Gundagai home.
“It was the first time we’d ever had Fijian boys in our town and it was an experience for the town as well as the boys,’’ Hay said. “I couldn’t say one bad word about them — and neither could the town.’’
Weighing 90kg when he arrived, Sivo began to transform his powerful frame on a diet of Woolworths barbecue chickens and his soon-to-be-favourite roast dinners with the Tuckwell family.
And despite having never played a game of rugby league, Sivo became a sensation on the wing for the Tigers.
“He didn’t know anything about rugby league. We just threw the ball to him and said ‘you do the rest’,’’ Don said.
“He won us the grand final. He turned the game around in the last 15 minutes.’’
At which point, Hay adds: “That was our first grand final win in Group 9 since 1983, with Maika playing on the wing.
“The last time we won the grand final our five-eighth was a young fella by the name of Cliff Lyons.’’
Sivo finished the season with 31 tries for the Tigers in 18 games. The buzz about Sivo’s talent was loud enough for the Raiders to call first, where Sivo spent 2016 playing with feeder-club Mounties, before St Marys — a Penrith feeder club — offered him a regular spot on their wing.
By the end of the 2017 season — just two years after his first rugby league game — Sivo had scored 100 tries.
His elevation from the St Marys system to the Panthers’ top-30 squad was inevitable.
However, a hamstring injury hindered his progression in 2017 and so too did Penrith’s plethora of outside backs, including Test stars Josh Mansour and Dallin Watene-Zelezniak, Dean Whare and Christian Crichton.
When the Melbourne Storm and Super Rugby’s Brumbies came knocking, the Panthers were never going to stand in Sivo’s way of a life-changing contract.
In the end, it was western Sydney rivals Parramatta who would lure Sivo with a two-year deal. With the money from his new deal, Sivo’s family have improved their previous dwelling into a home.
When Eels coach Brad Arthur told Sivo he “was in” against the Panthers, the extremely shy, humble and quiet 25-year-old shed tears.
“Brad called me into his office on Monday morning and he told me, ‘turn around’,’’ Sivo told the Eels’ website.
“I turned around and looked at the whiteboard and my name was there, (jersey) No.2. It took me a few minutes to get myself back together.
“I think back to where I started, that’s what makes me emotional.’’
Don and Kathy Tuckwell, along with their proud son and daughter, will all be in the crowd for Sivo’s debut. They’ve driven a carload of Sivo supporters from Gundagai. Don says Kathy will be riddled with nerves.
Sivo’s parents weren’t at Penrith on Sunday, unable to secure a passport to travel to Australia. They were at home in Momi, watching their son on a small TV. They were there with an entire village, cheering for their Big Mike.
Originally published as Maika Sivo’s debut for Parramatta is a story to inspire all rugby league fans
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