Knights backrower Tariq Sims on whaty his family means to him

YOU could argue things are pretty full on in the Sims family. And for Knights backrower Tariq Sims, family means everything.

SUNDAY TELEGRAPG EMBARGOED UNTIL APRIL 25. Newcastle Knights Tariq Sims with his partner Ashleigh and daughters Lakia 2yrs and Vayla 1 month...pic Sue Graham

TARIQ Sims’ mother Jackie is studying law.

Eldest sister Ruan, a dual rugby league and union international, is a Sydney firefighter and another sister CJ, is about to represent Australia in gridiron from her Gold Coast base.

Even Sims’ former-model fiance Ashleigh Sudholz, who the Newcastle Knights backrower will marry in October, is about to return to her amateur boxing career just two months after the birth of the couple’s second daughter Vayla.

So you could argue things are pretty full on in the Sims family. And that’s just the girls.

“Yeah, there is never a dull moment in our family,” Tariq laughs.

“There is always someone doing something. Ashton (eldest brother) is obviously overseas playing in the English Super League with Warrington and Korbin and me are both here at the Knights.

“And dad (Peter), well he’s a dairy farmer in the mornings and arvos and in between he does landscaping. He works pretty hard my old man. He and mum still live in the same old house we all grew up in Gerringong.”

Talk to Sims for any length of time and the subject of family is never too far away. Footy as well.

They are his passions. You can sense the pride in his voice when he talks about them and you just know what they mean to him.

Tariq Sims with his partner Ashleigh and daughters Lakia and Vayla.

He and Ashleigh have been together for more than three years after meeting in Townsville while Sims was playing for the Cowboys and Ashleigh was visiting a girlfriend.

She grew up on her family’s sheep and cattle farm a couple of hours north of Perth so for their paths to even cross, well they figure it was just meant to be.

Not even the fact Sims left his wallet behind on their first two dates, leaving Ashleigh to pick up the tab, could slow their union.

Two daughters later — Lakia is two and Vayla two months — they are settled in Newcastle, have bought a house together and will make it official at the end of the footy season when they get married on Ashleigh’s family farm.

“He’s amazing. He’s the most hands-on father that you’d ever meet,” Ashleigh says of the player many believe will be the long-term captain of the Knights.

“He always gets up and does the night feeds and then he goes to training at 6am. He’s the first one at training so it doesn’t let it affect him.

“He’s so dedicated and so driven. He knows what he wants, especially with footy and his goals. Captaincy was one and now its Origin and playing for Australia.’’

Sims has no regrets about leaving Townsville.

Some would argue Sims let another of those goals — winning a grand final — slip through his fingers with his decision to quit the Cowboys at the end of 2014. The personal reasons why he needed to get out of Townsville remain off-limits. He simply won’t talk about them.

But even as Johnathan Thurston and the Cowboys celebrated their remarkable grand-final triumph over the Broncos last season as Sims’ Knights collected the wooden spoon, he felt no regret.

“None at all, ” he says. “I wish nothing but the best for the Cowboys. The players, the blokes up there behind the scenes — every one of them — they all deserved that grand final.

“But me, I just needed to leave Townsville for my own personal reasons. I’m here in Newcastle now. My family is thriving and I’m really happy where I’m at.”

He says the focus now is doing everything he can to lift the Knights out of the NRL cellar and at the same time, realise some of those personal goals.

Tarqi with brother Ashton and Jillaroo sister Ruan.

“My drive and want to play for the Blues — mate that will never go away,” he says.

“Loz (coach Laurie Daley) has a great pathway that a lot of us players are buying into and we’ve got a very youthful squad coming through.

“I haven’t helped myself this season being suspended for the first five rounds. I’ve got a lot of ground to make up but these next couple of games, I’m going to really push my case for the Blues.”

As for brother Korbin’s equally passionate quest to wear the Maroon of Queensland, Sims will only say: “It’s a touchy subject in my household. We don’t talk about it.

“If he wants to be a Queenslander and a piece of paper says he’s a Queenslander, then he’s a Queenslander.

“But we have already made a pact with each other that if we ever play against each other at that level, all bets are off and we wouldn’t hold back.”

Family will just have to take a back seat that night.

Originally published as Knights backrower Tariq Sims on whaty his family means to him