Langer Cup 2020: Keebra Park star Yorel Alapaki has lived alone since 16 to chase his NRL dream
At 16 the South Auckland product left his tightknit family behind to move to the Gold Coast for a chance to attend Keebra Park.He’s lived alone in an Ashmore unit complex ever since. READ THE STUNNING STORY
News
Don't miss out on the headlines from News. Followed categories will be added to My News.
Scores of budding rugby league players have commuted long distances to chase their dreams at Keebra Park but few have totally uprooted their lives for the school.
Utility forward Yorel Alapaki is one of them.
At 16 the South Auckland product left his tightknit family behind to move to the Gold Coast for a chance to attend Keebra Park.
He’s lived alone in an Ashmore unit complex ever since.
Now 18, Alapaki is a shining example of the commitment it takes to earn a place in Keebra Park’s famous ‘Blue Wall’.
“The biggest challenge has been leaving my family behind,” he said.
“I moved here when I was 16 and I’ve been by myself since then.
“I’ve been (in South Auckland) all my life so this is my first time basically away from home.
“The first year was real tough not having them around and living without my parents.
“I still miss my family heaps but it’s been good learning skills and becoming independent.”
His educational experience on the Gold Coast has extended further than his peers, who study rugby league as a dedicated subject at school alongside maths, science or trades.
Alapaki has learned how to wash his own clothes, feed himself and do his own dishes – household chores he’d never attempted when living with his doting mother.
MORE BULLETIN RUGBY LEAGUE COVERAGE
■ WATCH NOW: Brand new ‘School Footy Show’ launches Monday night
■ Spectators banned from attending Langer Cup matches
■ School of Origin: Keebra Park and PBC’s NRL Dream Teams
She was the one he had to convince when pitching his dream of moving to the Gold Coast to play at the same school as Kiwi test players Benji Marshall, Greg Eastwood and Sam Perrett.
“My Dad used to live here and he said Keebra Park was a good school,” Alapaki said.
“I was meant to move here a couple of years ago and it didn’t end up happening but I wanted to make it happen.
“My mum didn’t want me to come but I finally convinced her and now I’m here, chasing the dream.”
Alapaki’s position is lock but his utility value – capable of playing both in the middle and edge forwards – has made him an important part of Keebra Park’s forward rotation.
If he gets the chance to pull on a starting jersey for the first time, he’ll never let it go.
“I love coming off the bench and bringing the boys’ (energy) back up,” he said.
“I’m pushing for the starting team at and that’s how it goes.”
Originally published as Langer Cup 2020: Keebra Park star Yorel Alapaki has lived alone since 16 to chase his NRL dream
Supercars driver ‘lost everything’ in Gold Coast fire
Supercars driver Declan Fraser has lost all his possessions, including prized trophies, after the Gold Coast house he was living in was gutted by fire while he was in Bathurst.
Labor maxing out the credit card on socialist policies
The Premier’s $1.4bn pledge to provide free school lunches for all Queensland state primary school children is a bold move, but a sign Labor is just maxing out the credit card on socialist policies that are short-term sugar hits.