NRL News: Newcastle Knights sign North Queensland Cowboys giant Laitia Moceidreke on immediate transfer

The impending departure of Dom Young created both a speed and height headache for Knights football chief Peter Parr but a mid-season recruit presents a potential solution to both.

Towering Cowboys winger Laitia Moceidreke has been released to join Newcastle on an immediate transfer.

The Western Sydney born-and-raised flyer, 22, scored on debut for North Queensland in 2021 but never returned to the first team, stuck behind Murray Taulagi and Kyle Feldt in Todd Payten’s wing pecking order.

The impending departure of skyscraper winger Dom Young to the Roosters in 2024 created both a speed and height headache for Knights football chief Peter Parr, and in Moceidreke he has found a potential solution to both.

Moceidreke will start immediately for Newcastle’s New South Wales Cup outfit after scoring 14 tries in 22 appearances at the equivalent level in Queensland for Mackay and Townsville.

He scored 11 of those in 18 games for Mackay last season, adding 11 linebreaks and 38 tackle busts in that span.

Cowboys' Laitia Moceidreke. Picture: Brendan Radke

The 197cm giant is the third-tallest player in the NRL behind Young (200cm) and Manly’s Jason Saab (199cm), and has speed in his blood as the grandson of Fiji’s first Olympic sprinter Sitiveni Moceidreke.

“My height does give me an advantage, which I want to use a lot more this year,” Moceidreke said earlier this year.

Laitia Moceidreke. Picture: Alix Sweeney/Cowboys

“Looking back at last year, there’s a lot more things I have in my favour than other wingers (at the Cowboys), which I could be using a lot more. I know I am tall but in saying that, I do want to work on a few of weaknesses as well.”

Moceidreke was working as a garbageman and playing for Canterbury’s under-21s when he caught the eye of Cowboys recruitment manager Dane Campbell at a Leichhardt Oval Jersey Flegg curtain raiser in 2021.

The North Queensland Cowboys train ahead of the NRL Preliminary Final, Laitia Moceidreke. Picture: Shae Beplate.

With offers from Melbourne and North Queensland to weigh up, it was Moceidreke’s mother who convinced him to turn his back on Craig Bellamy and trust the development plan laid out by Todd Payten in Townsville.

Three months later Moceidreke recorded his first start, latching onto a Jeremiah Nanai flick pass to score his first NRL try against Parramatta.

His ample physical gifts were not enough to secure regular first grade football with Maroons contenders ahead of him in 2022 and 2023.

After falling behind Brendan Elliot and Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow during the last Origin period, Moceidreke admitted his professionalism had not been up to standard.

“To see how they were all professional with the way they trained and how they prepared themselves for game days, it really was an eye-opener for me and I really wanted to change that this year coming in this pre-season,” Moceidreke said ahead of round one.

“It was an eye-opener to see how I needed to improve as a professional … I really just want to show the coaching staff that I am ready.”

Moceidreke will now get his chance to do so in Newcastle, with a fresh start to resuscitate a stalling NRL career.

Originally published as NRL News: Newcastle Knights sign North Queensland Cowboys giant Laitia Moceidreke on immediate transfer