Official Jack Afamasaga

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Source:http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=...3tD_DA&usg=AFQjCNGaOtoVamJwak1u19riGgmP7hpwYA

Jumpin Jack out of the Eagles' nest
John Greco
15 August 2008

OFF-CONTRACT Manly forward Jack Afamasaga fears he's headed for the rugby league scrap heap less than 12 months after playing in the NRL Grand Final.

The hard-running 24-year-old is currently staring at an uncertain playing future with no firm offers on the table for next year.

It's a massive fall from grace for the New Zealand-born backrower who was a member of the Sea Eagles team that lost to Melbourne in last year's NRL decider.

Afamasaga, who has managed just two first grade games this season, is still hoping he can remain at Brookvale Oval next year.

But it's understood the club's impressive recruitment for 2009 has left things tight on the salary cap.

"It's a big concern at the moment, especially coming towards the end of the season," a distressed Afamasaga said of his playing future. "I really want to stick around (with Manly).

"I played in the Grand Final last year and sort of got into first grade here.

"I'm trying not to think about it too much and just let my football do the talking but it's getting a bit worrying."

Not helping Afamasaga's cause has been an injury-riddled 2008.

The former Eel has had rotten luck, breaking his hand twice and also suffering a painful ankle injury.

Even as he prepares to play the Sharks in the NSW Cup tomorrow, Afamasaga admits his broken hand is not totally healed.

"But I just can't afford to stop playing right now," he said. "It's not ideal but the pain's not too bad. It's been really hard this year to go to training when your injured, there's no motivation. Hopefully, things will work out." Meanwhile, prop Brent Kite has promised there will be no drop off in intensity from the Sea Eagles in the lead-up to the finals despite a soft draw over the next month.

Manly don't meet any team currently in the top eight in the last four rounds with clashes against the Tigers (away), Titans (home) and Penrith (away) following Sunday's match with the Rabbitohs.

"It's something I will be drumming into the guys, you can't be taking the foot off the gas this close to the semis," the Test forward said.

"We're trying to win the minor premiership and a mark of how we're going is how we turn out against teams that aren't in the eight."

 

[stevow76]

hey guys don't know if it's old news but just read that we signed jack afamasaga
from the eagles, anyone know if this is true is so is he any good (heard it on rl forums)

 

[bort]

replacing moa i guess if its true

 

[Super Impose]

Do not know if it is true but it is another back rower !! I guess he could play prop if necessary, but this seems a strange one to me.

 

[dier]

I haven't heard anything about this at all. Doesn't say anything about him coming to us on the NRL.com transfers, but it does say he was released from Sea Eagles.

 

[WillyInBris]

Why not we don't have enough 2nd rowers.

 

[dier]

I'm starting to think that we are becoming a place where all un-wanted second rowers come....Kind of like a pound for second rowers, till someone who wants them will come past and take them off our hands.

 

[WillyInBris]

Its interesting isn't it, whats Rickys plan thats the question, did the interchange go down again or will that be next year?

 

[bort]

you can never have too many second rowers. we do but.

 

[brad]

doubt he wouldve been signed for 1st grade. if its true he will spend most of his time in the cobras side then if we are hit massively by injury in the forwards he might get a go

 

[the_prawn]

he's big enough to have a decent crack at prop.

and if he keeps his mobility he could go alright.

atleast good enough to keep big ben on his toes...

 

[Rise_Against]

He's a fantastic front row forward/back rower. was a major part of sea eagles change of direction in 07/08... he is a local shopper at my work, and is a good family bloke, got a hot wife and beautiful little kid.

He is talented, good with his hands and feet. but also can put on some big hits on. i rate him big time, and definitely if this is true... a good buy... if we have Gallen, Douglas, Maitua, Tupou, Ross, Snowden, Afamasaga, Selmes and Millington, all shuffling around we have a pretty fierce forward pack.

Hope it's true. good talent.

 

[Eyeballs]

From what I know big powerful forward which will add more depth to our roster.

 

[Megashark]

Here's a story on Jack Afamasaga which appeared in the SMH towards the end of 2007:

He's been around a few clubs but the change of scenery could do him a world of good, and if motivated and fit will hopefully turn out to be a decent asset.

Future in his hands
Jamie Pandaram | September 27, 2007

HE IS making an often mispronounced name for himself as Manly's interchange enforcer, but a bar fight five years ago gave Jack Afamasaga the kick up the butt he needed to focus his aggressive energies on football.

Signed by Parramatta from New Zealand as a rough diamond teenager, Afamasaga (pronounced Ah-fah-mah-sung-ah) arrived with big expectations and a bigger head, and learned the hard way that flying fists make for a short footy career.

He and best friend Weller Hauraki - who will play for the Eels in the premier league grand final before Afamasaga steps out on Telstra Stadium for the NRL decider on Sunday - came to Parramatta together but left none of their late-night New Zealand ways behind.

"I was getting into fights, nothing that the club would be proud of," Afamasaga says.

One evening, while he and Hauraki were at Parramatta Leagues Club, they were involved in a big punch-up with fellow patrons, and the Eels showed the pair the door. "They just tore up my contract on the spot," he says.

It was then that Afamasaga and Hauraki, with heads down, phoned their parents in New Zealand to say they wanted to come home - that they were leaving when it got tough.

"I had a chat to my mum and dad and told them I wanted to come back," Afamasaga says. "They said they'd support me no matter what I did, but they also made me realise I had a good opportunity here."

Instead of fleeing their problems, the two sought to bounce back with the help of then Eels recruitment and development officer Mark Horo - who scouted them after an under-17s trial match in Wellington between Parramatta and Wainuiomata. With the contract money gone, Horo took the boys in and looked after them as his own. "He was like a father figure to us," Hauraki says. "He helped us out a lot."

From junior representative games, they were thrown into a pit with battle-hardened old warriors in the Jim Beam Cup, but Afamasaga and Hauraki showed their class for Guildford and were invited back to Parramatta the next season at the request of former coach Brian Smith.

Hauraki recalls: "We just said to ourselves that we came here to play footy and make something of ourselves. We weren't going to do that back home, we were out drinking and getting into mischief there. From then on, me and Jack put our heads down and worked hard."

Horo maintains to this day that the decision to sack the players was unjust. "I still think it was wrong," he said. "From the three trips I made to New Zealand, they were the only two players I picked up. I had a tremendous belief in them, but I was more concerned about their lives off the field.

"It wouldn't have mattered whether they made it or not, I just wanted to make sure they were OK. But I am glad they have made it, I always knew they would."

If Horo hadn't come along, Afamasaga could well have been lost to league, given that he spent most his junior years in the town of Levin playing rugby. He has pedigree, too - his cousin is the mascara-wearing All Blacks centre Ma'a Nonu.

Afamasaga will forgo the make-up, thank you very much, but he does plan to be as big a hit in his chosen code.

"I would love to play for the Kiwis," says Afamasaga, who is of Samoan descent.

The call-up can't be too far away if he keeps progressing as he has.

These days, Afamasaga describes himself as a quiet family man off the field. His partner Tenielle is due to give birth to the couple's first child in five weeks. Their son, to be named Jackson Malaki, will probably grow up to be the best league player the world has seen, given his father's genes and the guidance of his two godfathers, Hauraki and Parramatta's Kiwi Test star Krisnan Inu.

Afamasaga will be giving people plenty of opportunity to get his name right before then.

Future in his hands

 

[bort]

"the best league player the world has ever seen"?
wtf was this reporter thinking, the kid hasnt even been born yet

 

[WillyInBris]

"the best league player the world has ever seen"?
wtf was this reporter thinking, the kid hasnt even been born yet

Well I guess it will depend if he enjoys wearing mascara!

 

[Capital_Shark]

whats Rickys plan thats the question

To set the pace for League teams evolving with the game I reckon. Every year teams get bigger, faster, stronger. Its more and more about a power game. You can be the flashiest bunch of smartarses to pick up a Steeden but if you can't go forward and physically dominate your opposition you can start looking for a contract with the ARU or French Union, any of the lesser codes really.

Second rowers are probably the most versatile. Most can cover at prop, and nearly all could be bulked up if a more long term solution was needed in the front row. The quicker ones can fill the centres.

Aside from fullbacks, wingers and halves a footy team can be pretty much just a collection of second rowers with the biggest playing front row, the most natural playing second row and lock with the smaller/quicker ones playing centre.

Thats what I reckon anyway.

 

[MattyShArk]

Well I guess it will depend if he enjoys wearing mascara!

hey hey hey

corey parker wears mascara...and he isnt thatt bad

 

[BUZ]

How many First Grade Grand Finalists does that make in the squad now.....3?

 

[JimBob]

Never heard of him.......is he good? well i hope he is if we signed him lol