{"id":183967,"date":"2025-10-02T02:06:09","date_gmt":"2025-10-02T02:06:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/183967\/"},"modified":"2025-10-02T02:06:09","modified_gmt":"2025-10-02T02:06:09","slug":"unwanted-wingers-sensational-journey-to-an-nrl-grand-final-nrl-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/183967\/","title":{"rendered":"Unwanted winger’s sensational journey to an NRL Grand Final – NRL News"},"content":{"rendered":"

Josiah Karapani<\/a> was spoiled for choice as a junior.<\/p>\n

Scouted at 18 by the New Zealand Warriors<\/a>, he played one season for their SG Ball side before making the move to Australia<\/a>, signing with the South Sydney Rabbitohs<\/a> for 2021.<\/p>\n

After excelling in the Rabbitohs’ pathway system, Karapani signed a contract extension with the club, keeping him in Redfern till the end of the 2024 season and was subsequently upgraded to the club’s Top 30 in 2023.<\/p>\n

However, the winger was sacked by the Rabbitohs for disciplinary issues following the 2023 season, still yet to make his NRL<\/a> debut and leaving his career in limbo.<\/p>\n

\"RabbitohsJosiah Karapani in action. (Photo: Flickr- @NAPARAZZI)<\/p>\n

“It got to a point where I just didn’t really care anymore,” he told the\u00a0AAP.<\/p>\n

“I was just like, ‘I think that’s it’.<\/p>\n

\u201cI already had a crack at trying to make it to NRL<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf that happens, then it happens.”<\/p>\n

Luckily for Karapani, the Brisbane Broncos<\/a> offered him a train-and-trial deal for the 2024 season, and after impressing in preseason, he was subsequently promoted to the club’s Top 30 in March that year.<\/p>\n

He went on to make his NRL<\/a> debut in 2024 and featured a further eight times that year, but started 2025 in reserve grade.<\/p>\n

Biding his time, Karapani earned another opportunity, called up in Round 14 in favour of Selwyn Cobbo<\/a>, and the 23-year-old made the most of it, scoring twice in a 44-14 win over the Gold Coast Titans<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Then, in the following fixture, Karapani scored another double, helping his side defeat the Cronulla Sharks<\/a> 34-28.<\/p>\n

After scoring four tries in two games, not only had the youngster cemented his spot on the Broncos wing, but he also earned himself a contract extension, signing with the Broncos until the end of the 2027 season.<\/p>\n

Now, he finds himself named to start on the left wing in an NRL<\/a> Grand Final, despite only having 21 games of first-grade experience.<\/p>\n

Having demonstrated sheer determination to overcome the hurdle of being released early, Karapani chooses to remain humble, hoping to repay the Broncos for putting their faith in him this weekend.<\/p>\n

“They’re the ones that brought me in and gave me a second chance,\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI felt like I had to give back and I feel like that’s what I’m doing.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Josiah Karapani was spoiled for choice as a junior. Scouted at 18 by the New Zealand Warriors, he…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":183968,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-183967","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nrl","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-national-rugby-league","11":"tag-nationalrugbyleague","12":"tag-nrl","13":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/183967","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=183967"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/183967\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/183968"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=183967"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=183967"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=183967"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}