{"id":227492,"date":"2025-10-20T13:00:13","date_gmt":"2025-10-20T13:00:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/227492\/"},"modified":"2025-10-20T13:00:13","modified_gmt":"2025-10-20T13:00:13","slug":"fit-for-a-king-tongas-nrl-stars-reconnect-with-heritage-before-samoa-showdown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/227492\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Fit for a King\u2019: Tonga\u2019s NRL stars reconnect with heritage before Samoa showdown"},"content":{"rendered":"<p data-end=\"332\" data-start=\"103\">The Tongan rugby league team\u2019s Pacific Championships preparation turned into a celebration of heritage and pride.<\/p>\n<p data-end=\"332\" data-start=\"103\">Players spent five days reconnecting with family, culture and community ahead of Sunday\u2019s showdown with Samoa.<\/p>\n<p data-end=\"590\" data-start=\"334\">From eating lobster and wild boar at a royal banquet to visiting schools, hospitals and villages linked to their families, the week-long trip to Tonga gave players a renewed sense of purpose before returning to Australia for the clash at Suncorp Stadium.<\/p>\n<p data-end=\"853\" data-start=\"592\">Head coach Kristian Woolf described the visit as \u201cthe perfect way to kickstart our 2025 campaign\u201d, with more than 1,000 fans greeting the squad upon arrival in Nuku\u2019alofa and thousands more lining the streets with banners and coconuts to welcome their heroes.<\/p>\n<p data-end=\"853\" data-start=\"592\">MORE:\u00a0<a target=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/www.sportingnews.com\/au\/rugby-league\/news\/pacific-championships-2025-team-lists-mail-week-2\/99ed309916d59e9409593a50\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Pacific Championships 2025: Predicted team lists for Week 2<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Tongan pride on full display<\/p>\n<p data-end=\"1142\" data-start=\"891\">Players including Addin Fonua-Blake, Felise Kaufusi, Stefano Utoikamanu and Isaiya Katoa were mobbed by fans, but no one drew more attention than captain Jason Taumalolo, whose decision to represent Tonga in 2017 reshaped international rugby league.<\/p>\n<p data-end=\"1397\" data-start=\"1144\">\u201cEverywhere Jase went, he was mobbed,\u201d said John Hopoate, who travelled with the team.<\/p>\n<p data-end=\"1397\" data-start=\"1144\">\u201cHe\u2019s close to being the king of Tonga the way he is received when he walks around. I consider myself to be a future immortal over there, but Jase is the \u2018king\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n<p data-end=\"1685\" data-start=\"1399\">Woolf said the highlight was watching players reconnect with their roots. \u201cAddin Fonua-Blake went to the school he attended, so did Eli Katoa,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p data-end=\"1685\" data-start=\"1399\">\u201cIt was really touching for all the players to have that moment and connection with people or a certain place. It meant a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Fit for a King<\/p>\n<p data-end=\"1906\" data-start=\"1709\">The team was invited to lunch at the Royal Palace with King Aho\u2019eitu \u02bbUnuaki\u02bbotonga Tuku\u02bbaho, dining on fresh seafood and traditional desserts in a ceremony that Woolf described as unforgettable.<\/p>\n<p data-end=\"2099\" data-start=\"1908\">\u201cThere were a lot of protocols we needed to follow when meeting the King,\u201d Woolf said.<\/p>\n<p data-end=\"2099\" data-start=\"1908\">\u201cHe was very engaging and made it clear he appreciated what the players were doing for the country.\u201d<\/p>\n<p data-end=\"2286\" data-start=\"2101\">After training sessions, parades and grand final appearances, Tonga\u2019s trip wrapped up with the local A-grade decider, where the Viane Doves lifted the trophy in front of adoring fans.<\/p>\n<p data-end=\"2491\" data-start=\"2288\">\u201cWhat I like about our group is, judging by their body shapes, they\u2019ve all looked after themselves,\u201d Woolf said.<\/p>\n<p data-end=\"2491\" data-start=\"2288\">\u201cAt least the boys know exactly who they are playing for, and what it means to Tonga.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Tongan rugby league team\u2019s Pacific Championships preparation turned into a celebration of heritage and pride. Players spent&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":227493,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-227492","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\/227492","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=227492"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/227492\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/227493"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=227492"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=227492"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=227492"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}