{"id":440077,"date":"2026-01-27T05:59:12","date_gmt":"2026-01-27T05:59:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/440077\/"},"modified":"2026-01-27T05:59:12","modified_gmt":"2026-01-27T05:59:12","slug":"another-level-finau-on-how-hes-changed-his-game-since-joining-canberra-nrl-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/440077\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cAnother level\u201d: Finau on how he\u2019s changed his game since joining Canberra – NRL News"},"content":{"rendered":"

The attacking upside of Canberra Raiders<\/a> outside back Sione Finau<\/a> is evident.<\/p>\n

In his limited NRL<\/a> time with the St George Illawarra Dragons<\/a>, he showed that his finishing ability and speed can match the best in the league. However, he believes there’s still work to be done if he’s to be a consistent first-grader.<\/p>\n

Speaking to Zero Tackle, Finau shared what he is hellbent on improving as he looks to crack into the Canberra’s NRL<\/a> side.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy defence,\u201d he said when asked what he’s been working on the most in his first Raiders pre-season.<\/p>\n

\u201cI believe defence does win games, and as a winger, you gotta be good on both ends\u2026 that’s one focus for me this year.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"NRLSYDNEY, AUSTRALIA – JULY 19: Sione Finau of the Dragons looks on from the bench during the round 20 NRL match between Canterbury Bulldogs and St George Illawarra Dragons at Accor Stadium, on July 19, 2025, in Sydney, Australia. (Photo by Brendon Thorne\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Tying in with his desire to shore up his defensive skills, Finau admitted his main goal in 2026 is to win a full-time role in first-grade.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of my goals is to play consistent NRL<\/a>, not playing in and out of reserve grade,\u201d Finau shared.<\/p>\n

Ricky Stuart<\/a> has also challenged him to earn either the wing or centre spot in this side, with Finau revealing what the mastermind head coach asked of him when first arriving to training camp.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy first week, one thing [Stuart] said was that we’re going to level up from last year,\u201d Finau recalled.<\/p>\n

\u201c[He said to] leave last year in the past, we’re gonna step to another level and set high expectations.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 23-year-old was motivated from week one of preseason, admitting Stuart’s word had \u201ca big impact\u201d on how he approached his training.<\/p>\n

When asked what every Raiders fan should expect from him in 2026, Finau said that Canberra faithful will see that he’s \u201cstepped up another level\u201d as he looks to shine in his new side.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The attacking upside of Canberra Raiders outside back Sione Finau is evident. In his limited NRL time with…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":438634,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":["post-440077","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nrl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-national-rugby-league","tag-nationalrugbyleague","tag-nrl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/440077","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=440077"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/440077\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/438634"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=440077"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=440077"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=440077"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}