![\"David](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/b88c14319842038dbe30f6c16a3dac15.jpeg\")
<\/p>\nDavid Fifita has opened up on why his reunion with Wayne Bennett at South Sydney has revitalised his career after outlining the mental anguish he suffered in a 2025 season from hell.<\/p>\n
The 25-year-old has faith he can regain his Queensland jersey after three ankle surgeries ruined his final season at the Gold Coast where he played just eight games under former coach Des Hasler.<\/p>\n
Fifita was speaking at the season launch in Brisbane of Indigenous health initiative Deadly Choices when he was candid about how he had emerged from “a rough 12 months”.<\/p>\n
“You people probably don’t know what I have been through mentally. Having three surgeries on your ankle takes a toll on you,” he said.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Fifita struggled with an ankle injury throughout the 2025 season. (Getty Images: Chris Hyde)<\/p>\n
“I am over that now. I have the right people around me and a good mentor in Wayne.<\/p>\n
“I started my journey [at Brisbane] with Wayne back when I was 16 in high school. To be reunited with him means a lot.<\/p>\n
“He can give me a hug and be honest with me.<\/p>\n
“I have someone to listen to me, have faith in me and trust in me. I felt that connection with Wayne.”<\/p>\n
Fifita, at his best, is one of the game’s most destructive forwards but for five years had been in an underperforming Titans side.<\/p>\n
The prospect of playing outside Cody Walker and inside Latrell Mitchell at the Rabbitohs is a salivating one. It was under Bennett in 2018 that Fifita first announced himself as a force to be reckoned with and there is a sense the mastercoach can sprinkle his magic dust on the boom back-rower and get the results others have craved.<\/p>\n
Fifita is close to his mother and grandmother, who live in Queensland, so the move south was not easy.<\/p>\n
“Queensland will always be home. It was very tough for me to get out of this area so for me to move down there \u2026 it is scary,” he said.<\/p>\n
“But scary is good. Wayne is a Queenslander and I’ve got someone to lean on. I am not alone. He is with me and I feel good to be at the South Sydney Rabbitohs.”<\/p>\n
If all goes to plan, Fifita intends to add to his eight State of Origin appearances, the last of which was in 2023.<\/p>\n
“For sure. I am always confident in my ability,” Fifita said.<\/p>\n