WHAT’S GAMBLING REALLY COSTING YOU? Set a deposit limit. For Free and confidential support call 1800 858 858 or visit gamblinghelponline.org.au.<\/p>\n In his first match for the Raiders – after joining the club from the Sydney Roosters – the forward sustained a Lisfranc fracture, ruling him out for the remainder of the season at the time.<\/p>\n After overcoming that, his injury woes continued when he broke his leg and in an extraordinary complication, the titanium plate inserted to help repair his leg also snapped. <\/p>\n The freak incident left his treating doctor stunned, with the specialist describing it as the \u201cfirst time in 30 years\u201d he had ever seen it happen.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s had some pretty bad injuries the last few years,\u201d Patuki-Case\u2019s father, Adam Case, told foxsports.com.au. <\/p>\n \u201cWhen he first went down to Canberra, he had a Lisfranc fracture and then got back from that and had the whole season off.<\/p>\n \u201cHe only played a few games in the next season and then snapped his leg. He came back from that surgery and the titanium plate broke in his left.<\/p>\n \u201cThe first time in 30 years the doctor said that it\u2019s ever happened and he was out again.\u201d<\/p>\n Vena Patuki-Case in action for the Canberra Raiders. (Photo: NRL Imagery)Source: FOX SPORTS<\/p>\n Forced to spend long stretches on the sidelines, his horror injury toll saw the Hills Sports graduate question whether his career might be over before it had even really begun.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s said it a few times, but since he\u2019s come back, he said, \u2018I feel the fittest I\u2019ve ever been\u2019 and he\u2019s just been biding his time,\u201d Case said.<\/p>\n \u201cBut there\u2019s been a lot of doubts over the years. It was more when he actually got back to playing after all the injuries. It was more the fear of re-injury.<\/p>\n \u201cI could see the ways he was playing when he first came back. He was just playing a little bit differently than what he\u2019d normally play.<\/p>\n \u201cSomeone would come in to tackle him and he\u2019d sort of slow down and move his legs out of the way but Joe (Tapine) worked with him a lot on footing technique and tackling and that\u2019s helped him a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n Canberra Raiders debutant Vena Patuki-Case. (Supplied)Source: FOX SPORTS<\/p>\n Idolising Tapine, fellow Raiders teammate Josh Papali\u2019i and Gold Coast Titans skipper Tino Fa\u2019asuamaleaui, Patuki-Case\u2019s football journey began at the age of nine.<\/p>\n \u201cHe kind of was a bit of a late one who wanted to play. He was always big and he\u2019d always had a good shoulder and could always put on a good shot,\u201d Case said.<\/p>\n \u201cVena\u2019s really level-headed and he\u2019ll get in and do anything, so he listens and learns a lot and just busts his ass off at training, which is what they want a lot of the time.<\/p>\n \u201cHe liked to stand out on the field so he\u2019d have a mohawk or blue hair.\u201d<\/p>\n DAILY TELEGRAPH MAY 19, 2022. Hills Sports High School, Schoolboy NRL players from left Henry Finau, Moustafa Dirani, Vena Patuki-Case, Harry Hassett, Sam Squire and Levi Smith-Mariri at the school in Seven Hills. Picture: Jonathan NgSource: News Corp Australia<\/p>\n However, it didn\u2019t start to take shape until his late teenage years when he began to realise that he could genuinely give rugby league a real crack.<\/p>\n From there, his focus sharpened and he started to commit more seriously to the game, earning selection in the Sydney Roosters\u2019 Under-17s and later Under-19s pathways squads where he played alongside Ethan Strange, Robert Toia and Salesi Foketi.<\/p>\n While he enjoyed his time at the Tricolours, he soon departed in search of a greater opportunity after being told he was down the pecking order at the club.<\/p>\n Fielding interest from the Canberra Raiders, Canterbury Bulldogs, Cronulla Sharks and Wests Tigers, Patuki-Case weighed up his options for several weeks.<\/p>\n And although the Sharks tabled him an offer, he opted to join the nation\u2019s capital and learn under Ricky Stuart.<\/p>\n \u201cI think he wanted a change. He thought for himself if he could get away and do that, he could actually concentrate on footy a lot more,\u201d his father said.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s no distraction because he had no friends when he moved down there and knew no one at all.\u201d<\/p>\n Canberra Raiders debutant Vena Patuki-Case. (Supplied)Source: FOX SPORTS<\/p>\n Preparing to make his long-awaited NRL debut, the forward has been named in the No.15 for Saturday night\u2019s clash against the Parramatta Eels, marking the culmination of a long and testing journey.<\/p>\n \u201cI think his best attribute is probably his defence and work ethic off the ball,\u201d Case continued.<\/p>\n \u201cSometimes he\u2019s been pulled up by coaches over the years that he does too much in defence and makes the tackle that\u2019s not really his to make.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s got a pretty decent shoulder on him and he\u2019ll always get in there and have a crack.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"On Saturday night, Vena Patuki-Case will become the latest Canberra Raiders player to make his NRL debut, earning…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":733000,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":["post-732999","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\/732999","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=732999"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/732999\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/733000"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=732999"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=732999"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=732999"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/poster-fallback.png\"\/)
<\/a>
<\/a>
<\/a><\/p>\n