{"id":743086,"date":"2026-06-17T21:28:12","date_gmt":"2026-06-17T21:28:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/743086\/"},"modified":"2026-06-17T21:28:12","modified_gmt":"2026-06-17T21:28:12","slug":"state-of-origin-2026-game-two-tino-faasuamaleaui-tribute-to-father-after-death-video","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/743086\/","title":{"rendered":"State of Origin 2026 Game Two: Tino Fa\u2019asuamaleaui tribute to father after death, video"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tino Fa\u2019asuamaleaui<\/a>\u00a0hopes he \u201cput a smile\u201d on the face of his late father after taking to the field to help the Maroons<\/a> defeat the NSW Blues 44-24<\/a> and force the 2026 State of Origin series into a thrilling decider at Suncorp Stadium. <\/p>\n

Fa\u2019asuamaleaui had an interrupted lead up to Origin II after it was revealed his father Fereti had died aged 56 following a battle with cancer.<\/a> <\/p>\n

\"Tino<\/p>\n

Tino Fa\u2019asuamaleaui embraces Queensland teammate Kulikefu Finefeuiaki after defeating the NSW Blues.\u00a0NRL Imagery<\/p>\n

The 26-year-old joined the Maroons on Monday to complete the final preparations before game two and informed coach Billy Slater<\/a> that he wanted to play. <\/p>\n

His family were present in the stands to witness his team claim victory on Wednesday, with his children joining him on the field post-match. <\/p>\n

Fa\u2019asuamaleaui was thankful for the distraction of playing rugby league for his state as he mourns the loss of his father.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt means so much,\u201d he told Nine. <\/p>\n

\u201cJust to come out here and play the sport that I loved growing up.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll the sacrifices my dad and my family made for me to be here, it was just so good to go out there and do what I love. <\/p>\n

\u201cMy old man had the best seat tonight. Hopefully we put a smile on his face.\u201d<\/p>\n

It is not the first time the Maroons have rallied around a player due to the loss of a loved one, with captain Cameron Munster<\/a> losing his father on the eve of last year\u2019s series decider in Sydney. <\/p>\n

Munster made clear that Fa\u2019asuamaleaui would always have the support of his Maroons teammates in the lead up<\/a> and after Origin II at the MCG.<\/p>\n

Fa\u2019asuamaleaui extended his gratitude to all those in the rugby league world who also shared stories and their condolences about the death of his father. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe amount of messages I got as soon as everyone found out. It was beautiful (from) the rugby league community,\u201d Fa\u2019asuamaleaui added.<\/p>\n

\"Tino<\/p>\n

Tino Fa\u2019asuamaleaui speaks to Nine’s Allana Ferguson after winning game two of the State of Origin series.\u00a0Nine<\/p>\n

\u201cAll the messages I got from people texting me on Instagram, it means so much. Shout out to those guys because yes, it has been a tough week, but just seeing the stories and messages from everyone really puts a smile on my face. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt was amazing. Much love guys.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fa\u2019asuamaleaui credited his skipper Cameron Munster for helping turn his team\u2019s performance around, recognising that his efforts to settle the team helped inspire a win. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt was intense, that first half was back and forth,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

\u201cOur skipper Munster really settled us and made it clear to us at half-time. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe came out and did our jobs, got the win in the end which is really good. I am really proud of the boys.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Maroons and Blues will now turn their focus to the series decider on July 8. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Tino Fa\u2019asuamaleaui\u00a0hopes he \u201cput a smile\u201d on the face of his late father after taking to the field…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":743087,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":["post-743086","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\/743086","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=743086"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/743086\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/743087"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=743086"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=743086"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=743086"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}