![\"Roman](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/69e59b16f997a19e0a99e66532a80416dab8964eb218295147610a045fb67fa4.jpeg\")
<\/p>\nThey likely also know the vaunted power forward has chosen the US college system as the next manoeuvre towards the big time.<\/p>\n
He left this week to join the Pittsburgh Panthers in America\u2019s NCAA competition \u2013 a well-tramped pathway to the NBA. It has taken longer than expected to get over there, Siulepa explains, because of the Trump administration\u2019s crackdown on foreign student visas.<\/p>\n
But over there he now is, following in the footsteps of friends Luke Fennell (Syracuse) and Jacob Furphy (UConn). There are other footsteps he is following, too, like those of 18-year-old Bryce James, son of LeBron, who has joined the Wildcats at the University of Arizona.<\/p>\n
Fennell and Furphy, also national teammates at this year\u2019s Under-19 World Cup, \u201cput in my head that it\u2019s a good program and way to go about things\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s a lot more money as you start in college, and I was just thinking smarter with setting myself up in the future,\u201d says Siulepa. \u201cThen having rugby as a back-up is always great, so that\u2019s what I looked into the most.\u201d<\/p>\n
The cash is certainly enticing. College sport is entering its big-money era since a ruling that colleges and universities in the NCAA\u2019s top division will be allowed to directly pay athletes for the first time, within an initial salary cap of $US20.5 million per school. Since 2021, there is also much more to be made through name, image and likeness (NIL).<\/p>\n
Siulepa speaks about wanting to give back to his family, who \u201cpoured so much\u201d into his career, and particularly his mum for \u201cjust sacrificing a lot, taking me to training when she\u2019s tired, long nights and stuff like that\u201d.<\/p>\n
But he clarifies money is not the only deciding factor.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve trained really hard in basketball and guess I was further along as opposed to rugby, so not putting it to waste and giving it a crack. It\u2019s a hard choice. I\u2019d say I enjoy rugby just as much, but thought I\u2019d just put all my eggs in one basket [with] basketball. Whereas I think there\u2019s more of a back-up plan in rugby than vice-versa \u2013 going [with] rugby and then try and go back to basketball.\u201d<\/p>\n
This is what Siulepa told Schmidt and Kiss.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey pitched to me that rugby\u2019s always going to be here, and touched on other players that came back to rugby late, like 25, and still killed it. So just giving me reassurance that rugby\u2019s still a pathway for me and that if I came back I would still be a decent player, I guess.\u201d<\/p>\n
If \u201cdecent\u201d translates as one of the strongest GPS prospects to date, that is. But the faint upward inflection in \u201cI guess\u201d hints at the bizarre dichotomy of being very talented and also a teenager. You get the sense Siulepa is aware he possesses the raw elements of what it takes, but that he is not quite grown-up enough to digest some of the external commentary about that.<\/p>\n
And this dual-sport dance has not been without such commentary. \u201cIt has its moments,\u201d he says. \u201cWhen I lost my JackJumpers contract, that was hard, but it just gives extra motivation. You\u2019ve got to be your own biggest critic if you want to make it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Last year he signed a Next Stars contract with the NBL\u2019s Tasmania JackJumpers, and then returned to Brisbane soon after to finish school (for his mum) and see out his youth rugby career (for him).<\/p>\n
The club released him, with co-chair Steve Old citing rugby injuries Siulepa had brought to the club, saying he continued to play rugby against their wishes and concluding he was not \u201c110 per cent committed\u201d.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Roman Siulepa (left) in 2022 representing Australia at the FIBA Under-16 Asian Championship.Credit: Getty Images<\/p>\n
\u201cThe JackJumpers happened at the end of the school year, like term three, so I came back more for just wanting to be a kid and finish school,\u201d Siulepa says. \u201cYou don\u2019t really realise how important that is until you go away.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey were more pitching to me about coming early and becoming a pro, and in my head it was leaving my friends behind in something that I had unfinished business with, which was the [rugby] season which had already started. So I went back home just to finish an opportunity I\u2019ll never get again.\u201d<\/p>\n
The expectation was that, after graduating, he would attach himself to another NBL team and spend his pre-draft career in Australia like Josh Giddey did (Adelaide 36ers) and Dash Daniels \u2013 the 17-year-old younger brother of Atlanta Hawks\u2019 Dyson Daniels \u2013 is doing now (Melbourne United).<\/p>\n
But some recent NBA-related \u201cmanifesting\u201d has led him to Pitt, drawn to the routine, accountability and personal development and also to coach Jeff Capel\u2019s fun but \u201cstraight-up\u201d persona. \u201cHe doesn\u2019t really lie to you,\u201d he says. \u201cWe had a Zoom and it was talking about how I could get better and how I\u2019m not going to just walk in and be a starter \u2013 earn my spot, start on the bottom, work my way up.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Toutai](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/41d1001d1a4da5779ab29567f5a479525d302f87.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n
Toutai Kefu in his capacity as First Nations and Pasifika head coach in Melbourne last month.Credit: Getty Images<\/p>\n
The consensus is Siulepa has what it takes, confirmed some six weeks ago by a breakthrough performance at the Under-19 World Cup in Switzerland, where he averaged 18.9 points and 8.1 rebounds and posted a pair of double-doubles, including 19 points and 12 rebounds against a stacked US side.<\/p>\n
As a physical specimen weighing 100kg and standing two metres tall with a reach of 2.6m, he holds the upper hand over grown men and has the on-court aggression to level basically anything in his path. Likened to a young Ben Simmons, he is a highlight machine in the making, and could probably pursue NFL if that way inclined.<\/p>\n
But there are plenty of critical reviewers who point out a limited repertoire lacking in touch and an in-between game, with no pull-up or floater or much refined technique.<\/p>\n
Siulepa acknowledges this when asked in which facets his game needs to improvement. \u201cObviously, everyone says everything,\u201d is the reply, though he is a willing subject ready for Capel\u2019s moulding.<\/p>\n
Would Kefu say similar?<\/p>\n
\u201cI dunno,\u201d he replies, then chuckles, \u201cI\u2019m dating his daughter \u2013 I live in his house.\u201d<\/p>\n
Siulepa and Lucia \u2013 who will live and study with him in at the University of Pittsburgh \u2013 both attended Brisbane State High School and got together (\u201cshe gave me a chance\u201d) not long before her famous father started coaching the First XVs.<\/p>\n
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It made for a \u201cpretty nervous\u201d pre-season and a half-smiling \u201cbe careful, mate\u201d chat, later growing into a strong bond with both Kefu and wife Rachel. The pair is a valuable source of guidance in a complicated sports industry for a young man Kefu believes \u201ckeeps a lot inside\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne thing that I have noticed about Roman, there\u2019s a lot of people around him that not only speak highly of him, but generate a lot of interest around him that probably doesn\u2019t need to be [there],\u201d says Kefu, who also grew up playing both basketball and rugby before his father, former Tongan international Fatai Kefu, chose the latter for him.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s probably some naysayers out there, and I think he\u2019s always trying to prove them wrong. He also wants to prove to himself that he can achieve what he wants to achieve. Social media puts a whole lot of set of new set of pressures on him as well.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Roman I see at home is a quiet kid, hardly says boo. He just goes about his business. We have a fist bump here and there, a hug here and there, but he doesn\u2019t really talk about how he feels much.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut when he gets motivated to do something on the field, watch out. Because some of the stuff I\u2019ve seen … from people saying, talking, chirping at him, is unbelievable.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve seen him run a whole length of the field to score a try. In GPS rugby that\u2019s unbelievable, you don\u2019t see that often. The guys who can do that, they play for the Wallabies, or they\u2019re superstars of [the] NRL.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"They likely also know the vaunted power forward has chosen the US college system as the next manoeuvre…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":80623,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,760,85],"class_list":["post-80622","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-rugby","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80622","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=80622"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80622\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/80623"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=80622"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=80622"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=80622"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}