Fiji front-rower Jacob Saifiti is familiar with this role.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The veteran pack leader showing the way for his young forwards.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Inspiring by actions, setting a platform, leading by example.\u00a0<\/p>\n
It was what he had been doing for Newcastle during their NRL redemption season.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But he was sidelined for long stretches of the second half of that campaign, initially with a torn hamstring, then he missed their fairytale finals run to serve a four-game suspension.\u00a0<\/p>\n
As it turned out, Newcastle\u2019s never-say-die charge from seventh spot all the way to the NRL grand final, only to fall one agonising point short against the Roosters, meant Saifiti was available for the start of Fiji\u2019s IRL Rugby League World Cup campaign.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In his eighth Test for Fiji, and first in nine years, the 30-year-old prop scored his first try in Bati colours in the 40-12 win over Cook Islands in the familiar surrounds of his McDonald Jones Stadium home ground.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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Fiji v Cook Islands \u2013 Round 1, 2026<\/p>\n
Saifiti contested the first kick of his career, caught a Brandon Wakeham bomb, and stretched out to score under the posts.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThat was the first and last time I\u2019ll ever go up like that. The boys were saying, \u2018I didn\u2019t know you had that in you\u2019, and I said, \u2018mate, I didn\u2019t even know, swear to God\u2019,\u201d Saifiti said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cNot in my whole entire life have I ever done that. Maybe off a grubber but gone up and actually contested a kick like that, I\u2019ve never done. We do practise that at the Knights \u2013 well, this year we did \u2013 so maybe I\u2019ve got to give some credit to them.\u201d<\/p>\n
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The Bati hymn<\/p>\n
Before Sunday’s game in Newcastle, Saifiti\u2019s last appearance for Fiji was in their 54-6 loss to Australia in the 2017 World Cup semi-final at Suncorp Stadium.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was good to be back in this jersey \u2013 it’s been about nine years \u2013 so it\u2019s been a really good week,\u201d said Saifiti, who ran for 123 metres in 54 minutes against Cook Islands.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve really enjoyed it, and to play at home too, my home ground, it was a decent turnout and a good win, so I\u2019m stoked.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Saifiti will return to Suncorp Stadium next Sunday to lead the Fiji forwards against an Australian team likely to include Knights teammate Bradman Best on Test debut.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI think he should have been there for them in game one, being biased, but I read today that he\u2019s going to get his shot and I\u2019m glad for him,\u201d Saifiti said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI think he\u2019s had one or two tours before this and hasn\u2019t debuted yet, so he deserves it.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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Caleb Navale Try<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s a big-game player and we\u2019ve seen what he can do in the Origin arena \u2013 game three, he\u2019s a specialist \u2013 and throughout the finals series, he was unreal too…<\/p>\n
\u201cI hope he plays but I just hope he doesn\u2019t come into the middle, because the big blokes are going to have to show him a little thing or two.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Looking forward to testing himself against the reigning champions, Saifiti said the World Cup campaign with Fiji had put a post-season silver lining to a year that ended under a dark cloud after looking so bright early on.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Having fought back from a torn hamstring that sidelined him for six matches, Saifiti\u2019s NRL season finished prematurely when he was sent off and suspended for four games for a reckless high tackle on Warriors winger Luke Laulilii.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a weird month. It\u2019s been a weird year for me, to be honest,\u201d Saifiti said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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Brandon Wakeham named Player of the Match<\/p>\n
\u201cI was probably in career-best form at the start of the year, get picked for Origin, don\u2019t play; make a grand final, don\u2019t play; so it\u2019s been a whirlwind of a year.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cObviously the grand final, I would have loved to have been out there, but that\u2019s just me being a competitor.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve been through all the tough years here so to not play in that grand final, I\u2019m just disappointed in myself. If I was injured, fair enough, but I was fit and it was my own doing.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s the thing that frustrated me the most, it was all on myself, but I still had a job to do.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe had a young forward pack and I had to help get them ready to play every finals game and the grand final. So it\u2019s been a weird but enjoyable year, because I\u2019m 30, I found career-best form, and I still think I\u2019ve got a lot of good footy left in me.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Saifiti said watching Newcastle\u2019s finals run from the sidelines, alongside fellow starters Dylan Brown (ACL), Trey Mooney (scapula) and Phoenix Crossland (suspended) will provide additional motivation for the 2027 NRL season.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cDon\u2019t get me wrong, I\u2019m focused on Fiji, but in the back of my head, I\u2019m thinking about next year already,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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Jacob Saifiti Try<\/p>\n
Fiji coach Mick Potter was pleasantly surprised Saifiti served his suspension before the RLWC. Potter previously coached Saifiti for Fiji in 2017, and also at the Knights from 2016 to 2018 while working as an assistant to former coach Nathan Brown.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was unexpected but he\u2019s a great acquisition, if you like, to our team,\u201d Potter said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cHaving him back from being away for a long time, it\u2019s fantastic for Fiji rugby league.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Saifiti said Fiji\u2019s first-up win against Cook Islands helped establish confidence before the Bati tackle Australia on Sunday and New Zealand on the Gold Coast on October 31.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve seen first-hand what belief can do to a side,\u201d Saifiti said, reflecting on Newcastle\u2019s finals victories over the Rabbitohs, Warriors and Panthers.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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NRL News: 18th November<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery semi-final, the grand final, everyone wrote us off but we kept turning up…\u00a0
\u201cDon\u2019t get me wrong, I know we\u2019re up against it, but in 2017 we beat New Zealand, so I\u2019ve seen more unliklely things happen.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI love testing myself against the best, and I think it brings the best out in me.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a beautiful challenge, these next two weeks, but it\u2019s something I\u2019m looking forward to. I\u2019ve missed a fair chunk of footy this year through suspension and injury, we\u2019ve got a pretty inexperienced team here, especially in the pack… so the boys are going to follow me.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ll be out there throwing that first punch and I know the boys will follow me.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Fiji front-rower Jacob Saifiti is familiar with this role.\u00a0 The veteran pack leader showing the way for his…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":933276,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,760,85],"class_list":["post-933275","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\/933275","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=933275"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/933275\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/933276"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=933275"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=933275"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=933275"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}