In 2023, Francis Manuleleua decided to move to Penrith, believing the Panthers could take his game to another level.
Born in New Zealand, the youngster arrived at the club as a talented halfback, so the opportunity to learn from Nathan Cleary was an obvious attraction.
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Having grown up idolising Adam Reynolds, Manuleleua loved watching how elite halfbacks controlled a game and was eager to gain insight into what made Cleary one of the best in the NRL.
“He thought Penrith was going to make him a better player,” Francis’ older brother Sam Manuleleua told foxsports.com.au.
“I think he chose that in a way where he’ll be improving as a player and as he was a half, he had Nathan Cleary at the club (which was amazing).
“He thought he’d try and go under his wing and see what he’s like … but it didn’t work out.”
However, his decision to move to Australia would ultimately take his career in a direction nobody, including his own family, could have predicted.
“We always thought he was going to be a half, but then he started growing a bit too long,” Sam added.
“I don’t think he thought that he would be a back rower, but he had to transition into that.”
Now, three years later, his role has been dramatically reversed.
Instead of learning from Cleary, Manuleleua has been tasked with helping shut down the Panthers superstar as he prepares to lead the Newcastle Knights to the 2026 NRL Grand Final.
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THE PANTHER WHO BECAME A FORWARD
Despite emerging as one of the best young back-rowers in the NRL this season, Manulelua’s transition into the forwards was hardly part of the original plan.
Growing up in New Zealand, the rookie was primarily a rugby union player and attended the famed King’s College in Auckland on a scholarship.
However, he was also progressing through the New Zealand Warriors junior pathways system, forcing him to juggle commitment in both codes as he plotted his future
“It was mostly rugby union he played growing up,” Sam, his older brother, said.
“He was at King’s College in New Zealand and got a scholarship to play there for rugby union.
“He was with the Warriors, so it was pretty hard for him to pick between Warriors training and then union training. I want to say he was half-half of union and league, but he was good at both.”
After deciding to stick with rugby league, there was never much doubt about what position Manuleleua saw himself as.
Once he committed to rugby league, Manuleleua had always pictured himself playing in the halves.
At the time, that was the position he had grown up playing and it was where he felt most comfortable, despite his size.
It’s been a meteoric rise for Francis Manuleleua this season.Source: Getty Images
“He always played half even when he came to Australia,” his older brother said.
“It was quite funny because when the forwards and halves split at training he’d always go off with the halves.
“If you see the halves at the time, they were tiny compared to him. I felt sorry for him because these little kids were pretty quick for their size and it was a big change for him.”
But as he continued to grow, Penrith eventually decided the halves was no longer the right position for him.
This saw the Panthers shift him into the centres, but the experiment didn’t last long before they moved him onto the edges and into the back row.
“They put him in the centres when he started at Penrith and that didn’t really go too well, so they chucked him out to the back-row,” his brother Sam continued.
“I think it was SG Ball or Jersey Flegg when they first chucked him out to the edges.”
That move ultimately reshaped Manuleleua’s career.
THE KNIGHTS GAMBLE
After spending two seasons – 2023 and 2024 – at the Panthers, the former halfback was faced with another crossroads.
This time, it meant leaving Penrith and taking a chance on himself at the Newcastle Knights.
It was a move that came with no guarantees.
Manuleleua had spent two seasons learning a new position and trying to establish himself, but his path to the NRL remained unclear.
Speaking about the move to Newcastle, his older brother said the Knights offered a fresh opportunity.
The presence of Head of Recruitment Peter O’Sullivan also gave the family confidence that the club understood the type of player they were receiving.
“We had a great relationship with Peter O’Sullivan because he was at the Warriors,” Sam Manuleleua said.
“He kind of knew Francis and what kind of player he was as a young kid. He knew he was a half and what kinds of skills he had and where he would fit in the club and what he needed to do.
“The first two years were a bit rocky with the Knights, but with (Justin) Holbrook coming in, he’s changed him so much and credit to him.
“I don’t know when we got this Newcastle call and at the time they weren’t really doing well but we said give it a chance.
“He took his chance and he’s going to hopefully make the Grand Final.”
In his own words, the breakout rookie star told the Australian Associated Press earlier this week about his departure from the Panthers and the work he had to do to earn another NRL shot.
Francis Manuleleua of the Knights celebrates winning the NRL Elimination Final match against the South Sydney Rabbitohs.Source: Getty Images
“You want to be training full-time and that was just me, I wasn’t up to standards to be training at that level,” he told the publication.
“Everyone has to start somewhere so having that job and seeing the boys train gave me the motivation to keep going hard to try to get a full-time gig and I found that here in Newcastle.
“People would tell me I had all the talent in the world and I could be the player that people looked up to … but I never worked on the hard, off-the-ball stuff.
“I got found out when I moved over to Penrith … I did a (NSW) Cup pre-season and got kicked in the arse and I was always at the back.”
It was a harsh lesson for a player who had arrived at the foot of the mountains with plenty of natural talent.
And while his first season at the Knights was far from smooth sailing, Justin Holbrook’s arrival this year has helped him unlock a new version of himself.
“It’s crazy how things are going for him right now. It took him three years to literally crack it,” his older brother Sam continued.
“He didn’t have the perfect start to his pre-season in his rookie year, but he gradually started coming and it’s crazy.
“There were times he didn’t understand what was happening because last year he thought he was going to get a crack.
“He was doing well in Cup and we thought he was going to get a run as well, but then it didn’t happen.
“Then we started questioning, is this actually going to happen?”
It was a frustrating period for Manuleleua as his momentum was repeatedly being halted just as it appeared he was edging closer to his first grade debut.
“It kind of back-pedalled from there a little bit.”
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However, Holbrook’s arrival at the start of the year provided the turning point Francis and his family had been waiting for.
“Then Holbrook came out of nowhere and just changed all that and he’s going in a perfect direction,” Sam said.
“I don’t know if you’ve seen the interview where Greg Marzhew spoke about the coach and that he kind of knows what player he is.
“He understands the players and what they need to be better at and he’s brought the best out of some of these boys.”
The reward for that patience is a return to where his journey.
After three years of waiting for his opportunity, Manuleleua will take on his former club with a chance to reach his maiden NRL grand final.
But instead of lining up alongside the likes of Dylan Edwards, Nathan Cleary and Isaah Yeo, he will be trying to stop them.