If Manly back-rower Haumole Olakau\u2019atu has another chance at Origin he is going to apply the same attitude he\u2019s used to instill fear in opposition teams across the NRL.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThe first month of the season I kind of sat back and waited for the game to come to me,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a bit different the last month. I\u2019ve been given a role. A job from Foz (coach Kieran Foran) to try to insert myself into the game earlier.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve been doing that the past month and I\u2019m happy with myself.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
That philosophy has helped the Sea Eagles to a four-match winning streak and was brazenly on show at 4 Pines Park in the 33-18 win over Parramatta.\u00a0<\/p>\n
No surprises Olakau\u2019atu topped everyone in most areas making 22 runs for 226 metres, 98 of those post-contact, alongside nine tackle busts and four offloads.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In defence his 20 tackles left more than a few Eels sprawled on the turf, just ask Eels lock Dylan Walker.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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Crunch! Olakau’atu puts Walker on his back<\/p>\n
He earned an early shower from Foran in the 73rd minute. But he must have also attracted attention from NSW coach Laurie Daley.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Tongan international made two appearances for the Blues off the bench in the 2024 series win under coach Michael Maguire but was overlooked last year.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Olakau\u2019atu can\u2019t escape the chatter about a return to Origin in 2026.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt pops up on social now and then, but I try not to focus too much on it.\u00a0
\u201cMy role is solely on Manly and try to get some wins. And I feel like I\u2019ve been doing that the past few weeks,” he said.<\/p>\n
For his part Foran made no secret of his admiration of the Olakau\u2019atu skills.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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NRL Best Moments \u2013 Round 8<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s been unbelievable. Haumole is such a special player. I can\u2019t speak highly enough of this guy,\u201d Foran said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI think the sky is the limit for him as a footballer, I honestly do. He\u2019s just got something that not many players have got.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen he\u2019s carrying the footy like that and he\u2019s going after the game defensively like that, we\u2019re going to be in the contest more times than not.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Olakau\u2019atu plays on Manly\u2019s right edge and was gracious enough to say that if he didn\u2019t make the Origin squad for Game One on May 27 then Bulldog Jacob Preston would be the man for the job.<\/p>\n
Penrith\u2019s Liam Martin was the player wearing that jersey in 2025 but is recovering from a knee injury.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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Saab uses the header, intentionally<\/p>\n
Olakau\u2019atu has three quality teams to prove his own worth with the Panthers, Broncos and Wests Tigers down as Manly\u2019s opponents over the next three weeks before Origin teams are named.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was kind of my mentality this week,\u201d the 27-year-old said of his preparation for the Eels.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“Being vice-captain and try to help Jake (Trbojevic) lead the team physically.\u00a0\u00a0
\u201cI had a conversation with Jake and Foz earlier in the week and my job is pretty clear.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cMy job is to back up Jake and challenge the opposition physically I feel like I did that.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"If Manly back-rower Haumole Olakau\u2019atu has another chance at Origin he is going to apply the same attitude…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":399419,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[111,139,69,213],"class_list":["post-399418","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/399418","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=399418"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/399418\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/399419"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=399418"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=399418"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=399418"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}