Shock finals run reignites debate over one of NRL\u2019s great blunders<\/a><\/p>\n‘Closest we’ve been to our community’ | 03:38<\/p>\n
THE PANTHER WHO BECAME A FORWARD<\/p>\n
Despite emerging as one of the best young back-rowers in the NRL this season, Manulelua\u2019s transition into the forwards was hardly part of the original plan.<\/p>\n
Growing up in New Zealand, the rookie was primarily a rugby union player and attended the famed King\u2019s College in Auckland on a scholarship.<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was mostly rugby union he played growing up,\u201d Sam, his older brother, said.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was at King\u2019s College in New Zealand and got a scholarship to play there for rugby union. <\/p>\n
\u201cHe 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.\u201d<\/p>\n
After deciding to stick with rugby league, there was never much doubt about what position Manuleleua saw himself as.<\/p>\n
Once he committed to rugby league, Manuleleua had always pictured himself playing in the halves.<\/p>\n
At the time, that was the position he had grown up playing and it was where he felt most comfortable, despite his size.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s been a meteoric rise for Francis Manuleleua this season.Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n
\u201cHe always played half even when he came to Australia,\u201d his older brother said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was quite funny because when the forwards and halves split at training he\u2019d always go off with the halves. <\/p>\n
\u201cIf 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.\u201d<\/p>\n
But as he continued to grow, Penrith eventually decided the halves was no longer the right position for him.<\/p>\n
This saw the Panthers shift him into the centres, but the experiment didn\u2019t last long before they moved him onto the edges and into the back row.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey put him in the centres when he started at Penrith and that didn\u2019t really go too well, so they chucked him out to the back-row,\u201d his brother Sam continued.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it was SG Ball or Jersey Flegg when they first chucked him out to the edges.\u201d<\/p>\n
That move ultimately reshaped Manuleleua\u2019s career.<\/p>\n
THE KNIGHTS GAMBLE<\/p>\n
After spending two seasons \u2013 2023 and 2024 \u2013 at the Panthers, the former halfback was faced with another crossroads.<\/p>\n
This time, it meant leaving Penrith and taking a chance on himself at the Newcastle Knights.<\/p>\n
It was a move that came with no guarantees.<\/p>\n
Manuleleua had spent two seasons learning a new position and trying to establish himself, but his path to the NRL remained unclear.<\/p>\n
Speaking about the move to Newcastle, his older brother said the Knights offered a fresh opportunity.<\/p>\n
The presence of Head of Recruitment Peter O\u2019Sullivan also gave the family confidence that the club understood the type of player they were receiving.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe had a great relationship with Peter O\u2019Sullivan because he was at the Warriors,\u201d Sam Manuleleua said.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe 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. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe first two years were a bit rocky with the Knights, but with (Justin) Holbrook coming in, he\u2019s changed him so much and credit to him. <\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know when we got this Newcastle call and at the time they weren\u2019t really doing well but we said give it a chance. <\/p>\n
\u201cHe took his chance and he\u2019s going to hopefully make the Grand Final.\u201d<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Francis Manuleleua of the Knights celebrates winning the NRL Elimination Final match against the South Sydney Rabbitohs.Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n
\u201cYou want to be training full-time and that was just me, I wasn\u2019t up to standards to be training at that level,\u201d he told the publication.<\/p>\n
\u201cEveryone 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.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople would tell me I had all the talent in the world and I could be the player that people looked up to \u2026 but I never worked on the hard, off-the-ball stuff.<\/p>\n
\u201cI got found out when I moved over to Penrith \u2026 I did a (NSW) Cup pre-season and got kicked in the arse and I was always at the back.\u201d<\/p>\n
It was a harsh lesson for a player who had arrived at the foot of the mountains with plenty of natural talent.<\/p>\n
And while his first season at the Knights was far from smooth sailing, Justin Holbrook\u2019s arrival this year has helped him unlock a new version of himself.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s crazy how things are going for him right now. It took him three years to literally crack it,\u201d his older brother Sam continued.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe didn\u2019t have the perfect start to his pre-season in his rookie year, but he gradually started coming and it\u2019s crazy. <\/p>\n
\u201cThere were times he didn\u2019t understand what was happening because last year he thought he was going to get a crack. <\/p>\n
\u201cHe was doing well in Cup and we thought he was going to get a run as well, but then it didn\u2019t happen. <\/p>\n
\u201cThen we started questioning, is this actually going to happen?\u201d<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt kind of back-pedalled from there a little bit.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cleary cleared for prelim | 00:31<\/p>\n
However, Holbrook\u2019s arrival at the start of the year provided the turning point Francis and his family had been waiting for.<\/p>\n
\u201cThen Holbrook came out of nowhere and just changed all that and he\u2019s going in a perfect direction,\u201d Sam said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know if you\u2019ve seen the interview where Greg Marzhew spoke about the coach and that he kind of knows what player he is. <\/p>\n
\u201cHe understands the players and what they need to be better at and he\u2019s brought the best out of some of these boys.\u201d<\/p>\n
The reward for that patience is a return to where his journey.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
But instead of lining up alongside the likes of Dylan Edwards, Nathan Cleary and Isaah Yeo, he will be trying to stop them.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In 2023, Francis Manuleleua decided to move to Penrith, believing the Panthers could take his game to another…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":612903,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[111,139,69,213],"class_list":["post-612902","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\/612902","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=612902"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/612902\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/612903"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=612902"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=612902"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=612902"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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