Inside teen’s journey to the NRL … and the crazy ‘Freddy’ moment that left teammates speechless

You could say many things about Nick Politis, but one thing you could never accuse him of is not being completely devoted to the Roosters, and more specifically the young players the club nurtures.

One afternoon, he made a visit to a unit the club uses to house its academy players, an idea borne out of the Roosters’ trip to see Lionel Messi and Barcelona en route to the World Club Challenge in 2020.

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There were four young prospects living in the apartment the Roosters had high hopes for: Siua Wong, Robert Toia, Benaiah Ioelu and Salesi Foketi.

Politis would usually speak to them about family first, football second. He would ask them about their lives back in New Zealand or Queensland, and later discussion would turn to what it meant to be a Rooster.

On this occasion, the boys had agreed to cook a barbecue for him.

“Everyone knows Nick likes his steak well done,” Foketi says. “Anything else, he won’t eat it.”

Pretty easy instructions, right?

“But we were horrible,” Foketi laughs. “When we cooked it, it was rare at best.

“I remember he cut into it and didn’t touch it after that. Ever since then, those barbecues have always been catered and I try to avoid barbecues in general!”

It might say something about their rugby league ability that Politis didn’t march them out of the club on the spot.

Instead, the quartet have all become regular NRL players this year for his beloved club, whose march up the ladder with a bunch of rookies was almost unimaginable a couple of months ago.

Almost atop the list is Foketi, the New Zealand teenager who, wearing No. 10 on his back last month, steamed onto a James Tedesco pass and produced a left foot step even Brad Fittler would have died for.

Bang!

On a 50-metre surge, he lined up and bamboozled Newcastle fullback Fletcher Sharpe, shrugged off Mat Croker and then dragged James Schiller over the line for the Roosters’ first try deep into the second half. They went on to win thanks to Wong’s questionable put down shortly after.

“My dad (Solomoni) was a big fan of Brad Fittler,” Foketi says. “He was actually the first person who showed me about him so I definitely know about (the step).”

The future is bright for Salesi Foketi. Source: Getty Images

Everyone else asked: is it actually possible for a prop to do that?

The thing with Foketi is no one really knows exactly what his best position is: front row, back row, lock, even in the halves. To borrow an overworn rugby league parlance, he’s “just a footy player”.

But making it as a footy player with the Roosters has been far from easy for one of the brightest prospects in the game.

Foketi grew up playing footy on the streets of south Auckland, one of the toughest neighbourhoods in Australasia. His dad, Solomoni, was an elite player himself, featuring in both top tier rugby union and rugby league competitions in New Zealand.

By the time Salesi was barely out of nappies, Solomoni was already showing his son the basics in the backyard.

“I was barely speaking a word and he was looking after me,” Foketi says. “(But) him breaking down the game to me when I was four helped for sure.

“Mum and dad were good and put me in a school out of the area to look after my education first. Footy and everything else came after (school).”

By the time he was in his mid-teens, Roosters scouts Daniel Anderson and Fifita Hala (now at the Bulldogs) spotted a big and raw kid playing in the halves across the Tasman who they liked.

He had lovely, soft hands, but his body needed work. They’d already struck up a relationship with Foketi’s school and took a punt to fly him over for a Harold Matthews Cup trial game.

Foketi was 120kg at the time. He vowed to work on his body throughout the year, and managed to drop down to 115kg.

“I thought, ‘this will be a good weight. Obviously, my fitness will be all right’,” Foketi recalls. “But it wasn’t all right.

“I remember going home that year and I was thinking, ‘if I seriously want to have a crack at this, I need to get to a good weight’.”

He converted to a diet of mainly “mince and rice”. It worked.

Having made his NRL debut in round one, the 19-year-old played the entire 80 minutes for the first time this season in the club’s thumping win over the Cowboys, setting up the opening try with a deft pass to Lindsay Collins, much in the mould of his favourite player growing up and now teammate, Victor Radley.

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Foketi’s official player profile says he’s now just 97kg.

“Although I’m 100 on a good day now,” he laughs.

While the rest of the NRL world marvels at his athleticism on the field, it’s nothing new inside the four walls at Bondi.

“Salesi has been outstanding,” Collins says. “He does some crazy stuff around the club, like roundhouse kicks. He’s an athletic beast, but he’s also got the silkiness of his ball playing.”

It’s easy to argue the last couple of months could be some of Trent Robinson’s finest coaching at the Roosters, transforming a team which was embarrassed in their opening game against the Broncos, stacking it with young prospects and bringing out the best of them straight away, less than 12 months after Jared Waerea-Hargreaves, Luke Keary, Joseph Manu, Joseph Suaalii and Terrell May headed for the exit door.

Foketi is case in point.

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA – FEBRUARY 23: Salesi Foketi of the Roosters scores a try during the NRL Pre-season challenge match between South Sydney Rabbitohs and Sydney Roosters at Belmore Sports Ground on February 23, 2024 in Sydney, Australia. (Photo by Jason McCawley/Getty Images) Source: Getty Images

He counts Toia as a cousin, with both Solomoni and Toia’s dad, barber-cum-DJ Beau, related to each other. It’s part of the reason why Foketi plans to stay in the tricolours for many years to come under Robinson.

“We have a thing around last play stuff and that’s an area that’s always been one to work on for me,” he says. “I used to tend to take a breath every now and again. I’m still working on that for sure.

“That’s one area (Robinson) challenged me on. Being 120 kilos and getting down, fitness was always a tough one. I want to give back to the Roosters.”

But just don’t ask him to cook the next barbecue – particularly if Politis is on the guest list.

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