Utoikamanu moves to make Origin mark after 2023 tease
Stefano Utoikamanu spent two years feeling so teased by 12 minutes of State of Origin that it prompted the front-rower to uproot his life and move to Melbourne.
The one fresh face in the NSW team for Origin II in Perth next week, Utoikamanu has every right to feel like he is making his debut again.
The 25-year-old played his sole Origin two years ago, playing 12 minutes for the Blues in their game-two loss that surrendered the series at Suncorp Stadium in 2023.
It was enough time for six touches of the football and seven tackles, but hardly enough for the prop to feel like he'd been able to make his mark in the Origin arena.
"I've thought about that a lot," Utoikamanu said.
"I didn't really get a real taste of getting in there. I played 12 minutes and it's pretty hard coming off the bench, you've got to make an impact.
"If you don't make an impact there's not really any point you being out there.
"I'm happy I get another opportunity to go in there and show them what I can actually do. That first time I felt like I didn't do what I needed to do."
Utoikamanu said he had "chilled" as a footballer since his Origin debut, having also represented Samoa since.
But he has also made no secret of his desire to get back in a Blues jersey.
It was a big part of the front-rower's thinking when he moved to Melbourne from Wests Tigers at the end of last year.
Utoikamanu says "it's hard to say" if he would be playing this week had he stayed at the Tigers, as one of only two men to feature in Origin while at the club since 2018.
Regardless, the Auckland-born talent knows the Storm move has helped, where he is now playing under NSW coach Laurie Daley's new adviser Craig Bellamy.
"Coming to the Melbourne Storm has helped me a fair bit in trying to get back into this arena," Utoikamanu said.
"It was one of the things I looked at when I was going to leave the Wests Tigers.
"I feel like the Melbourne Storm have such a good system, and being in it now I'm happy I made the move.
"There's a system there that's made a lot of players get better. A lot of players go there and become better, there's a lot of teams you can't say that (about).
"Melbourne's one of those teams that when you go there you have to do the hard work, but when you do the hard work you're going to become a better player."
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