Battered Blues in Blue Mountains
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ABC News
34 minutes ago
- ABC News
After seven clubs and two codes, Queensland Origin debutant Gehamat Shibasaki is right where he's meant to be
Gehamat Shibasaki has taken the long way to Wednesday's State of Origin decider, but it was the only way he could get there. The journey from junior standout to a Queensland jersey has been winding and taken the 26-year old through seven clubs across two codes and two continents. As recently as a few months back, just being a consistent first grader would have been a fine achievement for a player who puts the journey in journey man, but at every turn of an extraordinary season, Shibasaki has continued to defy expectations. Those expectations once defined him, because he was the kind of player whose first grade debut was not just expected, but awaited. There was a time when it wasn't a matter if Shibasaki could play this kind of football or earn this honour, but when it would come. Shibasaki caught eyes as a junior, not just because of his background – though there's not many potential NRL players who are the great-great grandsons of Japanese pearl divers – but also his pedigree. As a youth, Shibasaki stamped himself a prospect of uncommon talent. He made his first Queensland side when he was just 12 and represented the state's under-20s side three years in a row. On a Broncos under-20s team that contained Payne Haas, Pat Carrigan, Lindsay Collins, Jaydn Su'A, Herbie Farnworth, Tom Flegler, Kotoni Staggs and Jamayne Isaako it wasn't easy to stand out, but Shibasaki managed it. He made his NRL debut in 2018, the same year as Haas and Staggs, and NRL stardom seemed within his grasp — only to depart at the end of the following season. "He's always been gifted," Haas said. "He was one of the best players growing up when we were kids. "He lost his way a bit the last few years. But he's found his way back and I'm super proud of him, I just hate that he's a Queenslander.' It's been a long way back to Brisbane, back to the spotlight, back to where Shibasaki's talent once seemed certain to carry him. He has freely admitted that during the lost years there were times he took rugby league for granted, a lesson learned the hard way through his many travels. The first stop was Newcastle where, after a strong start, the COVID shutdown halted Shibasaki's progress and by his own admission, he lost focus. He spent much of his two years there in reserve grade, where he rubbed shoulders with a young and hungry outside back named Jacob Kiraz. Today, Kiraz is one of the best wingers in the NRL and will act as 18th man for New South Wales for Game III but back then he was a 19-year old scrapper fighting for a chance alongside Shibasaki in front of minuscule crowds on forgotten footy fields all around the place. "I was still really young. Whenever I asked him questions regarding footy he'd always have answers and when I moved to Newy he welcomed me with open arms," Kiraz said. "Stuff happens for a reason, it happened to me, and at the time it can be hard and you don't understand why. "But you see him now and he's making his Origin debut, which is pretty crazy, but I'm sure he wouldn't want to change his path to any other way because it wouldn't have got him to where it is. Two seasons with the Knights yielded just 14 NRL games and Shibasaki left for Japanese rugby, signing a deal with Tokatsu Green Rockets. It wasn't just a different sport, but a different world. Amid clashes with teams like Toshiba Brave Lupus, Tokyo Sungoliath and Saitama Wild Knights, the language and cultural barrier meant a trip down the shops could become an adventure and Google Translate was a constant companion. The team was located about an hour from glittering sprawl of Tokyo, so players rode their bikes along roads lined with rice paddy fields to get to training and with the omicron COVID variant making it difficult for friends and family to travel to Japan, the foreign imports stuck close together. "He was a lot of fun to be around. The Japanese boys loved him, given he had that Japanese heritage," said Ben Hughes, a teammate at Tokatsu. "Rugby is a completely different game to league, there's so much to learn and what I remember most about 'Shiba' was how he always wanted to improve, always asked questions, always wanted to learn – that might be off the senior players or the coaches. "Back then they had a rule where only four non-Japanese players could be on the field at once, which wasn't easy. "He would have played inside and outside blokes who didn't speak English, so you can't have those micro-conversations on the field and that makes the transition from league even more difficult. It wasn't an easy year for the Green Rockets. Despite boasting Michael Cheika as director of rugby, it was a tough campaign and they narrowly avoided relegation after winning a late-season playoff against Mie Honda Heat. But Shibasaki acquitted himself well, scoring three tries in eight games as he tried to make a fist of his new sport. "I think Shiba would tell you he wasn't in the greatest nick when he arrived due to two weeks COVID isolation in a hotel room. But you could see his application, how he tried to learn – he wasn't there to muck around," Hughes said. "You can see why he's done well because the mindset he had, playing a new sport in a foreign country and the way he went about it at training, it shows why he's made the State of Origin side now." Shibasaki returned to Australia once the Japanese season wrapped up to sign with the Mackay Cutters in the Queensland Cup. From there he went home to Townsville, signing first with the Cowboys, where hamstring injuries kept him to just two matches, and then with their feeder club the Townsville Blackhawks. For a time, Shibasaki was happy working a normal job and playing Queensland Cup. He was back home and free from the pressures of life in elite sport and after the wandering years, that was enough. A one-match cameo on loan with South Sydney last year could well have been the end of him at the top level, with just the trainspotters and the tragics left to remember. But a chance meeting with Carrigan when the Broncos were in town to play the Cowboys lit a fire in Shibasaki. The boys he came through with at Brisbane had become men and were riding high and he wanted to be a part of it. He signed with Wynnum-Manly and part of the deal included a train and trial contract with the Broncos and it got off to a rough start – on his first day, Shibasaki couldn't finish the session. But he stayed on the job, winning the respect of coach Michael Maguire through his work ethic and persistence and slowly uncovered the ability that had always lurked within. Haas could see the change in his old teammate from the start. "He's way more dialled in, he took his training more seriously, the way was eating, the way he was preparing for training, it was cool to see," Haas said. "I knew he was serious about. I knew he knew this was his last shot. He took it with both hands and he's never looked back." After a summer of hard work, Shibasaki was a surprise starter for round one and at the end of years in the wilderness, he became the player he promised to be. Shibasaki plays strong and brave and competes on everything. He has finished off plenty an attacking movement and sits second in the league for tries scored and first among centres, doubling his career try tally in less than half a year. He is also second among centres in line breaks, fourth in tackle busts and fifth in metres gained. The prodigy of another time, who has travelled far and seen so much, has returned older and wiser and has moved the past into overtaking the future. Selwyn Cobbo and Deine Mariner are two of the most talented outside backs in the sport and Shibasaki is keeping them out of Broncos best 17 every week, rightfully so. This season is the first time he has played more than 12 games in an NRL season and despite making his first grade debut back in 2018, only Robert Toia carries fewer top flight appearances into the decider. Stephen Crichton, the man he will mark and by most's reckoning the best centre in the game, made his first grade debut a year after Shibasaki and has almost three times as many games to his name. His selection is one of the most unheralded Origin calls in years, just as Toia's was for Game One, because this is a career that never quite got started like it was supposed to. But if it was about how you start, Shibasaki wouldn't be here at all. He wouldn't have made it to the end of the journey which has doubled as a new beginning, with his name on the back of a Queensland jersey, the eyes of the rugby league world on him and a chance to enter the Maroons pantheon of unlikely heroes who answered the call when their time came and their state needed them. To get it done, he'll have to defy the odds, with New South Wales entering the game as warm favourites. But when you've fought your way back from the brink like he has, when you've come home to yourself and finally achieved the promise of your youth that by all rights should have slipped away, anything must feel possible. ABC Sport will be live blogging all the action from the Origin III decider on Wednesday, July 9 at
ABC News
2 hours ago
- ABC News
NSW Blues player Payne Haas praises Broncos teammate and Queensland rival Gehamat Shibasaki ahead of State of Origin III
Payne Haas could see the difference in Queensland State of Origin bolter Gehamat Shibasaki from the moment he arrived at Brisbane training this pre-season. Teenage teammates at the Broncos, Shibasaki and Haas will play on opposing teams in a senior match for just the second time in next week's series decider. ABC Sport will have live blog coverage of the State of Origin series. But their path from Brisbane's U20s team in 2017 to Stadium Australia next Wednesday night could not be any more different. While Haas has been one of the NRL's best front-rower for the past five years at Brisbane, Shibisaki has been on rollercoaster ride to crack it in first grade. Like Haas, the centre debuted at the Broncos in 2018 but found himself out the door to Newcastle where he also struggled for game time. A move to Japanese rugby with the Green Rockets Tokatsu followed in 2022, before he took up a train-and-trial deal with the North Queensland Cowboys. The 26-year-old then spent last year playing Queensland Cup in Townsville, and time on a week-to-week contract arrangement with South Sydney during their injury crisis. Another a train-and-trial deal came at Brisbane this year, where Shibasaki was reunited with Haas and clearly a different man to the one who left. "He's way more dialled in," Haas said. "He took his training more seriously, the way was eating, the way he was preparing for training, it was cool to see. "I knew he was serious about it. I knew he knew this was his last shot. He took it with both hands and he's never looked back." The difference is telling. Shibasaki's selection for Queensland is about as left field as it gets, but it comes after a year where he has scored 12 tries in 15 games for the Broncos. The centre has become the first player in history to be picked to play Origin while on a development deal. Haas insisted Shibasaki's talent had always been there, even if it had taken until seven years after his NRL debut for him to become a top-grade regular. "He's always been gifted, he was one of the best players growing up when we were kids," Haas said. "He lost his way a bit the last few years. But he's found his way back and I'm super proud of him. "He worked so hard, this was his last shot and he's taken it with both hands. "I just hate that he's a Queenslander." AAP
News.com.au
2 hours ago
- News.com.au
‘I will hate him next Wednesday': Blues show Origin rookie Gehamat Shibasaki plenty of respect
Blues centre Stephen Crichton has downplayed the notion that his side will go after Gehamat Shibasaki next week when the Maroons centre makes his State of Origin debut with the series on the line. Shibasaki has earnt his spot on the back of three-straight try doubles for the Broncos, with Queensland coach Billy Slater opting to bring him in after he moved Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow to fullback to replace the injured Kalyn Ponga. Slater could have easily brought Reece Walsh in to play fullback but has instead backed Shibasaki to get the job done against arguably the best centre in the world. The pair met earlier this year when Brisbane ended Canterbury's six-match winning streak to start the season, with Shibasaki scoring one of their six first-half tries when Crichton was trapped at marker in defence. The Bulldogs skipper has nothing but respect for a guy whose NRL career was at a crossroads last year, with the Blues to have a significant advantage in experience out wide with Latrell Mitchell up against Roosters rookie Robert Toia. 'Not really,' Crichton replied when asked if NSW would target the Origin debutant. 'I feel like there are two parts to the game – the physical side and the mental side. 'It's mental all the way up until game day for me as I try to get my role right at training before putting it out on the field. 'The physicality comes because it's Origin, it's game three and it's a decider as well. 'He's such a good player. I feel like he's been playing his best footy the past couple of weeks leading into his Origin selection. 'There is going to be a lot of talk around it, but I feel like the Origin arena brings out the best in everyone regardless of whether you haven't played a game because you're always going to turn up and play your best.' Shibasaki has scored more tries this season than he has in the rest of his NRL career combined, with the powerful centre no stranger to the Maroons jersey having worn it several times in the junior ranks. He played three matches for the Queensland under-20 team, while he also lined up alongside Zac Lomax in the centres for the Junior Kangaroos back in 2018. He has been the constant on the left edge for a Broncos team that has made several changes to the backline, but teammate Payne Haas will switch his respect for animosity when they square off next week. 'I'm super proud of him,' the Blues prop said. 'He came in (to the Broncos) on a train and trial (deal) and worked his backside off to get to where he is now. 'I'm really proud of him, but I will hate him next Wednesday.'
