Sydney Roosters youngster De La Salle Va'a ‘could hardly breathe' after harrowing lung injury
After coughing up blood, dropping 12kg and undergoing open lung surgery, rising Sydney Roosters prop De La Salle Va'a can comfortably say he's been through more than most in his quest to make a name for himself in the NRL.
The 19-year-old made his return to action in the Roosters NSW Cup side on Saturday, three months on from an innocuous hit in a trial game that left the 121kg front-rower in hospital.
His comeback game at Gosford came just a few hours before elder brother Xavier, 21, scored just 45 seconds into his NRL debut, crashing over against Cronulla in front of a small army of fans.
The Roosters have high hopes for the American Samoa-born brothers but De La Salle, who made his NRL debut last year, could be forgiven for thinking his chance of establishing himself as a first-grade forward was about to pass him by.
'I copped a whack in a trial game and bruised my lung, it got infected with a staph infection and it ended up filling my lung with pus and fluid,' De La Salle said.
'I had a couple of drains and those didn't work so I had to get open lung surgery which was pretty serious.
'My lungs were full and I could hardly breathe for two weeks.
'I was coughing up straight-up blood for about a week, that was painful and pretty scary.
'When I initially went to hospital it was actually lower back pain and that was my kidneys getting infected and that travelled into the lung contusion — that's when things went pear-shaped.'
De La Salle has thankfully recovered and punched out 40 minutes for the Roosters' reserve grade side on Saturday.
The 200cm prop is back at a healthy playing weight of 121kg after dropping 12kg while he was bed-ridden.
His ambition is to play with his big brother in the NRL later this year after Xavier's try-scoring exploits on debut with just his second touch.
'You can make your whole career and never get one of those,' said Roosters coach Trent Robinson, who leapt out of his seat when Xavier crashed in.
'He had a great front-rower's carry and scored a fullback's try.'
Xavier was once a promising boxer, who sparred with Paul Gallen, before going all-in on league after being lured to the Roosters.
'I tried to manage both… Gal. he's a legend and I look up to him but then the Roosters came in when we were searching for a club,' Xavier said.
'Growing up we trained out of the same gym as Justis Huni and Jai Opetaia.
'It was the dream (to play NRL with my brother) growing up, we've been very fortunate.
'Salle's illness was a crazy time for the family and we hit rock bottom but our faith was unwavering.
'I'm just glad to see him back out there for his first game and my debut.'
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