Latest news with #AddinFonuaBlake
ABC News
2 days ago
- Sport
- ABC News
Cronulla Sharks to debut historic Pasifika jersey in game against the Warriors this weekend
This evening the Cronulla Sharks NRL team will debut their historic 'Tangata Moana' Pasifika jersey when they run out against the Warriors at home, honouring and acknowledging the Sharks Pasifika players who have laid down the foundation for the players today and for those who will continue to be leaders. The jersey design and concept had been driven by the club's Pasifika and Maori NRL players - KL Iro (Cook Islands), Braden Hamlin-Uele, Ronaldo Mulitalo and Oregon Kaufusi (Samoan), Addin Fonua-Blake, Sione Katoa, Siosifa Talakai and Chris Vea'ila (Tongan) and Briton Nikora, Mawene Hiroti, Tuku Hau Tapuha and Niwai and Hohepa Puru (Maori). The jersey itself 'Tagata Moana' honours the strength, resilience and legacy of Pasifika people. Cronulla Sharks prop and Tonga Rugby League co-captain Addin Fonua Blake says that these qualities show up in the Pasifika community here in Australia. Cronulla Sharks prop Addin Fonua-Blake is also Tonga Rugby League's co-captain. ( Supplied: Cronulla Sharks ) "Obviously moving countries, working so hard to provide for their families and for their children for a better opportunity in their upbringing," he said. "So you know, they're very resilient people, obviously get knocked about a lot but the determination to keep working hard for their families, it's a strong pillar." Sharks Centre KL Iro agreed, pointing out that most Cook Islanders live abroad but as a nation they're strong and when they go home, everyone's just family. "I think there's 200,000 that live in Australia or New Zealand or everywhere else and there's only 16 or 18 thousand back home," he said. "We've always been a voyaging country but we're proud to be Cook Islanders." Renowned Pasifika artists Allen Vili and Katrina Iosia from the Katal Creative Studio in New Zealand and with Samoan/Maori and Niuean heritage respectively, are behind bringing the designs to life on the jerseys incorporating symbols and patterns from the Pacific. Now that Pacific representation in the NRL is over 50 per cent, fellow Sharks Centre Siosifa Talakai says it's special to have pacific culture represented on the jersey because growing up there weren't many Pacific Islanders in the game. "There wasn't much representation when we were younger in the NRL, but now to have our culture on a jersey, yeah that's something special to all of us," he said "It makes it that much more special that we're going to run out in it come Saturday night." Siosifa Talakai says it'll be special running out wearing the Pasifika jersey. ( Supplied: Cronulla Sharks ) Some of the patterns on the jerseys have special meaning to the players and are patterns that they also have inked on their own bodies. Iro says the Cook Islands designs used on the jerseys are designs he has tattooed and asked to have included on the jersey, the main one being the Tiki Tiki Tangata. "It represents our people holding hands, I've got it tatted on my back as well as the spearhead pattern which represents our warriors as well," he said "It's pretty special to actually see it on our jersey, I don't think an actual Cook Islands design in itself has been on a (NRL) jersey before." This round also doubles as the 'Sharks have heart' round in celebration of the community coming together as one and will be a memorable round for Iro with at least 75 people coming from Rarotonga to watch the game including his father, former Cook Islands and Kiwi international Kevin Iro. The senior Iro is in town coaching the Arorangi Bears Under 13s team, a club that the younger Iro grew up playing for in Rarotonga. KL Iro heads over the try line to score for the Cronulla Sharks. ( Supplied: Cronulla Sharks ) The team played the Kurnell Stingrays last night with cultural performances and a BBQ to celebrate the unity between the clubs after the game. KL who has just recently decided to go by his unofficial birth name which are the initials of his father Kevin Leslie, has fond memories growing up in Rarotonga and is one of only two Cook Islanders who grew up in the Cooks to have made it to the NRL. "Hopefully I can be a role model to younger kids looking up to me, and they can know that it's possible and they can know that they can get here as well," he said. One memory in particular stands out when his father used to coach the Titikaveka Bulldogs and would make the team train longer if they couldn't beat a young KL. "When I was a little kid, I used to be really fit, just a little crazy fella and I used to join the fitness drills with the adults," he laughed. "I think my Dad used to give them a challenge, if I beat them, then they'll keep going so yeah, it's pretty funny. With his father and a big group of Cook Islanders watching on tomorrow, KL and the rest of his Pasifika Sharks team mates will be hoping to emulate the strength, resilience and legacy that their jerseys represent.
ABC News
2 days ago
- Sport
- ABC News
Cronulla Sharks to debut inaugural 'Tangata Moana' Pasifika jersey against Warriors
This evening the Cronulla Sharks NRL team will debut their historic 'Tangata Moana' Pasifika jersey when they run out against the Warriors at home, honouring and acknowledging the Sharks Pasifika players who have laid down the foundation for the players today and for those who will continue to be leaders. Sharks players Addin Fonua-Blake, Siosifa Talakai and KL Iro share why it's special to have pacific culture represented on the jersey and the strength, resilience and legacy they see in their pacific communities here in Australia. Posted 17m ago 17 minutes ago Fri 6 Jun 2025 at 7:46am
News.com.au
17-05-2025
- Sport
- News.com.au
Stars clash in fiery end to epic as NRL stunned by ‘mark of the year'
If you asked Craig Fitzgibbon to draw up a win which typified everything he wants his Sharks side to be, then this might have been the perfect script. FOX LEAGUE, available on Kayo Sports, is the only place to watch every game of every round in the 2025 NRL Telstra Premiership, LIVE with no ad-breaks during play. New to Kayo? Get your first month for just $1. Limited-time offer. Against the competition favourites, losing two men to injury in the first 20 minutes, with a host of Storm State of Origin stars coming to get them in the final minutes, Cronulla somehow found a way in a rollercoaster 31-26 win at Sharks Stadium on Saturday night. It was the first time since 1992 the peculiar scoreline had been recorded in a top grade Australian match. To sum up the chaos, there was no need to look further than utility man Daniel Atkinson. He started on the bench, came on at right centre, played right wing, finished on the left wing, and after all that scored two tries. It's on nights like these when there's a little extra electricity in the ageing stands in the Shire, and perhaps no team has traditionally liked a backs-to-the-wall scrap than the Sharks. They got an almighty one against their 2016 grand final foes. The win was set up by a powerhouse performance from prop Addin Fonua-Blake and scintillating attacking display in the first half, bringing Melbourne back down to earth after their 64-0 hiding of the Tigers last week. Battered Sharks fight on Playing against the Storm with only two men on the bench for an hour would usually be a death sentence – and that's exactly what Fitzgibbon faced when he lost centre Jesse Ramien (eye) and winger Sam Stonestreet (syndesmosis) early on. Added to the problems, the pair play alongside each other on the right edge of the field. But in one moment, the Sharks showed why they have one of the best balanced rosters in the NRL. Former State of Origin representative Siosifa Talakai, moonlighting in the centres, threw an outrageous flick pass for makeshift winger Atkinson to score in the first half as Cronulla opened up 25-12 lead, helped by Braydon Trindall's field goal on the stroke of half-time. Left side pair Ronaldo Mulitalo and KL Iro were also on the scoresheet before the break as the Storm's usually miserly defence – which kept the Tigers scoreless in last week's record rout – was breached regularly. But while Talakai and Atkinson combined for another sweet four-pointer in the second stanza, they also had their share of traffic aimed at them, with Storm winger Xavier Coates touching down for a hat-trick, including a spectacular aerial effort when he grabbed a Cameron Munster bomb. Grant guarded on return Just how much of a difference does Harry Grant make to the Storm? Maybe the answer was in what he wasn't asked to do rather than what he did. In his first game back from a significant hamstring injury, the Kangaroos and Queensland rake was taken off after just 28 minutes as Craig Bellamy nursed his captain back into the fray. Importantly for Queensland coach Billy Slater, Grant made it through 56 minutes without issue and will report to Maroons camp on Monday. AFB comes to the party After the first 10 rounds, it would be fair to say Addin Fonua-Blake wouldn't have really been in the conversation as buy of the year. Perhaps he wasn't even close to being the best middle forward recruit, with the Warriors' Erin Clark and Tigers' Terrell May both shining. But with each passing week, Fonua-Blake's importance to a Cronulla side primed for a deep finals run is becoming evident, and he bossed the middle of the field. There was nothing particularly beautiful about his fourth try of the year, a brutal effort from close range after being set up by Blayke Brailey. But his numbers made for splendid reading: 67 minutes, 211 metres from 19 runs including a staggering 101 post contact metres. He even had time to pretend to play the ball backwards in the final 90 seconds as the Sharks ran down the clock before the game finished with two skirmishes involving Mulitalo, who copped an on-the-ground hit from Ryan Papenhuyzen on full-time.
