Backyard footy, chopsticks and Māori pride: From cousins to team-mates

As Māori players prepared to recite their pepehas during an introduction into All Stars camp, team-mates asked why Storm utility Joe Chan and Panthers centre Casey McLean were comparing notes.

“We’re cousins,” explained McLean, whose mother Shannon is a sister of Chan’s father Alex.

Chan, 23, and 19-year-old McLean have never played together – except in the backyard while growing up with brothers Tiaki, who plays for Wigan, and Jesse, who has made four NRL appearances for Penrith.

The Chans lived in Colyton while the McLeans lived in nearby Blacktown, and their families shared a love of rugby league and Chinese food, which is also their heritage.

“My great grandfather came on a boat from China to New Zealand,” said Chan, whose father represented Aotearoa Māori in 1993 and played for Northern Eagles, Parramatta, Melbourne and Catalans.

“We might not look Chinese, but we wear the name and there are certain things we celebrate, like Chinese New Year, and we have all been taught since birth to never eat rice without chopsticks.

“Casey and Jesse’s mum is a really good cook, and I love going over their place for Chinese food.”

However, they were also bought up with a strong connection to their Māori heritage, and Chan and McLean’s All Stars debuts at FMG Stadium Waikato will be a sense of great pride for their extended families.

“To represent my Māori culture is massive. It is deeper than just me, it is my whole family,” Chan said. “My dad has taught us from birth that we are proud Māori and to never forget where we come from.

“I might be born in Sydney, Australia and raised in Colyton, Mt Druitt but I know where I am from. I know I have always got a home in Taupō, that’s where my dad’s from.

“To be playing at such a level, and not only that but to play in the motherland – Aotearoa – is massive. I am so grateful that some of my family will be there, and that I get the chance to share it with Casey.”

McLean has already played four Tests for the Kiwis, scoring eight tries, but he said to represent his Māori heritage was special.

“It’s a real big deal for us,” he said. “We are proud to be Māori and to take the field with ‘Joe the Bro’ is a cool experience.

“I got to be a part of one of my brother’s games in the NRL but this is a special occasion, especially to come back to the motherland for my first (All Stars) game and being close to home; it is only about an hour from where my whānau is from in Taupō.”

McLean usually plays on the left edge as a centre or winger, and Chan plays on the right, as a secondrower or centre, but the pair are hoping they will get the chance to play on the side against the Indigenous All Stars.

“It will legit feel like we are in the backyard again, yelling at one another,” McLean said. “Obviously it is a big special occasion, but if you break it down it will feel like those old backyard footy games we used to play.

“They were rough as because those two (Joe and Tiaki) were bigger and older. I was the littlest, but it was cool.

“The boys didn’t realise we are cousins. We were doing our pepahas and Joe came up and said do you know it? Everyone was saying why are you asking Casey and he said ‘we’re cousins’.

“To see him succeed, and his brother in the UK and my bro, all of us are playing, which is cool, but it would be unreal if the four of us could come play together.”

Chan said he was also hoping the four cousins could play together at some stage in the future but he was grateful for the chance to play alongside Casey.

“I still reminisce about when we used to all play backyard footy, and then we would get a growling and get told off for someone going too hard, which was usually me by accident,” he said.

“To see Casey now, and how much he has grown as a person and as a player. I’m hoping he sets me up for a try because he has got some wicked speed. That would be so cool.”