After a two-try comeback that had new Leeds signing Jack Bird leading a chant in his honour, Maika Sivo described next Saturday’s clash with Hull KR at Allegiant Stadium as a “once in a lifetime opportunity”.
The Fijian giant’s long-time coach Brad Arthur admitted to suffering his own bout of nerves as Sivo returned from 13 months out with his second major knee injury to prove his fitness before the Rhinos flight to Nevada, shrugging off an early scare to cross in the 29th and 66th minutes of a 46-14 win over York at Headingley.
Such was outpouring of vocal affection for the 32-year-old that when Wests Tigers import Bird was introduced to the crowd at half-time, he started his own ‘Sivo, Sivo’ chant.
All 17 members of Arthur’s match-day squad will now travel to the US, along with three-quarter Ash Handley who will have overcome a groin injury by next week and three additional players who the coach will watch in a reserves game over the weekend.
“It’s Round 3, it’s just another game but its a once in a lifetime opportunity to go and play in front of the crowd there,” said Sivo, who limped early but waved away assistance.
Arthur commented: “He was nervous. I haven’t seen him like that. I’ve coached him pretty much his whole career.
“He was tired, he was out on his feet. He’s got way more to give than that which is great. His best footy’s probably five, 10 weeks away I reckon.
“I’m just so happy for him because we challenged him with a few goals at the start of the year around his weight and he’s met every challenge, he’s worked really hard. It’s such a sacrifice for his family to travel to the other side of the world, they’ve had to go through his first 12 months (when) he didn’t play.
“He’s just a good person, mate. He’s a good bloke. All the boys like him.”
After barring all talk of Sin City last week, Arthur added: “The club’s done a good job of keeping a lid on the excitement around Vegas. I know it’s been tough but the good thing about it is all those one to 17 guys got through the game so they can pack their backs for Vegas.”
Arthur said it would be a “dry” tour until after the match.
“We’ve already spoken about it just then,” he said. “We’re going there for a reason. We need to go there and give it our best shot for” the reason why we’re going there and after that, you know, they can have a bit of fun.
“We talked about not being distracted, not getting caught up in the bright lights.
“At the end of the day we get paid to go and put our best performances on the field. That’s what we’re chasing. We’ll be as professional as we can be and as needed to make sure we come with a professional performance.
Sivo, Sivo, Sivo. One, two, three.
“You know what? It’s our job. We’re being fortunate enough to represent the club, fortunate enough to represent the Super League in front of the NRL as well so we need to make sure that both teams put on a spectacle and they go ‘these guys are worthy of this opportunity’ and that’s what it’s about.
“It’s not a holiday. It’s work.
“Hopefully both teams go out there and it’s tight and - I say this now but I don’t really want it - I hope it comes down to the last minute, it’s a fight right to the end. That’s what we want to see."
Aside from Sivo, Jake Connor (knee), Jeremiah Matautia (knee), Cameron Smith (groin) and Keenan Palasia (knee) also made successful returns to prove their fitness while Mikolaj Oledzki (ribs) will miss the trip.
The coach proved a hard marker after a big win, saying: “Our defence this year, it’s not where it needs to be.”
