From finding opportunity at an open trial to navigating through a family tragedy, Moeaki Fotuaika’s journey to becoming the most-capped Gold Coast Titans player has been one of perseverance.
After debuting as an 18-year-old in 2018 after starting out in the Under 20s program, on Saturday, he will stand alone with 174 games – surpassing Mark Minichiello's record held since 2014.
In that time, Fotuaika has seen the NRL administration, clubs and players fully embrace mental health and wellbeing, as well as seeing cultural awareness flourish.
In his own words, the Tongan Titan shares some of the key themes and motivations that have helped him get to the club record.
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The Early Days: From unexpected opportunity to NRL debut
“When I first got noticed from the club, rocking up to an open trial, my dream was to play NRL.
“I just never thought I'd play this many games, especially with the way the game is played. It's a real physical game, real fast – and you see it every week, injuries always happen. I'm just grateful and blessed that throughout all these years, I've never had serious injuries where I've missed a chunk amount of time.
“Some people believe in luck and the universe, but for me, I believe in a blessing from God. When I look back at my career and how everything's worked out, I've always believed that it's God's favour upon my life and not for my name to be praised but for him, or for his glory, and he just does things that I would have never imagined.
“He works things according to his plan and I never thought rocking up to an open trial (where) Woolfy [current Dolphins assistant coach Ben Woolf], he was the head coach at the time for the Under 20s and he gave me a call and then from there, I started pre-season and then everything just kind of was just working.”
A tribute through the pain: Finding the fire within after family tragedy
“I think what happened to my older brother [Mosese Fotuaika] and him passing away, that was a bit of a wake-up call in the whole NRL.
“You can see in the junior pathways, they're speaking a lot about mental health.
“(At that time) with that happening, my family were quite cautious of where I would end up … they made sure they always would call me and check-up on me mentally and how my body was. I think with what happened to my older brother, they were quite cautious of me not going down that pathway and just checking in on me.
“It was a tough time for the family. I think it was more tough for my parents because myself being a father now and a parent, I could not imagine how it would feel to lose your child.
“I was 14 at the time and I knew, I was aware of what happened, but not the extreme circumstances of how it felt to my parents.
“I give credit to my parents because they stuck strong throughout all that time.
“That just brought us closer as a family.
“To be honest, it kind of drove me more to play one day in the NRL.
"I knew that was my older brother's dream was to play NRL. I knew that was my dream as well.
“When he passed away – he didn't get the chance to achieve that dream – and that drove me more ... I'm always grateful to the Lord for blessing me in this area and being able to live out my dream in the NRL, not only for myself but for my older brother.
“That's what always drives me. I know that I'm not just living this dream out for myself but for my older brother as well.”
Cultural shifts: NRL’s Pasifika embrace
“My parents, they're quite humble people and I think Polynesians in general, we’re quite softly spoken, but deep inside there there's a fire and a desire there and when you wake it up – then the fire's lit up.
“I've always had that competitiveness in me and I think if you don't have that in this game, you're not going to be good at your job because every play, you've got to compete. For me, it was just more my upbringing.
“At this club (there is more awareness of Pasifika culture and customs), we have culture nights and I think that's so good from the club to do that and get boys participating in those cultural dances.
“Last year, we had our wellbeing manager - who's not even Tongan - he participated in the dance as well, so, that's quite good.
“You see that across the whole NRL, there's cultural nights at every club now and I think that just brings awareness to everyone within the club.
“There's a lot of (practical) help; you get the NRL coming in and speaking on things like finance and life off the field.
“What I've come to understand now is if everything at home is fine, then you can be at your best on the field and if it's not, then most times, you'll probably struggle on the field.
“I think it's great the NRL are helping in areas like finance, wellbeing or whatever it may be with family, relationships. There's tools there to help each player.”
Tongan Titans: Joining Jase as a chart-topper
“It's just crazy to think that forwards can break the club record because in this game, in the forwards, it's so physical. Just the demands week-in, week-out of what footy brings.
“Massive congratulations to (Tonga team mate) Jason [Taumalolo], he's done so much in the game, not only for the Cowboys, but also for the country Tonga. He's a massive influence over there and he'll be a massive influence there for the rest of his lifetime.
“I never would have imagined that I would be one day breaking the record for my club as well.”
Bringing success to the Gold Coast: Finals in focus
“The number of years I've been here, from the start of my journey until now, I've only played finals once.
“That's still a burning desire for me to get this club in a position where we're making our fans proud and they're looking to come to our games every weekend and we can get Cbus packed out.
“There's so many great fans on the Gold Coast, but when you're not winning, it's hard for them. For all the experienced boys, there's that desire to get this club in a position like the early years where they made finals.
“That's still a goal of mine to get this club in a better position.
“We just know that if we keep sticking at it, things will change. We've been thereabouts in most games - but we just can't seem to ice those little moments in games. But if we just stick at it, we will come through and get the outcome."
Marking the milestone
“My oldest boy, oh, he loves footy! I think he's probably looking forward mostly to him running out on Saturday night. He always practices at home, he always thinks that he's running out to the stadium, so I know he's definitely looking forward to that.”
Moeaki Fotuaika will run out for a club record 174 games against the Manly Sea Eagles in Round 12.
Match: Sea Eagles v Titans
Round 12 -
home Team
Sea Eagles
4th Position
away Team
Titans
16th Position
Venue: 4 Pines Park, Sydney
Match broadcasters:
- WatchNRL
