belmore_utd
Pro Golf Hack
- Joined
- Feb 10, 2008
- Messages
- 7,281
- Reaction score
- 7,802
By Nick Walshaw
Japanese rugby suits Offered him Money. An exotic lifestyle. And access
to every Nintendo product sicne Donkey Kong. But Still Conrad Ta'akimoeaka
said 'no. If the NRL is looking for a poster boy in its battle with those Rising Sun raiders, perhaps someone should contact Ta'akimoeka.
This 25-year-old Bulldogs rookie who has already defied the Asian raiders
and their Checkbooks.
Already turned his back on a five-year deal that had links IBM, Suntory or Kobe Steele. And all for a contract worth $30 000 plus "a pie and coke after games".
"Initially i thought Japan was going to be great,"Ta'akimoeaka says. "But it
didnt take long to realise my heart was somewhere else".
"I mean, if your just in sport for the money then, yeah its great. Take it.
But im a rugby league player ... and that's where i wanted to be."
An Aucklander who weighs 100kg, Ta'akimoeaka was signed to Takushoku University with the aim of pushing into a big company side.
It was a huge opportunity, lucrative too. But within 12 months the promising
Kiwi wanted out. And so he returned home and took up with North sydney.
The Bulldogs pounced soon after- only for the bookend to bust his anterior cruciate ligamentin the ftirst trial of 2008. he missed the entire season. When asked about the wage of their hulking Kiwi recruit, a Bulldogs official said only that it was "bare bones ... a little more then a pie and coke after games"
Not that any of that matters to Ta'akimoeaka. "Because while Japanese Rugby might be for some people, it wasnt for me" he says.
"My goal is to make it with the Bulldogs. Have a career in the NRL.
That's why i'm here"
good to see another player here for the right reasons
Japanese rugby suits Offered him Money. An exotic lifestyle. And access
to every Nintendo product sicne Donkey Kong. But Still Conrad Ta'akimoeaka
said 'no. If the NRL is looking for a poster boy in its battle with those Rising Sun raiders, perhaps someone should contact Ta'akimoeka.
This 25-year-old Bulldogs rookie who has already defied the Asian raiders
and their Checkbooks.
Already turned his back on a five-year deal that had links IBM, Suntory or Kobe Steele. And all for a contract worth $30 000 plus "a pie and coke after games".
"Initially i thought Japan was going to be great,"Ta'akimoeaka says. "But it
didnt take long to realise my heart was somewhere else".
"I mean, if your just in sport for the money then, yeah its great. Take it.
But im a rugby league player ... and that's where i wanted to be."
An Aucklander who weighs 100kg, Ta'akimoeaka was signed to Takushoku University with the aim of pushing into a big company side.
It was a huge opportunity, lucrative too. But within 12 months the promising
Kiwi wanted out. And so he returned home and took up with North sydney.
The Bulldogs pounced soon after- only for the bookend to bust his anterior cruciate ligamentin the ftirst trial of 2008. he missed the entire season. When asked about the wage of their hulking Kiwi recruit, a Bulldogs official said only that it was "bare bones ... a little more then a pie and coke after games"
Not that any of that matters to Ta'akimoeaka. "Because while Japanese Rugby might be for some people, it wasnt for me" he says.
"My goal is to make it with the Bulldogs. Have a career in the NRL.
That's why i'm here"
good to see another player here for the right reasons
