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In the block of units they called home as teenagers, Siua Wong, Robert Toia, Salesi Foketi and Benaiah Ioelu usually just ate with each other.
But now and then, there was a high-powered guest list at the Sydney Roosters academy housing in Kingsford.
“At least once a month not only Nick [Politis] but the whole board would come over for dinner,” said back-rower Wong.
“It was pretty cool having that relationship. A lot of us young boys moving from outside of Sydney coming in, hearing about the board, you feel a bit nervous. But for them to be so down to earth and express a lot of humility to get to know some of the young boys was something that I really loved.
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“I think that’s one of the big values of this club, being a family club, and it definitely showed through that.”
Several years after those evenings hosting club chairman Politis, and fellow directors such as Mark Bouris and Luke Ricketson, the quartet is in the big time as the Roosters’ semi-finals campaign gets going.
Wong, 23, Toia, 22, and Foketi, 20 are in the starting side for Sunday’s clash against minor premiers Penrith at CommBank Stadium. Ioelu, 22, is a reserve.
Their appearance together at the pointy end of the season is validation of the Roosters’ decision to establish an academy in 2021 after visiting the facilities of Spanish football giants Barcelona FC.
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Determined to produce more of their own, the eastern suburbs club can also count homegrown Roosters Hugo Savala, Victor Radley and Billy Smith in the line-up against the Panthers.
The graduates emerged from a carefully designed program engineered by Politis and Roosters coach Trent Robinson and led by three-time premiership winners and one-club servants Mitchell Aubusson and Jake Friend.
The grand plan is for the entire Roosters squad to eventually be comprised of players from their development system.
“The dream is to one day have 17 players playing on the paddock that have come through our academy. So to have all those boys play on the weekend is great,” said Friend, a defence guru with the Roosters who was the academy’s inaugural head coach.
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“We don’t have a big junior base obviously but with the guys we get, we want to breed long-term NRL players.”
The former dummy-half said with potentially three teams joining the NRL over the next three seasons, it was even more important for clubs to grow their own and retain them.
Underpinning the Roosters’ approach is an attention to detail aimed at forging a lasting association with the tri-colours. From dinners with the board in the academy units, to nutrition advice from champion fullback Anthony Minichiello and one-on-one video sessions with Friend and Aubusson, now the Roosters rugby league director, the first batch of academy alumni learned from the best.
“You look at the soccer academies, they’re a business in a sense. You develop a player and you get a transfer fee,” Friend said.
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“You don’t get that in rugby league. They do have an ability to leave. But we’ve seen some guys probably have the opportunity to leave and stay. I think that’s got to do with the Roosters academy. We want to keep as many of them as we can.”
Wong, who was scouted by the Roosters in Auckland at the age of 14 and has been a mainstay in Robinson’s side for the past two seasons, said on the eve of the finals his time in the academy was one of the best experiences of his life.
“Nick, Aubbo and Jake Friend set up a great environment for us boys to develop and I think it’s shown through the footy players that we’ve been able to become,” he said.
“It really instilled in me what it is to be a Rooster, and what that means on the field and off the field, and I feel like that’s so important for young players coming through.”
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It also left a lasting mark on Toia, who has since become a Queensland State of Origin centre.
“When we moved out was when we realised how great we had it,” he said. “Being there, you could tell how much the Roosters care.”
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Chris Barrett is a senior sports reporter for The Sydney Morning Herald. He is a former South-East Asia correspondent for the Herald and The Age.Connect via X or email.AdvertisementAdvertisement