In the latest episode of Roosters Radio, we sit down with star centre Joseph Manu, where he tells us about his journey to the Club from New Zealand, his role models at the Roosters as well as his excitement for the upcoming match against the Rabbitohs this Friday.
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The 24-year-old touched on his arrival at the Club in 2014 as a teenager, and the lengths he would go to play in the SG Ball team.
"I was obviously playing Rugby League in New Zealand, and the scouts came over and picked me up then. I was talking to mum and there was a scout at the time who said he wanted me to move over.
"Mum and dad thought I was a bit too young at the time and I was still in school, so they wanted me to study. They said 'How about you just fly in for the SG Ball games and then fly back home?'
"I thought that was pretty cool being able to get a couple days off school. So that year came around, we played on Saturdays usually every week, I lived in Tokoroa and it was about three hours from Auckland, where our international airports were.
"I'd usually get the earliest flight at 4:30 in the morning, and take off school on Friday, so that was pretty cool, I was loving that.
Roosters Radio Episode 90 - Joey Manu
"I'd go up, travel up to Auckland then catch a flight and then I'd come straight into the office and be left all day in the foyer.
"I just remember meeting all these people around here (in the offices) but then I'd see the first-grade boys and coming from a small town, I was scared. I never talked to anyone. I'd just sit on this chair for a whole six hours.
"The recruitment officer would come pick me up and take me to training, and then I'd go and stay at different places at a time, then play the next day and flight out on Sunday, drive all the way back home and then go back to school the next Monday.
"It was a pretty good weekend, it wasn't too long but it was good."
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