Emotional Tino to dig deep for Maroons – and a grieving Munster
About a year before he watched from the sidelines, recovering from a ruptured ACL, as Queensland suffered a series defeat.
Now, the softly spoken enforcer was back where he belonged.
'I love this state, everybody probably saw that in game one,' Fa'asuamaleaui said before the decider in Sydney.
'In game two, having that under control a bit more, it was still another rollercoaster. There were a few things that didn't go the way I wanted, but that's what the journey of Origin is about, and football – and even life.'
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Such was his determination to announce his comeback in full flight, Fa'asuamaleaui ventured to the US and worked with renowned conditioning expert Bill Knowles.
Even throughout the season, the 25-year-old felt below his athletic best.
'That's the rollercoaster. At the start of the year, I was still finding my lunges, and still finding the way things move on the field,' he said.
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After booting 3.0 in the first quarter, the Bombers incredibly added only 1.13 for the rest of the match to go down against a team who were tipped by some pundits pre-season not to win a game. Despite missing a host of key players, Scott opted to drop forwards Archie Perkins and Jade Gresham to face the Tigers. "Perk's a really capable, competitive, contested type player, and he's just been a bit hesitant over the last month or so" Scott said. "Doing him no favours, just pushing him out. "We tried positional changes, a few different things for him, but he just needed a reset to go back and compete at VFL level before he comes back in." Perkins collected 21 possesions in Essendon's VFL loss against Box Hill on Saturday, while Gresham didn't play. Essendon coach Brad Scott is coming to terms with another long-term injury to a star player that threatens to derail the Bombers' 2026 season before this one even finishes. Prolific ballwinner Nic Martin has "almost certainly" ruptured the ACL in his right knee after landing awkwardly in Essendon's 6.10 (46) to 4.13 (37) loss against Richmond on Saturday night. Martin, who finished second in Essendon's best-and-fairest last year behind captain Zach Merrett, will miss a large chunk of next year. If scans confirm the worst case scenario, Martin will become the fourth Bombers player to injure their ACL this season, joining Nick Bryan, Lewis Hayes and Tom Edwards. He becomes the ninth first-choice Essendon player currently sidelined, alongside Bryan, Sam Draper, Darcy Parish, Jye Caldwell, Kyle Langford, Ben McKay, Harry Jones, and Zach Reid. "It's not just the players that aren't there, it's the players that come in," Scott said. "They've never played together, and it ends up looking ... a complete lack of synergy and connection. "Rookie players making rookie errors, which is understandable. "Nic Martin's almost certainly done his ACL so that just sends a shiver down everyone's spine at quarter-time when that word sort of ripples out. "These 12 months, injuries that are mounting up, it's going to be a real challenge to keep everyone's morale up, but that's the job of our leaders. "Martin's a unique player and really important to the way that we play. "I think teams can adapt and cover one or two, but when you're talking about half of the team, you've just got to accept that the synergy's not going to be there." After slumping to a sixth-straight loss, Essendon (6-10) have just five days to prepare to host rampaging GWS at Marvel Stadium on Thursday night. The Giants dominated premiership contenders Geelong on Saturday, just hours before Essendon's "comedy of errors" contest against Richmond. After booting 3.0 in the first quarter, the Bombers incredibly added only 1.13 for the rest of the match to go down against a team who were tipped by some pundits pre-season not to win a game. Despite missing a host of key players, Scott opted to drop forwards Archie Perkins and Jade Gresham to face the Tigers. "Perk's a really capable, competitive, contested type player, and he's just been a bit hesitant over the last month or so" Scott said. "Doing him no favours, just pushing him out. "We tried positional changes, a few different things for him, but he just needed a reset to go back and compete at VFL level before he comes back in." Perkins collected 21 possesions in Essendon's VFL loss against Box Hill on Saturday, while Gresham didn't play.
The Advertiser
7 hours ago
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Hawks vow to bounce back from Fremantle's sucker punch
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Mitchell was gutted to see his team lose to Fremantle, but he doesn't see it as the be-all-and-end-all. "We look at the season holistically, and we know there's nine teams that have got a slight gap on the on the rest, and there's only eight that make the finals," Mitchell said. "And there's only four that get what everyone really wants, which is the top-four spot. "We know we're going to have to play really consistent, high level footy for the rest of the season if we want to be where we want to get to. "So if we had of won tonight, does that guarantee anything? No. Does losing tonight guarantee anything? No. "So it's a bit of a punch to the stomach, if you like, but we've still got plenty of fight in us for the rest of this season. 'We're sixth on the ladder, so the ball's in our court, and we'll lick our wounds ... and get back at it." Mitchell has some food for thought on the selection front after forward Mitch Lewis kicked five goals in the VFL on Saturday. 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Perth Now
7 hours ago
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Hawks vow to bounce back from Fremantle's sucker punch
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