'Full circle': Street footy and the 10-year plan to make Mark a Rooster

Mark Nawaqanitawase has revealed how he had been destined to play for Sydney Roosters since training alongside Daniel Tupou with the club’s U17s development squad.

Nawaqanitawase joined the Roosters after representing Australia in rugby sevens at last year’s Paris Olympics, but he grew up playing league for Concord-Burwood Wolves and Leichhardt Wanderers before switching codes at high school.

However, Nawaqanitawase has always had a connection to the Roosters through childhood friends Chris and Matt Georges, whose father John is the driving force behind the Lebanon Cedars.

Believing that Nawaqanitawase was a future NRL star, John Georges organised for him to join a Roosters development squad in 2016, where he trained alongside Tupou and other members of the club’s first grade team.

“They are massive Rooster supporters, and I guess they definitely did influence me on the Roosters back in the day," Nawaqanitawase said ahead of Saturday night's elimination final against Cronulla at Sharks Stadium.

"I went to quite a few games with them, and then John brought me to an under 17s development camp so the Roosters have always been there for me.”

“I was doing some training sessions during the week and I still remember seeing Toups running around at the training. It's funny to think I'm now playing alongside him, and we are mates. It’s a full circle thing.

“Dylan Napa, Eloni Vunakece ... all of the OGs for me were there. They were the guys I grew up watching and they went on to win premierships the year after.

“There were going to be a few games as well as training, but it didn’t come to fruition. I did get some Roosters gear, though.”

Nawaqanitawase may have been playing in the NRL earlier if his mother, Fiona, hadn’t been concerned about whether he could handle the physicality of league.

After winning the Ken Irvine Medal as the NRL’s leading tryscorer with 23 tries in as many games in his rookie season, any doubts have finally been dispelled.

“It was always something I was curious about, whether I could pursue it or not but I guess I wasn't allowed at that time. Mum didn't want me playing league," he said.

“I played league when I was younger for Leichhardt Wanderers, and I switched to union once I got to high school. I was only a bit lucky to do that development squad because John convinced mum to let me do it.

“That’s why I stuck with union, because of my mum, but I got the opportunity again and here I am.”

Nawaqanitawase is now one of the game's most recognisable stars after his stunning Round 11 try - when he hopped along the sideline to stop himself from going out and kicked infield before raking the ball in just before it rolled into touch - racked up more 100m views.

The 25-year-old winger, who also laid on another try of the year contender for Rob Toia with a Benji Marshall-style flick pass inside to the centre just three weeks ago, developed his freakish skills on the streets of Burwood.

“I guess a big credit would have to go just to my family and my friends when I was growing up," he said.

“I was lucky that my cousins lived in the same street, so there was four of us boys, I had stepbrothers as well and we were good mates with the neighbours so there was about 10 of us.

"I grew up playing on the streets, in the backyard, in the front yard, all different kinds of sports, so you pick up different skills doing that.

“We would play everything and anything, we'd even play hide and seek around the whole suburb, so I was always running around and doing stuff.

"Whether it was footy or basketball, cricket or tennis, or even swinging a golf club in the backyard and breaking mum's window, it was all part of growing up for me. I'm just lucky when it comes off in games now."

With Nawaqanitawase's father Sevuloni moving from Fiji to Sydney in 1991 to play rugby league for Balmain, he is eligible to play for the Bati and also has Italian heritage.

However, to the dismay of Georges, who is overseeing Lebanon's RLWC26 preparations with coach Michael Cheika, the closest Nawaqanitawase will come to pulling on a Cedars jersey was when he and Adelaide Strikers batsman Harry Manenti posed for a photo before the last World Cup in 2022.

Manenti's father John, the former Australian rugby sevens coach, was responsible for guiding Nawaqanitawase in the code but Cheika also played a role in his rise to 11 Tests for the Wallabies.

“Professionally, I would have loved to do anything. I love playing basketball, I love playing soccer, I love all sport," he said.

“I was in and around the Waratahs academy and obviously John [Georges] and Michael Cheika are pretty close so I had a sit down with him just to grab some tips and see how I could better myself to get to that next stage."

With growing speculation that he could earn a call up for the end-of-season Ashes tour, Nawaqanitawase said he was yet to decide whether to play for the Kangaroos or the Bati in the Pacific Championships.

"I'm just trying to focus on the finals with the Roosters and then see what happens after that," he said.

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