Troubled Kiwi on an NRL roller-coaster ride

BY JAMIE PANDARAM

It means everything for Arana Taumata to be here, in this dingy dressing room, with downcast teammates after yet another loss. The darkest of places in the game, the losers' change-room, glows warmly for a young talent who has been to the darkest of places in his own mind.

It has been seven years since Taumata arrived in Australia with a reputation as one of the finest league prospects New Zealand had ever produced. Not even the most macabre of Hollywood horror filmmakers would have scripted that in those seven years, Taumata would have played just nine first-grade games, been sacked by four clubs, tasted numerous brushes with the law and undergone counselling by the age of 21.

Six NRL clubs before he'd played six NRL games. The numbers don't add up, but they amount to one fiercely determined individual who says he no longer heeds the call of sin.

''It's been a roller-coaster ride, I've had some ups and definitely a lot of downs,'' Taumata says.

And here he is, in the sheds of Leichhardt Oval, with the taste of defeat washing collectively over the North Queensland team, a taste they know well in 2010, and he's buzzing.

''It's good to be playing in the top grade again, no matter where you are on the ladder, especially for me,'' he says.

''I want to prove a lot of people wrong. There are a lot of people out there who really don't think I should be here, and that's what I want to do, prove people wrong by being out there playing footy, and having the people who support me around me, like my manager Sam Ayoub and coach Neil Henry and the whole club. I can feed off that.

''Twelve months ago I thought about giving footy away when I was [let go by] Melbourne. I've surrounded myself with good people. It's just about putting my head down, not chasing things that are going to pull you away from the things that you love.

''This is what I love doing, I love playing footy. Even though we're not going that well, being out on the field is an unbelievable feeling for me. That is what I grew up to do, and I'm thankful to the Cowboys for giving me an opportunity up here and I want to play some good footy for them.''

Taumata knows all about opportunities, and throwing them away. He has carried the superstar tag since his adolescent years at Wellington's Wainuiomata High School, under the coaching of former Kiwi prop John Lomax. So what happened?

''I moved to Australia when I was 14, I got thrown in the Broncos' top 25 when I was 15, training with the likes of Karmichael Hunt and Darren Lockyer. I thought I was a first grader,'' Taumata says.

''Then I moved on to other clubs, and I was always in the top 25, always around players that had a lot of money and I guess I never really found my feet, or found out who I really was.

''Last year when I didn't have footy, it was a really dark time in my life, no one will ever know how tough it was. Now I'm happy, I'm playing footy, alongside the likes of Johnathan Thurston and Willie Mason.''

Punted from the Broncos, punted from the Roosters, then punted from the Bulldogs in successive years for disciplinary breaches gave Taumata an unwanted stigma. The Knights were interested until they found out he had behavioural issues at Canterbury. Newcastle chief executive Steve Burraston said at the time: ''Once it becomes anti-social behaviour and a misdemeanour that leads to a player being sacked from a club, it's probably not the sort of image we're looking for. We have to uphold our values.''

Last week, two years on from Newcastle's rejection, Taumata helped the Cowboys defeat a Knights side desperately needing victory for their slim finals chances. But this is not about revenge.

As Thurston bluntly put it: ''He probably realises he has been thrown a lifeline here, he knows that he is on a short leash, so to speak.''

After being booted by Melbourne, the NRL refused to allow other clubs to sign him until he got help. Taumata sought the guidance of Ayoub and flew to Sydney to meet the agent. The meeting changed Ayoub's mind - he had earlier rejected the idea of taking Taumata as a client because he ''already had enough headaches''.

Signed by Wests Tigers, Taumata returned to his brilliant form but could not force his way into the first grade side, instead guiding their NSW Cup team to first place on the ladder. The Cowboys were in need of a back, and could guarantee Taumata game time in the NRL, so the Tigers agreed to release him.

Taumata's new housemate, Willie Tonga, says: ''Me and Willie Mason have taken it upon ourselves to make sure we guide him, and he doesn't want to let anyone down, especially us. We sat down and had a good talk to him, he is really positive about being up here. It was a good move to get him out of Sydney, up here it's so laid-back. It was the same for me.''

Tonight, Taumata runs out at CUA Stadium in Penrith, partnering the greatest halfback in the game.

He is off the roller-coaster, and now on his own two feet.

- © Fairfax NZ News