superralex_
Chillin'
Has anyone been watching the playoffs lately? How close have the games been!
Also, Fisher to the Rams!
Also, Fisher to the Rams!
NFL Thread
- Thread starter Frizzed
- Start date
Maddog78
Paul Rauhihi
Monday 6th February
callumtear
Willie Mason
Who is everyone going for? Ill be sticking with the NFC and New York.
Levil Kinevil
Slappin the bass mon
Everybody excited for the draft next week?? its like christmas haha
rhugh89
Danny 'Bedsy' Buderus
Former Sydney Rooster Peni Tagive moving to the US for shot at the NFL
Former Roosters flyer Peni Tagive is chasing a dream of playing in the NFL. Picture: Gregg PorteousSource: The Daily Telegraph
WHEN Peni Tagive quit the Roosters five months ago, he told everyone it was to further his education.
"Which is basically true," the hulking Fijian winger grins. "Although the rest of the story ... well, it's crazier."Once making headlines as The Next Lote Tuqiri, Tagive is heading to American next month to begin a college football career at Baylor University in Texas.Incredibly, the switch comes within a year of the 24-year-old - who once clocked 6.79 seconds for 60m - playing five games for the Tricolours following stints at both Wests Tigers and St George Illawarra.
"Giving up the chance to play NRL - it's the hardest thing I've ever had to do," Tagive said. "Rugby league has not only provided me with an income but helped provide for my family. But in the end, it wasn't the thing that was always on my mind."No, that was a shot at the NFL.And like all great Gen Y sports stories, this one starts with Playstation. With Tagive, two years back while still at the Dragons, being introduced to NFL game Madden."Almost immediately, I was hooked," he says. "It was through the game that I really picked up the sport, the rules, really started taking a much closer interest in the NFL."Then last year at the Roosters, we were doing a signing session and I got talking to someone who played American football in Sydney.
When I mentioned about maybe taking up the sport, he gave me the phone number for his coach, a guy called Paul Manera, so I gave him a call."And the result?"Paul thought I was completely crazy," Tagive laughs. "But he said that if I was serious about giving the NFL a crack, the best way was to go pursue a college scholarship."But for that there are certain educational requirements which I didn't have."
And so in October last year, after five seasons punctuated by injury, Tagive walked out on the Roosters for the anonymity of a business degree at Southern Cross University, Lismore.At the time, he released a statement saying: "I want to thank everyone at the club for their support and for supporting the decision I have made as I look ahead to life after footy."Which, as he says, was true. Sort of.Living with an aunt, this son of Fijian and African-American parents crammed through summer and then into his first semester.Manera, meanwhile, put together a tape of Tagive's best NRL efforts and sent them to the US. Immediately, the offers came in.
"Basically, because of my natural athletic base they're confident of making me faster, stronger, more powerful."There is still so much I have to learn but this is something I've been dreaming about for a couple of years now."Two years ago I never thought this would be possible but now, who knows where it will all end up?"
http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sp...-shot-at-the-nfl/story-fni3fbgz-1226658943722
- NICK WALSHAW
- THE DAILY TELEGRAPH
- JUNE 07, 2013 12:00AM
Former Roosters flyer Peni Tagive is chasing a dream of playing in the NFL. Picture: Gregg PorteousSource: The Daily Telegraph
WHEN Peni Tagive quit the Roosters five months ago, he told everyone it was to further his education.
"Which is basically true," the hulking Fijian winger grins. "Although the rest of the story ... well, it's crazier."Once making headlines as The Next Lote Tuqiri, Tagive is heading to American next month to begin a college football career at Baylor University in Texas.Incredibly, the switch comes within a year of the 24-year-old - who once clocked 6.79 seconds for 60m - playing five games for the Tricolours following stints at both Wests Tigers and St George Illawarra.
"Giving up the chance to play NRL - it's the hardest thing I've ever had to do," Tagive said. "Rugby league has not only provided me with an income but helped provide for my family. But in the end, it wasn't the thing that was always on my mind."No, that was a shot at the NFL.And like all great Gen Y sports stories, this one starts with Playstation. With Tagive, two years back while still at the Dragons, being introduced to NFL game Madden."Almost immediately, I was hooked," he says. "It was through the game that I really picked up the sport, the rules, really started taking a much closer interest in the NFL."Then last year at the Roosters, we were doing a signing session and I got talking to someone who played American football in Sydney.
When I mentioned about maybe taking up the sport, he gave me the phone number for his coach, a guy called Paul Manera, so I gave him a call."And the result?"Paul thought I was completely crazy," Tagive laughs. "But he said that if I was serious about giving the NFL a crack, the best way was to go pursue a college scholarship."But for that there are certain educational requirements which I didn't have."
And so in October last year, after five seasons punctuated by injury, Tagive walked out on the Roosters for the anonymity of a business degree at Southern Cross University, Lismore.At the time, he released a statement saying: "I want to thank everyone at the club for their support and for supporting the decision I have made as I look ahead to life after footy."Which, as he says, was true. Sort of.Living with an aunt, this son of Fijian and African-American parents crammed through summer and then into his first semester.Manera, meanwhile, put together a tape of Tagive's best NRL efforts and sent them to the US. Immediately, the offers came in.
"Basically, because of my natural athletic base they're confident of making me faster, stronger, more powerful."There is still so much I have to learn but this is something I've been dreaming about for a couple of years now."Two years ago I never thought this would be possible but now, who knows where it will all end up?"
http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sp...-shot-at-the-nfl/story-fni3fbgz-1226658943722
Last edited: