The player Penrith didn’t think was good enough for even a paltry contract could come back to bite them big time in Sunday’s grand final.
Parramatta cult hero Maika Sivo played his lower grade football for the Panthers after moving to Sydney from his native Fiji.
All he wanted to do was play first grade for the Panthers – and he backed up his case with a host of tries in the lower grades.
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But the Panthers didn’t think he had what it takes to be a first grade footballer – one of the club’s few errors in judgement in recent years.
Crestfallen, Sivo and his manager contacted Eels coach Brad Arthur begging for a start and the rest, as they say, is history.
“My final season as a player was for Mounties in the NSW Cup and it was there I met Maiko,” Sivo’s manager Cameron Phelps told Wide World of Sports.
“I broke my jaw and retired and decided to try my hand at management. One of the first players I signed up was Maiko – because I got to see first hand what a tryscoring weapon he was, even back then.
“He was the leading tryscorer in NSW Cup for Penrith in 2018 but for some reason they weren’t even interested in giving him a new deal.
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“Fortunately for us, Parramatta had had great success with another Fijian winger, Semi Radradra, and they were prepared to give him a chance – that’s all he needed.”
Former Panthers coach Anthony Griffin was the man who made the tough call on Sivo that sees him line up against Penrith on Sunday night.
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“He didn’t rate Sivo but, in fairness, the Sivo back then wasn’t the fit, strong athlete he is now,” a Panthers source told WWOS.
“He wasn’t the best trainer and was lazy at times – he has turned it around and good luck to him.”
The Eels’ move to give Sivo a start was hardly a gamble – he signed a bargain basement $60,000 deal with the club.
On Sunday, the man whose late try in Townsville propelled the Eels into the grand final will run onto the field on a contract worth around 10 times that amount.
And if he helps the Eels upset hot favourites Penrith, it will be the sweetest payback of all.
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