Zeb's wise move
ROBERT DILLON
14/05/2008 10:52:00 PM
ZEB Taia admits it was an uncomfortable feeling when he arrived for his first training session with the Newcastle Knights midway through last season.
"At the time the club was in a bit of a crisis mode," he recalled.
"There were players leaving and I was one of the players who was coming in for 2008.
"It was a bit weird coming up here and seeing players who play the same position as me and knowing they'd be leaving.
"It was a bit hard to adapt to that, but after my first game I got on with the boys really well and felt sorry for a couple of the ones who were leaving.
"I was worried that seeing new players coming in would probably piss them off, but they were all good blokes and made me feel welcome."
Signed from Parramatta last June, Taia was rushed straight into coach Brian Smith's squad for the round-16 home clash with South Sydney.
The back-row workhorse made an immediate impact, carting the ball for a game-high 179 metres and making 17 tackles in 46 minutes in Newcastle's 28-25 loss to the Rabbitohs.
The following week he returned to Parramatta Stadium and proved a point to his former employers, grinding away for 60 minutes in Newcastle's 34-10 triumph.
Since then the 23-year-old has quietly forged a reputation as the Mr Consistency of Newcastle's pack.
Taia played 10 successive games for the Knights at the end of last season and has featured in all of their eight fixtures of 2008.
This season he is averaging 26.5 tackles and 93m in attack during his 52.4 minutes of game time to entrench himself, without fuss or fanfare, as a blue-collar toiler around the rucks.
"That was one of my goals this year, just to establish myself as a regular part of the team," he said.
"I got an opportunity to come up here last year but was a bit rusty, so I set myself to have a good off-season, work hard and earn a spot in the team."
Taia said he realised last season that his career depended on him leaving Parramatta, a club with an array of quality back-rowers on their roster.
After scoring a try on debut against Penrith in 2006, he played only five more top-grade games for the Eels in the next 14 months but never lost faith in his own ability.
"It was getting frustrating but I didn't doubt myself," he said.
"When Smithy was down there, I made my debut under him and I felt like I went really well that game.
"I then had another couple of games under Jason Taylor and felt like I could handle this. I just needed more games.
"Last year when Michael Hagan came to Parra, he gave me a few games and I really thought I deserved a crack at it.
"That's why I made the move. I was playing back row and they had guys like Feleti [Mateo], Nathan Hindmarsh, Chad Robinson and Daniel Wagon in front of me.
"They do such a great job, it's hard for good players in Premier League [NSW Cup] to get an opportunity."
Born and bred in Auburn in the heart of Eels territory but of Cook Islands heritage, Taia initially planned to join the Knights at the end of the 2007 season. But Smith convinced him to fast-track those plans when Newcastle suffered a crippling injury toll.
"At first I said I wasn't up for the mid-season move, but I didn't want to keep playing Premier League if there was a chance to further my career," Taia said.
"Smithy said if I came up here straight away, I'd definitely get an opportunity and I decided I had to take that chance."
He has since settled into Hamilton South with his younger brother Ben, who plays in Newcastle's NSW Cup team, and fiancee Nikki Palmer, and is relishing the Novocastrian lifestyle.
Smith said that Taia was a quiet achiever on and off the field but was a "likeable character" who was highly regarded by his teammates.
"From a club point of view, he's very low maintenance," Smith said.
"He just does his job, does it quietly, and he's a very committed clubman."
Smith was confident that Taia was still a long way from reaching his peak as a player.
"He's a hard worker," Smith said.
"He plays in the middle most of the time, so he's a bit like a lightweight front-rower.
"He's got good speed and we think he's got a lot of development in him.
"He's got a good attitude and he's had limited opportunities he's not one of those blue-chip, earmarked players who got his chance in first grade early in his career.
"He's had to work hard for it, but now he's got a chance to really improve as a player over the next two or three years."
