he went well for an total time of zero minutes.
now wants a cool half million dollars and a super 14 contract.
Jonah wants $500,000 to sign up
24 September 2006
By DAVID LONG
Jonah Lomu's dream to play for the All Blacks again is still alive.
But Sunday News understands he is demanding $500,000 to re-sign with the NZRU for 2007.
Lomu has played four games for North Harbour this season and says he is still confident of playing for the All Blacks.
During his battle with a crippling kidney disease, daily blood transfusions that left him barely able to walk and a string of injuries, it was the possibility of playing in the black No 11 jersey again that kept him going.
In an exclusive interview with Sunday News Lomu says he's still striving towards a return to the All Blacks.
"You've got to have goals like that," Lomu said. "It doesn't matter how far it is, or if it's reachable or not, you've got to have goals and dreams.
"That's where it all starts from and from there you know in which direction you need to go."
But Sunday News has been told Lomu's manager/wife Fiona met with NZRU bosses two weeks ago to inquire about Lomu's chances of a Super 14 contract.
And a source said last night Fiona has said it will cost the NZRU a cool half a million dollars to keep him in New Zealand.
"The only way that will happen is if (the NZRU) can secure some other corporate deals for Lomu," the source said.
Lomu, 31, spoke about the injury setbacks he's had since recovering from the kidney transplant in August 2004.
"It's frustrating because it becomes stop-start and I go back to zero, get myself right then have to start all over again," he said.
"Things were starting to come right (at Cardiff) and then I broke my ankle, I came back a little bit early. That's when I played the club game.
"Now I'm pretty confident about having a go. I was a bit hesitant at first in terms of going into contact, but now it's basically knuckle down and get into the job."
Lomu's first two appearances for Harbour were 20-minute stints off the bench but things stepped up a notch when he started against Manawatu two weeks ago.
Although he failed to score, he was a constant threat to the Turbos' defence and often found two defenders covering him.
He also showed he was now physically up to playing for 80 minutes.
"It was good to get that under the belt," Lomu said. "I need to keep pushing where I need to be and where I want to get to. Now I've just got to knuckle down and keep pushing these two young guys (Viliame Waqaseduadua and Rudi Wulf).
"My No 1 priority at the moment is to hook into it and put these two boys under a bit of heat."
from stuff.co.nz
, harbour, absolutely cream the cantabs and take the shield off them for good measure.
