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The $350 budget and Mum-led crew behind Mulitalo’s career breakthrough
By Dan Walsh
August 16, 2022 — 7.45pm
Ronaldo Mulitalo gets $350 from his mum every week.
“I pay for my petrol, I pay my Uber Eats bills and I’m sweet with that,” the Sharks flyer laughs.
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Vaega Mulitalo plays a key role in negotiating a new deal with Cronulla, just as she has with each of her son’s contracts, “because she’s not afraid to get in there and ask the tough questions”.
The Mulitalo matriarch leads the crew jokingly dubbed “Team Ronaldo” behind his career-best form, comprising a financial advisor, dietician and mind coach and his accredited agent.
“I’m a 23-year-old kid, it’s all sorted for me,” he grins again. “But it’s a solid group we’ve built around me and it’s worked for me this year. I’ve got nothing else to worry about but play footy. I get my budget every week and I’m happy.”
Known only as “Simon” in his phone, the addition of specialist mind coach Simon Williams of Motivation & Performance Partners (M&PP) especially has helped Mulitalo past the self-doubt and anxiety that plagued his first few years of NRL, bright as they were.
Twenty-seven tries in 40 games had Mulitalo rising quickly through the ranks to a Queensland Origin call-up that lasted less than 24 hours before it was unceremoniously quashed by an eligibility scandal.
But having been plagued by “head noise” at the biggest moments of his career to date, New Zealand-born Mulitalo met with Kiwis coach Michael Maguire last summer to talk through his international prospects.
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The next call he says, was the catalyst for the 13 tries, 24 line breaks, 77 tackle busts and 144 running metres a game to his name ahead of Saturday’s clash with Manly.
“I was struggling when I had a big game like a debut,” Mulitalo says. “I’d put so much pressure on myself, I’d be thinking ‘f--k I’m going to drop a ball, blah blah blah’. It happened in my NRL debut, it happened in my Samoan debut and I knew I had Kiwis around the corner if I was playing well.
“I wanted to make sure if that next big opportunity came, I was ready for it, so we worked really hard on how to deal with that pressure and head noise.
“It’s at the point now where I message and call Simon if I’m doing it tough, we’ll have a chat over Zoom and try and realign my mindset.
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“I encourage everyone to do it. My Mum and my manager spoke to me about it. And obviously you pay a fee for the service. But I see it as an investment in my career, and it’s working so I won’t change it.”
Ronaldo Mulitalo is feeling more at home under the high ball than ever.CREDIT:NRL PHOTOS
Mulitalo made his debut for Maguire’s New Zealand side in late-June with no errors, just a couple of line breaks and a cherished debut try.
A World Cup berth looms, ideally with the ink on a new multi-year Sharks deal dry by then, too.
Before then, though, a finals fling with Cronulla’s premiership credentials firming every week, and Mulitalo better prepared than ever to cope with the pressure that brings.
“I used to really beat myself up if I dropped a ball,” he says. “I’d be filthy, putting pressure on thinking, ‘That could lose you the game’, and it’d rock me.
“I’d like to get that error out of my game but it doesn’t drive me nuts like it used to.
“Fitzy [coach Craig Fitzgibbon] has been awesome on encouraging us to play footy and not punishing ourselves. I know that if something does go wrong I can defend a mistake and make up for that. Fitzy’s big on that and I’m not scared to make a mistake or worry about what could go wrong.”
The $350 budget and Mum-led crew behind Mulitalo’s career breakthrough
Ronaldo Mulitalo has overcome self-doubt and crippling performance anxiety to star for the Sharks, thanks to the help of “Team Ronaldo”.www.smh.com.au
Huh?
Haha, I’ll take that as a no then.
