The Incredible Career of Lote Tuqiri

By Wayne Heming

Dual international Lote Tuqiri could not have squeezed much more from a 15-year playing career that took him around the world.

To list Tuqiri’s playing achievements in both codes would not leave much room to talk about his incredible playing career.

But it’s fair to say Tuqiri achieved more than he ever dreamed of as a boy growing up in suburban Sunnybank.

Tuqiri won NRL grand finals 14 years apart with two different clubs (Brisbane 2000 and South Sydney 2014).

He captained his birth-country Fiji in the 2002 World Cup after starring in back-to-back State of Origin series wins for Queensland, in which he scored a record 18 points in one game.

Throw in a few controversies along the way and his big-money switch to “the dark side” along the way and you could make a decent movie of Tuqiri’s career.

Tuqiri did it all.

From the time he pulled on a Brisbane Broncos jumper, he was destined for stardom.

He took out the club’s rookie-of-year-title in 1999 before scoring a crucial try in the club’s fifth premiership win over the Sydney Roosters a year after.

After that success, there was no stopping the Fijian Express.

He celebrated Origin victories in 2001 and 2002 – scoring a try in every game in 2002 – a rare feat.

It was the stuff of dreams for kid born in the small Fijian village of Korolevu, an hour from the capital, Suva.

Fogs.com.au caught up with the big fella for a chat this week and he was happy to talk about his colourful career and a few of the controversies he was caught up in.

One of those controversies involved Wayne Bennett and the QRL hatching a plan which became know as the “TBA scandal” where Queensland exploited a judiciary loophole to hold a spot open for Tuqiri in game two of the 2002 series

THE TBA SCANDAL

I was suspended for one match after a dangerous tackle playing for Brisbane just before the Queensland team was announced.

I didn’t know what was going on behind the scenes. I played against the Dragons in Sydney on a Sunday afternoon and I picked Ben Ross up and tipped him upside down.

I thought I’d be ok, but I must have had loading from priors and I copped a week.

I don’t know what happened but Wayne, Ross Livermore (QRL boss at the time) the QRL hierarchy got together, it was crazy.

I was nervous all week because you never want to miss an Origin game for Queensland.

I was in camp but I couldn’t train with the team until the captain’s run the day before the game.

I ended up scoring three tries in the game, it was pretty special.”

Tuqiri had been part of another Bennett masterstroke the previous year.

ALFIE SECRET

It was a masterstroke, an absolute masterstroke.

Bennett’s covert operation to sneak Allan Langer back from England for the 2001 series decider at Lang Park was kept a closely guarded secret.

Queensland had won game one in Brisbane easily but we got touched up in the return game in Sydney when Joey (Andrew Johns) and Freddy (Brad Fittler) went to town on us.

I had no idea Alf was joining the team until about 30 minutes before he climbed on board the team bus.

Nobody knew.

We had a feeling something was going on but we were all just excited to be in camp.

I remember we were about to head off into camp at Wingana retreat on the Gold Coast with Wayne and all of sudden, Alfie gets on the bus and a cheer went up.

There were a lot of us young blokes in the team who had watched Alf carve up the Blues in this arena.

As soon as we saw the older blokes in the team like Gordie (Tallis) and Locky (Darren Lockyer) embrace Alf, were comfortable with it, we were all sold about having him back.

Everyone was behind Alf but you could tell he was pretty nervous about being back.

He was more focused on training that week than he normally would have been.

Alf the Joker was there; but he wasn’t in a sense, he knew the pressure he was under.

He took us all on a ride and what a ride it was.”

Season 2002 was massive for Tuqiri who was named Dally M winger of the year.

“It was probably my best season and I played some of my best footy that year,” he reflected.

“I won everything that year, except a premiership.”

Tuqiri’s form was so good, it saw the Australian Rugby Union add him to its hit list of league stars, along with Brisbane teammate Wendell Sailor and another high profile representative player Mat Rogers, whom it wanted to poach, to build a squad for the 2003 World Cup and beyond.

Tuqiri was torn at the time because his league career was on the rise.

He desperately wanted to stay at the Broncos but the money being tossed around by the ARU was too good to turn down and his efforts to stay at Red Hill were thwarted.

He eventually made the switch and played 89 games for the NSW Waratha’s and 67 Tests for the Wallabies before his contract was pulled in 2010.

THE RUGBY AFFAIR

People say it was easy for me to walk away from rugby league because of the money I was offered to switch codes but I struggled with the decision to leave.

There was a fair bit of anguish about making that decision.

Yes, I got offered a lot of money, I’m not going to say that didn’t play a part but I didn’t want to leave the Broncs (Broncos).

I felt Brisbane was on the cusp of doing something after having lost preliminary finals in 2001 and 2002.

We were building and Wayne (Bennett) as you know makes teams tight.

The hardest thing for me was deciding to walk away from the Broncos.

In the end I came back to rugby league because I think the ARU wanted rid of me to save some money for new coach Robbie Deans who wanted to usher in some new young players and that was fine.

I think they were trying to cut costs and they thought I was on too much money.

I got a phone call and they left me in the dark for a while.

But to be honest, I wasn’t that unhappy about it either for personal reasons.

I wasn’t enjoying playing at the time because I wasn’t getting on the park.

In the end, it was better for them and better for me.

Then there was Tuqiri’s difficult sideline miss in game three at the Sydney Football Stadium in 2002 to break an 18-all scoreline after Dane Carlaw’s runaway try, which led to Origin rules being changed.

Queensland had been declared Origin series winner in 1999 when the scores in the decider were 10-10 and the Blues didn’t like it.

ORIGIN RULE CHANGE AFTER MISSED KICK

They changed the rules because I missed the kick, Tuqiri grimaces.

I tried to relax. I remember taking the pressure off by telling myself we had won, the kick doesn’t matter.

Lockyer had injured his leg and he didn’t want to take the kick, he didn’t take a kick all night, and his left leg was busted.

I remember when Dane (Carlaw) scored I was telling myself: “run around close to the posts” there was nobody in sight and he’d already beaten the winger Jason Moodie.

Anyway, I missed it. I get asked about that kick a lot.

Finally, there was Tuqiri’s special relationship and his feelings for Brisbane teammate Wendell Sailor, one of the great characters of the game, who also made the switch to rugby union.

WENDELL SAILOR

Wendell took me under his wing when I came into my first Origin camp.

He was like my big brother at when I came to the Broncos. He really showed me and helped me understand how to be a professional, how to work hard and how to play for your mates.

He was one of my mentors. I know he was “out there” but I’m not ashamed to say he was a good mate.

He was the ducks nuts at the Broncos with league fans back in the day, or he thought he was, but he handled the adulation well.

He went through some rough patches and he probably could have given up at one stage but he managed to turn his life around.

There are things that happened in his life that he is not very proud of, like most of us, but he got his life back on track and has matured sine those early days when he was the big flashy Del.

He turned 50 this week and I’m proud of what he has achieved.

There is the flashy, gregarious Wendell, and there is the Wendell that can shut down and need a few days off to re-charge.

We are still pretty tight.

If I don’t hear from him for a few days I usually give him a call and check in on him.

In a 15-minute call, I probably only get two words in: “hello and goodbye”.

He still goes a million miles an hour and he is entertaining when he is on.

Some people say he probably still hasn’t matured, but he is doing pretty well for himself.