Crusaders

Former NRL star Fuifui Moimoi has signed for League One side Rochdale Hornets for the 2021 season to keep him playing past 40. “My body will tell me when I’ve had enough, then I’ll stop,” the prop said

It is difficult to imagine Fuifui Moimoi being nervous about anything.

Standing at 6ft tall and weighing 16st 7lb, the prop cuts an imposing figure. That is before you consider he has over 200 games of NRL experience under his belt, along with having faced some of rugby league’s fiercest competitors on the international stage for both Tonga and New Zealand.

Yet he admits the nerves were jangling when he arrived at Hopwood Hall College for his first training session with head coach Matt Calland and his new team-mates at Rochdale Hornets as preparations for the 2021 League One season got underway.

“Honestly, I was a bit nervous when I first started with Matt and the boys, but the last couple of weeks I’ve really enjoyed training with them,” Moimoi said.

“I’ve never worked with a coach who is that fit. We’re working hard on our fitness and he is fitter than most of the players!

“It’s really good with Matt though and I’m looking forward to the season starting and working within the squad.”

Moimoi’s decision to sign a deal with Rochdale for the 2021 season means he will become a rarity at professional level in playing on past the age of 40, having made his debut for Parramatta Eels way back in Round 8 of the 2004 NRL season.

Fuifui Moimoi in action for Tonga at the 2013 Rugby League World Cup

The hard-charging, big-hitting front row became a cult hero in Australia and beyond during his time with the Eels, but a desire to move away from being under the microscope in the NRL led to him joining Leigh Centurions – then in the Championship – in 2015.

What was originally meant to be a one-year stay ended up being extended to a second season, followed by spells with Toronto Wolfpack and, most recently, Workington Town. Although even then Moimoi did not envision still pulling on his boots into his 40s.

“When I finished with Parramatta, I wasn’t really keen to come and play Super League,” Moimoi said. “I wanted to come to Leigh just to enjoy my time here just for one year, but when I turned up I enjoyed things so much and that’s why I kept going.

“It’s more relaxed and not as tough as back home. I’m more relaxed and enjoying my footy more over here than back in Australia.

I’m from Leigh and I fully appreciated and saw the impact he had when he arrived there, and that’s something I was keen to see happen in Rochdale.

Rochdale chairman Andy Mazey on Fuifui Moimoi

“I don’t think I expected to still be playing at 40.”

Moimoi quickly established himself as a terrace favourite at the Centurions too, and one person who could not help but take notice of that was Rochdale chairman and Leigh native Andy Mazey.

Watching him in action for Workington in the 2018 League One play-off final against Bradford Bulls left Mazey, who led a takeover of the Hornets after leaving Swinton Lions in 2019, in no doubt as to his ability to make an impression on the field too.

“I’m from Leigh and I fully appreciated and saw the impact he had when he arrived there, and that’s something I was keen to see happen in Rochdale,” Mazey said. “I know the interest and what I’ve always found with Fui is he’s got that charisma and personality.

Fuifui Moimoi takes on the Bradford defence for Workington in the 2018 League One play-off final

“There was a genuine feeling he can do the business on the field still. I’ve seen him play for Workington and the way Matt is going to use him, he can still have a massive impact at this level on the sport.”

Moimoi looks back fondly on his three-season stint with Workington, recalling with delight how the fans addressed him as “Marra” – a term of endearment in West Cumbrian dialect – but having a baby daughter aged just nine months meant travelling two-and-a-half hours each way for midweek evening training became impractical.

His former Workington team-mate Sean Penkywicz recommended joining him closer to home at Rochdale and having made the switch, he has quickly impressed Calland with the impact he is already making – particularly on the younger members of the squad making their way in the professional game.

“He’s a natural leader and because of all the experience he has in the game, he leads by example and when he speaks everybody listens,” Calland said.

He’s a natural leader and because of all the experience he has in the game, he leads by example and when he speaks everybody listens.

Rochdale head coach Matt Calland on Fuifui Moimoi

“He gives little cues in training to the younger guys in training and it’s invaluable to have him around. I think he’ll be just as valuable off the field as well as on it.”

After seeing their application to join the Championship for 2021 to replace promoted Leigh overlooked in favour of Newcastle Thunder, the Hornets have their sights on being one of the two teams which will be promoted from League One at the end of this season.

Whether Moimoi will stay on beyond this year whatever division Rochdale are in remains to be seen, but he has no plans to call it a day as long as his body still allows him to play.

“To be honest, I don’t know,” Moimoi said when asked how long he intends to keep playing for. “I’ll see how my body feels.

“I’ll go every year and my body will tell me when I’ve had enough, then I’ll stop.”

Sky Sports rugby league presenter and former Super League winger Carney on Stevie Ward’s retirement and whether more can be done to curb the danger of players suffering concussions by clamping down on contact with the head by tacklers

Stevie Ward has been forced to retire due to the effects of concussion

Sky Sports rugby league expert Brian Carney reflects on Stevie Ward’s decision to retire due to the effects of concussion and calls on rugby league’s lawmakers to do more to deter contact with the head from tacklers…

It’s always sad and disappointing to see someone like Stevie Ward retire at both a young age and not on their own terms. I think he has assessed his medical situation after those two concussions and done what’s best for him as a human being, which is the most important thing at this time.

It’s incredibly unfortunate for Stevie. He has not had the best of luck with injuries in recent years, he’s a very talented player and obviously well thought of at Leeds for them to make him captain of that great club.

2:25

Leeds Rhinos captain Stevie Ward has announced his retirement from rugby league due to the two concussions he experienced early last year

The bigger issue facing rugby league is around concussions. As society in general and sports, in particular, discover more information about concussions, and the strength of the link between them and a variety of neurological disorders, I would suggest that every sporting governing body should be doing all in their power to limit the instances of concussive events in activities under their remit.

Rugby league is quite obviously a contact sport and there will, for long as this great game is played, be instances of accidental and unavoidable contact with the head which result in concussions. Treatment of those within a stricter concussion protocol and return to play framework will be a given for the governing body.

I would, however, like to turn the spotlight on another category of concussive events which I believe are a long way from being minimised. These are concussions which result directly from careless, reckless or deliberate contact with the head or indirectly from the same acts.

Leeds captain Ward, 27, retires due to concussions

Leeds Rhinos captain Stevie Ward has been forced to retire at the age of 27 due to concussions he suffered last year.

In both subsets there is, in my opinion, an unacceptable asymmetry of risk. For the injured party there is the risk of concussion and all its attendant issues that we are learning more and more about.

But for the offender, the concession of a penalty? A card of some colour? Maybe a ban and perhaps even one of two weeks or so? That is not enough.

I am cherry-picking here, but regular viewers of Super League will get my point. In 2020, for example, Tom Lineham got an eight-game ban for a “testicle grab” and Joel Tomkins got eight games for “other contrary behaviour” when he decided to put his fingers where he shouldn’t.

Almost everybody agreed that these acts needed to be punished severely – a bit like spitting at an opponent on the field, which usually leads to a chorus of: “How dare they? Red card ref! Lengthy suspension!”

But when do you recall eight-game suspensions being given for contact with the head? That is a minimum level of suspension we need to be handing out to acts that are classified as foul play and result in direct or indirect contact with the head and possibly concussion.

That would go a little way towards redressing this lopsided risk which currently exposes the victim to concussion and the guilty party to a couple of weeks on the sidelines.

There is no doubt that rugby league is a changed game in how it treats head injuries and concussions. The game needs to be complimented for the progress it has made, but more needs to be done and I think that would be accepted.

Brian Carney

I think rugby union knows what they want when it comes to contact with the head. By and large, I believe they are far stricter whereas we still let too much go in rugby league.

We, as spectators of this marvellously entertaining sport, should be able to see an incident which involves careless, reckless or deliberate contact with the head and know immediately it is a red card and lengthy suspension. At the moment, it is an unacceptable lottery which does not do enough to discourage the tackler from their actions.

There is no doubt that rugby league is a changed game in how it treats head injuries and concussions compared with five or 10 years ago, and certainly 20 years ago. The game needs to be complimented for the progress it has made, but more needs to be done and I think that would be accepted.

2:14

Speaking back in November, Stevie Ward said he was concerned about the long-term effects of concussion and believed more research needed to be done

We saw last year how everybody went into overdrive to restart the sport during a pandemic and the bio-security steps which were taken.

There is, however, an anomaly where we are trying to provide a bio-secure environment during a pandemic yet within the game there are incidents where I believe we are not doing all we can to protect the players on the field from non-Covid-19 health issues.

We have got better, but there are more steps we can take as a game.