As New Zealand-born Siua Wong opened up on his decision to snub playing for the Kiwis, the rising Tongan back-rower credited Spencer Leniu for helping him feel like he belongs on the international stage.
On Sunday, Wong will go up against his former Roosters teammate for the first time. It’s something the 23-year-old is eagerly anticipating after spending the past three years playing alongside him.
So if anyone knows how to stop the Samoan wrecking ball, it should be Wong?
“That’s everyone’s question,” Wong said. “But I feel like it’ll be how do we stop the whole team, and it’s going to take a whole team for us as a Tonga pack to have that match-up.
“It’ll just be a matter of run hard, tackle hard; whoever can do that the longest is probably going to come out on top.”
Thick as thieves together, Wong was sad to see the firebrand 110kg forward leave Moore Park after the four-time premiership winner signed with the Eels and added another ring to his fingers.
But Wong says the confidence Leniu instilled in him helped transform him into a premiership winner after a couple of years finding his feet in the NRL.
“He’s got a lot of self-belief and confidence which can be mistaken for arrogance, but that energy that he brings when I’ve played alongside him, he’s helped me be so self-confident and believe in myself as well,” Wong said.
“I feel like that’s something that’s so underestimated about his character. Everyone just sees it as cockiness or arrogance, but they don’t understand it’s just his way of bringing energy to the team, and that’s something that Samoa are going to feed off for sure.”
While Leniu will be a marked man when the two proud Pacific nations run out in Parramatta on Sunday night, Wong was in demand on Tuesday when a last-minute open training session was arranged and saw Wentworth Park taken over by hundreds of Tongan fans.
“It just shows how much this team means to people,” said Wong, who played at the 2022 World Cup for Fiji before playing for the Roosters and will have around 90 family members in the CommBank stands.
For Wong, Sunday’s clash will be the biggest game of his young international career.
It also comes three years after he turned down an offer from then New Zealand coach Michael Maguire to switch from Fiji to the Kiwis.
“I remember in 2023 I had a meeting with Madge after the 2022 World Cup and I just told him that I’d like to represent Tonga before I made the decision to have the opportunity to represent the Kiwis,” said Wong, whose parents were peacekeepers in New Zealand, but whose mother was born in Tonga.
“I think just where my heart is at the moment is to represent this small nation, and I’m not saying that I’ll never represent New Zealand in the future, but for this year it’s definitely been the red jersey.
“I think being a New Zealand kid, I did look up to Kiwis, but then obviously seeing the likes of Jason [Taumalolo], Andrew Fifita, Sio Siua Taukeiaho, all those players made that transition [to play for Tonga] in the 2017 World Cup inspired me to do the same in the position I am in now.”
Wong said Maguire was “very supportive” of his decision.
“I think he understood where I was coming from,” he said.
“The big decision for me to play was just so I can give back to my Tongan family. I’ve got grandparents on both Mum and Dad’s side who are Tongan, and he was very supportive of that decision. Especially, I think, having Polynesian players under him as well, he kind of understood my decision from that perspective too.”
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