Comeback king David Fifita helped Wakefield finally win again - and revealed he turned down Castleford before “coming home.”
The cult hero prop, 33, caused Leeds all sorts of trouble as Mark Applegarth’s side finally got their first victory of the season on Sunday. After 15 straight losses, it prompted joyous scenes at Super League’s bottom club. Applegarth persuaded Aussie Fifita - a huge fans favourite in his previous seven-year stint at Belle Vue - to come out of semi-retirement to aid their fight against relegation.
He flew over for their Magic Weekend loss against Leigh but quickly got them up and running against Leeds even after Hugo Salabio was red-carded. Juggernaut Fifita, nicknamed the 'Big Bopper’, beamed: “That’s everything you can ask for when you play your first game back at home. And it is home. I’m speechless.
“When we went down to 12 men we made sure we told the boys to just push and work for each other. It was tough but we managed to get through it. It was just the ‘next man up’ mentality; we were without 13 players and most of our starting 13 weren’t playing. But that mentality got us home.”
Fifita declared how his former Wakefield captain Jacob Miller - now playing at Castleford under ex-Trinity assistant Andy Last - had tried getting him to join their fierce rivals instead. He said: “Milky (Miller) did get into me and said ‘we could do with a prop!’ I did think about it as Mash (Applegarth) initially only wanted me to come over for eight weeks while there were some injuries here. But then I just started laughing. I told Milky I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t go away a Wakey hero and come back as the villain! I’ve been living with him since I arrived actually - but I’m moving into a studio this week.”
Ex-Tonga star Fifita had been playing for part-timers The Entrance Tigers back in New South Wales. But the urge to help Trinity stave off the drop - they are now only four points behind Castleford with 12 games remaining - proved too appealing. He said: “It was tough having to leave the family behind.
“But there was no point bringing them all over just for 12 weeks. We’d just started life back home. Life was great: I was playing footy with The Entrance and working as a youth case worker with ten to 17 year-olds. But I could see Mash struggling and I could hear it in his voice. He just needed someone to come over and talk and I thought my presence could help the team.
"I thought I’d take the opportunity and try my best. I’m not saying I can do it all but just whatever I can give, if I can get the boys an extra 10 percent, that would do. And Sunday was an awesome feeling in front of those fans again. There’s a lot of belief in the boys now.”
