Matagi's motivated mindset

Suaia Matagi chats about his time at Cas so far, the early setbacks he had and how he is embracing what he likes to call the second half of his life.

This feature was originally from our official monthly club magazine, ROAR, and has now been updated.

Possibly the nicest and quietest man in the Castleford Tigers squad is one of the scariest on the field for opposing players. When Suaia Matagi fields the ball and has some open space, the Fords faithful cheer him on because he will run it straight and forward.

The New Zealander has been a long admirer of rugby league but only got involved properly in the sport later in life, but his earliest memories of the greatest game feature some iconic players.

“I watched the Canberra Raiders with the family, Rueben Wiki, Mal Meninga those kinds of players were massive in that era, and I remember them from when I was like five or six years old,” Matagi told ROAR.

“They were household names; my old man was into watching the rugby, so I watched too. I only started when I was 19, I set out the goal to become a professional and follow my dream. I wanted to try to live my dream and live life with no regrets.

“The dream for me came back when I was working full time, a delivery driver at that time with twelve-hour shifts and I had time to think and ponder. I thought ‘in five, ten years’ time from now… what if?’ one of those moments.

“I didn’t want to have the price of regret. I started thinking, ‘let’s go all out’ and deal with my stuff as well, I’d rather go all out and not achieve what I set out to and give it my all and give myself the opportunity.”

That drive to become a professional player came after serving time in prison following an assault charge. As a youngster Matagi fell in with the wrong crowd and was a member of a gang and made mistakes, but upon reflection, he knew he wanted and needed to make his life better.

“I knew that I owed it to myself, but to my family as well given what I put them through, and I wanted to repay them and make something of myself. Being a young father, I wanted to show my daughter the importance of resilience, that even though I dropped the ball in life at that time, I was going to pick it up and run again. That was the mindset.

“I started to also think of other kids and inspire them to let them know that regardless of how you did wrong, you can make something of yourself and channel that energy into something positive.

“When you come from nothing and there is nothing for us, you might get labelled and for me, it was taking ownership of where I was and being accountable. I was labelled a criminal and it was something I could not change, but what I could was the second half of my life and what happens going forward and that is where the mindset started to change.”

The world of rugby league would be the ideal environment, and whilst there were challenges ahead Sui sought to overcome them and show the people who told him couldn’t, that he would.

“I wanted to better myself not only on the field but off the field, and the more I put in and surrounded myself with the right people and right environment – you start to dream. It’s like flaming the fire, which started to burn even more.

“It was a leap really, there was doubt right from the get-go, that I would never do it because no one succeeds in the NRL having no academy or system rugby. No one debuts at 25, that kind of stuff, but knowing who I was doing it for as well, it was for my family and the community as well. A lot of people from where I’d been don’t see a way forward, there’s no hope.

“The biggest revelation I got was from the day I was born to the day I realised it was all on me. That was my first half like you do in the game, you have your halftime talk and that was me having that moment to reflect and get better, take ownership. I knew then I’d have my second half, I’m playing it right now and not giving up. Don’t get me wrong, it was tough but anything worthwhile is going to be tough and have resistance.”

Suaia went on to feature for New Zealand Warriors, Sydney Roosters, Penrith Panthers, and Parramatta Eels in the NRL before taking another big challenge here in England by coming to Super League and playing for Huddersfield Giants before linking up with Castleford in 2021.

“It was a challenge that excited me and my family, we realised leaving New Zealand for the first time was a challenge, but we did that and took a step out of our comfort zone and left our family and support network to step into new territory.

“There is no growth zone in a comfort zone, so we realised taking that step out we were growing as a family in Australia, and then when the opportunity opened to come to the UK it was another exciting challenge and something I wanted to do. “

As a New Zealander, Sui got to see people who came through his junior club do well in Super League, making the move to England even more exciting.

“I used to see teams like Leeds and Bradford, and when you’re a kid coming through and seeing players play who were at your junior club (Te Atatu Roosters) like the Paul Brothers or Shontanye Hape, when you're a kid you aspire to be one of them. That era of Bulls, they had a dream team then. I was grateful for the opportunity to come to the UK, we’ve had the best experience so far here, living the dream day by day.”

Settling in Halifax, Sui and his family are very happy, and his son has begun his own rugby league journey too with local amateur club Siddal, who have just won the BARLA National Cup Final during the summer. Congratulations to them!

“My son started playing for them about two years ago and I watched them, just to support, and then I wanted to help and give back. I realised where I’d come from it was rare to see people doing that to give back. If I had them role models and see someone I wanted to be when I was coming through.

“The coaches Richard Connell and Philip Taylor asked if I could jump and help the forwards and it started from there. I was open to helping however I could and built from there. I’m thankful to Richard & Philip, and the parents for giving me that opportunity. Siddal won the Yorkshire Cup and then this year the National Cup, so it’s been good to give back to the kids.

“Any knowledge I can pass down, on or off the pitch, why would I not? If it helps just one, to steer them in the right way, we all face challenges at 14, it’s all worth it in the end. I hope they can all follow their dreams, and they know the road to success is not a straight line, life happens and being that voice to them through rugby. I learnt a lot of my life skills that way through rugby, turning up on time kind of stuff, it’s emphasising the right attitude to have, how you do one thing can be how you do everything.”

Coming back to club matters, Matagi feels very much at home at Wheldon Road and has done since he first joined in 2021.

“I am grateful to Castleford for the opportunity, the culture around the whole club is good and building towards something. I’ve loved being around the boys, the team, but everyone really, I felt a togetherness with not just the players but the staff as well. Everyone’s values align so it’s family-like. The new staff this year have been great, there are some exciting times ahead.”

Learning from a Head Coach who was a forward himself has also been a good boost for the imposing prop forward…

“I’ve learned so much from Radders when he came in this year, sometimes you think you’ve been around the game long enough to not learn something new, but I have. It’s been to my benefit; he knows what it’s like and what it takes. I’m looking to keep learning every week and apply it on the field.”

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