He only played for two years with the SP PNG Hunters, but his toughness and determination has opened new doors for him.
Rhadley Brawa is currently on break but is excitedly looking forward to resuming training with his new club – the Wynnum Manly Seagulls.
The former SP Hunters superstar never once dreamt that he would be part of an NRL feeder club this early in his career.
The 28-year-old, from a mixed parentage of Teremanda in Enga, and Sinesine in Simbu, was both surprised and humbled when he was informed by the SP Hunters coaching staff that the Wynnum Manly Seagulls, a Broncos feeder club, was interested in him.
Brawa, who is a lock forward, and fellow fullback and winger Edene Gebbie, signed one-year contracts with the Seagulls whilst former teammate Nixon Putt joined the Norths Devils.
The trio flew down to Australia in late November 2018.
“For us our new experience was like the first thing was getting to know the new players and you know, most of them were Australian players and then you have a few Pacific Island players from New Zealand and Samoa,” stated Brawa.
“Walking up to training it was a new environment with everyone speaking in English and we’re like ‘OK, are we going to talk to these guys and how are we going to train with these guys’… it was different,” he laughingly said.
“At first we were really shy when we walked in and I could remember me and Edene were speaking in Pidgin and then we were saying ‘Ai don’t speak Pidgin, speak English. Now we’re going to forget about Pidgin and just speak English’.
“But it was a good experience. It took us about a week or two to really settle in well, for me and Edene and Nixon. But I think we need more time to settle in with the boys and get to know the new players.”
The trio’s last training session was in December 21st, where they returned to PNG the following day. They will fly back on Friday, January 4th, and resume training on January 7th.
Brawa has extended his appreciation, on behalf of his former SP Hunters teammates who have signed with international clubs, to the PNG Rugby Football League, coach Michael Marum and everyone who has contributed to rugby league in PNG.
“My success is through other people’s hardwork.”