League: The nice guy finishing first

The Eeels kept Inu despite a big offer from the Bulldogs. Photo / Getty Images

He's the one that didn't get away.

At least that's how Kiwis see Krisnan Inu, the devout Christian with a Hindu-sounding name who possesses enough God-given talent to do just about anything on the footy field.

Jarryd Hayne was the undoubted superstar as the Eels rolled towards an unlikely NRL grand final appearance this year.

In terms of natural ability, however, the Auckland-born but largely Sydney-raised Inu is rated by many as Hayne's equal.

But while his childhood friend's career has sky-rocketed into a different stratosphere, Inu's has until recently resembled more of a shot duck.

After being plucked from reserve grade by Brian McClennan to face the Aussies in the 2007 Anzac Test (he had made just one first-grade appearance at the time), Inu's elevation into the ranks of the game's elite players seemed assured.

He quickly forced his way into the Eels' first grade team and ended the season narrowly losing out on the Dally M Rookie of the Year award to another childhood chum, Israel Folau.

But an ankle injury suffered in the first game of the 2008 season took the wind out of his sails. Since then the breeze has been fitful.

Mid-way through this season, with Inu once again languishing in reserve grade, the Bulldogs tabled a $150,000 transfer offer, which the Eels thought long and hard about before rejecting.

It is a call the club has had no reason to regret, with the 22-year-old producing a form revival that matched their storming late run.

A vital cog in the eight-match winning sequence that got the Eels into the playoffs, Inu missed the first two playoff games with a nagging hamstring injury.

But he returned to face the Bulldogs in the preliminary final, producing a game-breaking effort to help tip the Battle of Sydney the Eels' way.

It was the sort of display he had long been tipped for. Rookie Bulldogs centre Jamal Idris simply couldn't live with Inu, who produced a remarkable eight offloads in his 15 carries and ran for 140m.

Some sage words of advice from Eels and Kiwis trainer Hayden Knowles were the key to his resurrection, Inu said.

"He just told me to prove myself, to show everyone that I really wanted to play. That was one of the key things that stuck in mind throughout every game.

"At the start of the year my form wasn't good enough to be in first grade. But when I got put in Premier League it was a big wake-up call. I needed to put my head back on my shoulders and realise that you can't always have your spot, that there is always younger, better talent coming up in the grades. That was something I really needed to go through to get to where I am now."

If anything, being too nice appears to be the root of Inu's struggles. Eels coach Daniel Anderson has demanded he produce more aggression on the field. It's not something that comes naturally to the polite, teetotal, born-again Christian.

"Not really, not at first," he admitted. Even now he describes his mental approach as just wanting to go out and "have fun".

While he might be the sort of chap most fathers would be delighted for their daughters to bring home, Inu's nature is not necessarily a great fit for the high testosterone world of professional league.

His talent makes him easy to pick for a squad, while his personality seemingly makes him equally easy to leave out of a team.

His coaches certainly know full well there won't be any angry knock on their hotel door with a demand to "please explain".

Widely expected to play a key role in last year's World Cup campaign, Inu instead played just the one match against Papua New Guinea. Even when incumbent centre Steve Matai was ruled out with injury, Inu was overlooked in favour of makeshift backrower Simon Mannering.

Plenty of others would have been seething. Not Inu.

"It's not really frustration if you win the World Cup. You get the urge to play but for me to get that one game, I was not only lucky but grateful. I can't hold anything against the coaching staff and the boys. The boys did their job, they played awesome, good enough to win the World Cup, so you can't complain."

It says something about Inu that, even now, when he is close to fully fit and in what he believes is the best form of his life, he is no certainty to face the Kangaroos in next weekend's Four Nations opener in London.

But with Junior Sau struggling defensively during Wednesday night's shaky victory, it would be a major surprise if Inu isn't called upon by coach Stephen Kearney.

In what is a nice piece of symmetry, it is in fact Inu's habit of being overlooked that saw him fall back into New Zealand's clutches in the first place.

Having moved to Sydney as a 7-year-old, Inu was a schoolboy star who was duly channelled into Parramatta's youth system at 15. But he was never picked for higher honours by New South Wales or Australia's age-grade selectors.

Although he simply shrugs his shoulders and says "there must have been better players around", the recollection is the only time it is possible to detect anything approaching disappointment or displeasure in his seemingly impenetrable armour of niceness.

In any case, when the NZRL tapped him up to appear for a Kiwis A selection as an 18-year-old, Inu jumped at the chance to play alongside the likes of Awen Guttenbeil and Frank Pritchard.

The 2007 Anzac Test call-up settled any question of his affiliation, while his assured display proved he had the talent to play at the highest level.

Other questions, however, remain. Can he transfer his electric club form onto the international stage? Does Kearney trust him enough to give him the chance? And do nice guys really always come last? The next few weeks will provide the answers.

KRISNAN NEVADA INU

Age: 22
Height: 185cm
Weight: 99kg
Position: Centre/wing/fullback
Junior Club: Cabramatta (NSW)
Tests: 4 (2007-2008)
Test Debut: v Australia, 2007
NRL Games: 57