League: At last, Kiwi debut just days away

Iosia Soliola isn't quite daring to believe he will finally make his Kiwis debut on Saturday.

Although he's seen as a certainty to start in the centres against Australia, you could say it's been three times unlucky for the bulky Roosters 20-year-old.

First was the knee injury that forced him to withdraw from last year's Tri Nations, then another knee injury prevented him playing in the Anzac test and, finally, he was at the centre of international power politics when Ricky Stuart blocked him from joining the Kiwis for June's test against Great Britain.

"It's been a rollercoaster all right," Soliola mused in Auckland this week. "But the best advice people gave me was that I was only 19 at the time and that I had plenty of time. Here I am now, so I can't complain."

Kiwis coach Brian McClennan certainly isn't. He's waited 12 months to get his hands on a player who has already been described by those at the Roosters as a modern-day Mal Meninga, with the size, speed and skill to be uttered in the same sentence as the former Australian great.

"I personally don't like the idea of trying to compare people with great players," McClennan says.

"I think it's a little unfair. But this kid has the goods, he can play, and I'm excited about him finally pulling on that black and white jersey."

So is Soliola, whose Roosters post came about in outre circumstances.

He was on a tour of New South Wales with the Ponsonby under-18 side when Stuart, Roosters chief scout Arthur Beetson and Roosters football manager Steve Gigg turned up to watch him play one bitterly cold July night in 2003.

The trio had been tipped off about this hulking centre and the fact Soliola didn't return to New Zealand with Ponsonby suggests they liked what they saw. He was quickly signed, enrolled in a high school in Sydney's eastern suburbs and billeted at a team house in Bondi.

"It was a crazy ride," the former junior Kiwi remembers. "I still wonder how it all happened.

"I just wanted to go over with the boys and have a good time. At the back of your mind you'd like to think someone might be watching, but when it happens it's unreal."

After making his NRL debut at the start of 2005, he's become a Roosters regular and has now racked up 40 first-grade appearances. It's been a turbulent time at the glamour club, which sacked Stuart before the end of the season, but Soliola is one player who emerged with credit.

He laughs nervously at the comparisons with Meninga, having heard them before, but admits he's more excited to be playing with the likes of schoolboy hero Nigel Vagana.

"It's weird to think I will be playing with him. I used to watch these guys on TV so to actually be in the same team as them is a dream come true."

The next step, of course, is actually taking the field for the Kiwis. And that might finally happen on Saturday.

* Awen Guttenbeil's future could be decided tomorrow morning, with the former Warrior tipped to join Widnes if they beat Hull KR to win promotion to the Super League.

Tri Nations Draw

Oct 14: NZ vs Aus, Mt Smart
Oct 21: Aus vs NZ, Melbourne
Oct 28: NZ vs GB, Jade Stadium (Christchurch)
Nov 4: Aus vs GB, Sydney
Nov 11: NZ vs GB, Westpac Stadium (Wellington)
Nov 18: Aus vs GB, Brisbane
Nov 25: Final, Sydney