League: Kiwi rookie ready for round two with Petero

Jared Waerea-Hargreaves ruffled a few Australian feathers during last year’s Four Nations tournament in England. Photo / Getty Images

When Jared Waerea-Hargreaves disrespected his rugby league elders, notably Petero Civoniceva, during last year's Four Nations it was nothing personal - he was just trying to maintain a harmonious relationship with mum.

The upstart Kiwis front rower's slanging match with the Kangaroos veteran amid the 20-20 draw in London is hardly the stuff of transtasman league legend, though their full and frank discussions re-emerged as a talking point ahead of tomorrow's Anzac test here.

Waerea-Hargreaves didn't endear himself to Civoniceva when he stormed off the interchange bench at The Stoop and refused to kowtow to an adversary 14 years his senior.

Civoniceva, with 40 tests and 256 first grade games worth of credibility, took exception to his durability being questioned by a then 20-year-old with a mere six National Rugby League games on his CV.

Any bad blood between the pair was washed away by a few beers in a Leeds pub later in the tournament, but although Waerea-Hargreaves listened intently to a legend's career advice, he is again prepared to talk the talk - and walk the walk - as part of an inexperienced pack determined to protect the Kiwis' status as world champions.

"I was brought up in an environment where you had to stand your ground," said Waerea-Hargreaves of his issue with authority.

"I was always the little white honky boy copping a bit of a flogging here and there from the dark Maori boys.

"I'd run back to Mum and say `Look, these guys have been bullying me'."

Karen Waerea's advice was explicit and has never deviated once he took an accelerated pathway from Rotorua via Brisbane and Sydney to an international sporting arena.

"If I took a backward step Mum would clip me ears - I'd rather get clipped by Petero than me Mum."

Mrs Waerea will be in his ear in the hours before the 10pm (NZT) kick-off, giving her boy a gentle reminder of what he learned from those unhappy playground experiences at Glenholme primary.

"We have a good yarn before every game.

"Sometimes she wishes she could be out there with me. She played a bit of footy back in the day."

While Mum built his character, a move to Dad's place in Brisbane when he was nine shaped a meteoric rise to test football.

A rugby player during high school, Waerea-Hargreaves made Queensland age-group rep sides and his physical presence was identified in 2006 by Mike Newton, the scout who now manages the 1.93m, 108kg tearaway.

Newton facilitated a move to Sydney the following season, and a place in the NSW Waratahs academy system for the raw loose forward.

"I was a blindside flanker but I wasn't too good in the air at the lineouts," he confessed.

"I was all over the place, my balance wasn't too good."

His tackling style didn't quite fit with union either: "I was running around trying to belt blokes and getting pinged for shoulder charges, obviously can't do that."

Waerea-Hargreaves was still a key member of the inaugural Australian Rugby Championship-winning Central Coast Rays but realised his future probably lay in the 13-man code.

"Ever since 2007 Mike was saying `you're a league player playing union'."

Waerea-Hargreaves had barely studied league - and never played a minute of it - before signing a two-year deal with Manly in 2008.

It was hardly a memorable introduction.

"My first game was an NRL trial against the Melbourne Storm. I lasted 11 minutes. I was gone mate .... physically I was gone."

Warea-Hargreaves eventually got up to speed and made six appearances for the Sea Eagles, enough to register with Kiwis coach Stephen Kearney.

He selected Waerea-Hargreaves for his test debut against Tonga last year, in Rotorua of all places.

"I nearly cried after finishing the haka. To do it in front of my family in my home town was just unbelievable."

And then to the Kangaroos last October, where he arguably came of age before his 21st in January.

"I wanted to get on the field and let my brothers around me know I was there. I didn't want them thinking `Has Jared done anything?' I wanted them to go `Jared's on'."

Now at the Sydney Roosters, and with another three NRL games under his belt, Waerea-Hargreaves carries the same philosophy into his fifth test.

With Roy Asotasi and Fuifui Moimoi out injured the onus is on Waerea-Hargreaves, Sam Rapira and Frank-Paul Nuuausala to keep Civoniceva and his big boppers quiet.

"Roy and Fuifui are two big cannonballs firing at a wall. They're massive but they're not in," Waerea-Hargreaves said one last statement of intent.

"We've dealt with it, and moved on."

- NZPA