KEY POINTS:
Tattooed on Steve Matai's back - from one broad shoulder to the other - are the words, 'Only God Can Judge Me'.
It was inspired by a song of the same title by American hip-hop artist Tupac Shakur, who was killed in a drive-by shooting in 1996 in a manner eerily similar to the subject of his songs, but it is now the way Matai lives his life.
"The last few years, that is the way I have lived life - not caring what others think about you or say about you," Matai told the Sydney Morning Herald.
"Because we are in the public it's very hard for us to hide. I'm going out there on the field to do the best for me and my family, and if someone else has got something to say about it I don't care."
Plenty has been said about Matai, especially his defence that leaves many an opponent jangled and wishing they hadn't run into the 24-year-old. There are times, though, when it gets a little out of control. Thug, he has been called.
"It was late and it was a cheap shot - it is in his game," Kangaroos coach Ricky Stuart said of the high tackle Matai put on Mark Gasnier only minutes into last year's Centenary test in Wellington.
Obviously, not only God is sitting in judgment.
"People always see me as a bad guy," Matai said.
"I just like to make a difference and making a difference, I believe, means running the ball with purpose, tackling with purpose. That's how I define my game, not just being a number on the field."
Matai puts his own body on the line to make that difference. In the past three years, he has suffered from almost constant neck, bicep and shoulder injuries. Instead of opting for a quick fix, he has often delayed surgery to see out a season and he goes into today's game with bone fragments floating around in his shoulder.
He needs surgery at the end of the season, meaning he will more than likely miss out on playing for the Kiwis at the World Cup, but there was no way he was going to forgo a chance to play in today's grand final.
Matai's predicament is a constant source of amusement among his Manly team-mates and they have nicknamed him Waterboy, after Adam Sandler's movie characterisation of an American footballer who constantly injures himself in tackles but recovers on a sip of water.
"Old Waterboy. He gets the magic water every week and it seems to fix him," second-rower Anthony Watmough told reporters last week.
Despite Matai's image as a strong defensive player, his 2008 statistics aren't exactly flattering.
He misses an average of 3.2 tackles a game - equal second-highest behind the Roosters' Iosia Soliola (3.8) of the centres who have played more than 10 games this season - and in one game against the Dragons, he missed eight tackles.
It's on attack that he's more impressive. Last weekend against the Warriors, he scored a try and made two others, ran for 215m, the highest of anyone in the match, made three linebreaks and two linebreak assists and even kicked a difficult conversion. He completely overshadowed his more illustrious opponent, Brent Tate.
It's the sort of thing he has been doing all season and he ranks highly among centres in try assists (4th equal), linebreaks (6th), linebreak assists (4th equal), average metres (8th), offloads (6th) and tackle breaks (7th), even though he has played only 20 games of a possible 26 this season.
"I think a lot of opposition teams might mistakenly underrate Steve," Manly coach Des Hasler said. "He's worked really hard to get where he is. He's got a really tough edge to his game."
It probably has a fair bit to do with his background and his refusal to take no for an answer.
Growing up in Mt Roskill, a young Matai was told, when he first trialled with the Sea Eagles in 2005, there was no room and that he should return to Manly's feeder club in Brisbane.
Matai refused, saying he would stay for nothing and would only be paid if he played NRL.
It wasn't long before he was on the payroll, by the start of the 2005 season in fact, and he soon became an integral part of a Manly side that have made good progress over the past four seasons.
He's been worth the investment. Tonight he will hope to prove to everyone, not just the Big Fella, just how valuable he is.
