League: Question of heart - and lungs

Nathan Fien at a Kiwis training session this week. Aaron Francis / Getty Images

MELBOURNE - Nathan Fien quietly lists the few State of Origin footballers from his hometown of Mt Isa, including his childhood mate and 2005 Aussie test halfback Scott Prince.

Then his eyes light up, and a cheeky grin finds his face.

"We've produced golfers such as Greg Norman. There you go. And the tennis player Pat Rafter." Beat that for name-dropping.

So Mt Isa, a town of maybe 30,000 people in northwest Queensland, is already on the sporting map.

Fien has now put Mt Isa on the New Zealand league map, having been selected to make his debut against Australia in Melbourne tonight.

Fien, who has played two seasons for the Warriors with a further year left on the contract, qualifies for the Kiwis because his paternal grandmother was born in Wanganui.

His selection has caused a furore of sorts, although it's hardly a unique situation in international sport.

Australian forward Nathan Hindmarsh, who is among those who are nonplussed at seeing a man they regard as Australian in the Kiwi side, has a brother, Ian, who is available for Great Britain. A quick look through Olympic teams, including Australia's, tells a similar cross-border story.

Among tonight's two teams are a handful of players born in their rivals' country, a sign of changed times and the complex make-up of nations and nationalities.

The atmosphere around this Tri-Nations series, the Willie Mason controversy etc, has added fuel to the fire for Fien's debut.

Mt Isa is best known for its deposits of lead, copper, zinc and silver, but the Kiwis have unearthed a league gem.

Fien is from league stock. His father, a bank worker who became a miner, played country league and Fien himself says that sports, of all sorts, dominated his young life.

Typical of small-town life, though, variety was in short supply and by the time he was 14 his footy team often had the same opponents every week. After attending boarding school in a nearby town, he was recruited by the North Queensland Cowboys during their formative years.

The 27-year-old Fien says had he not joined the Warriors, he would not have discovered his NZ bonds and the feeling for the country that led to his tilt for the Kiwis. (History says had New Zealand found out his heritage, they would have made a tilt for him anyway)

In a way that was not envisaged in the early 1990s, the formation of a professional Auckland club has delivered the Kiwis a player they desperately need - New Zealand still struggles to produce excellence in pivotal positions.

Still, had Queensland approached Fien this year for a return to State of Origin duty, as was rumoured, he might have been tempted. He would have had to re-declare his Australian availability.

"It was already running through my mind I wanted to play for the Kiwis then, but no, my decision wasn't set in concrete yet. I wanted to know absolutely that it was right," he concedes.

It was while in Queensland watching last year's Tri-Nations that Fien, who played an Origin match in 2001, first considered his Kiwi prospects. As he recalls it, father and son had matching thoughts. "Dad helped spur me - he said, 'You qualify to play for these guys'," says Fien.

This was followed by months of consideration and a series of hints to his Warriors team-mate and legendary Kiwi captain Ruben Wiki. "I had been dropping hints to Ruben all year, mentioning my heritage," says Fien.

"I was feeling him out, seeing how he would react. I don't think he was picking up on it at first but then he was very welcoming, and said he'd love me to be part of it.

"If the Warriors were on an away trip and say the Aussies were playing the Kiwis in netball, I'd be cheering for the Kiwis.

"The Aussies in the Warriors, Grant Rovelli and Micheal Luck, were giving it to me. They were going, 'What's this bloke on about?'

"I've heard a lot of stuff about this being a rushed decision but that isn't the case at all. I'd been thinking about it for a good 10 months, and only made it known when I knew it was right.

"Being in a Kiwi team culture at the Warriors got me thinking and I really relate to the New Zealand way of life. It sits very well with me.

"I've been accepted really well and the way Bluey [coach Brian McClennan] has got the culture here, it signifies what New Zealand is about. Everyone looks after each other.

"I'd seen how close the Kiwi team is, like brothers, and I took all that into consideration. Running out at Melbourne will be a very proud moment."

Fien and his wife Belinda have two pre-school children including daughter Chloe, who was born in Auckland last year. They are happily settled in the city although Fien knows that while he wants a long-term future at the club, life in the professional leagues doesn't always turn out how you intend it.

For now, the other new home the Kiwis are delighted about is Fien's conversion from half to hooker. Actually, it's a return to his junior position. He also played a handful of his 91 matches for the Cowboys at dummy half, and the Warriors played him at hooker and five-eighth in 2005.

After Stacey Jones headed for France, new Warriors coach Ivan Cleary moved Fien to halfback for the first nine rounds this year, often pairing him with Jerome Ropati, his tag-team partner tonight.

Fien says: "Hooker is the natural position for me. I love being involved in the defensive work, I'm pretty aggressive, and hooker allows me to bring that on the field.

"Halfback is more in-depth - you have to plan a few moves ahead. At hooker, you capitalise on opportunities."

And while some may see Fien's selection as a question of the heart, it is the lungs that will count in Melbourne. Fien has hardly played for 11 weeks, while recovering from a back injury.

"I just hope to repay the faith the coaches and players have shown in me."

* Fien has played 134 first-grade games since his debut in 2000. He joined the Warriors in 2005 and has played 43 first-grade games for the team, scoring 116 NRL points.