NRL: Fuifui ready to rumble

Eels prop Fuifui Moimoi has become a cult hit in the NRL. Photo / Getty Images

SYDNEY - It won't be long into Sunday's National Rugby League (NRL) grand final before you'll hear it.

A sellout 80,000-plus crowd at ANZ Stadium, most of them bellowing at the top of their voices.

"Fuuuuuuuiiiiiiiii."

The subject, dreadlocks flying, will launch himself at the Melbourne Storm defence like a truck and bodies will fly everywhere.

He'll dust himself off and go again, Eels fans going wild about their very own human wrecking ball.

As far as cult figures go, the Tongan-born, Auckland-raised Parramatta prop Fuifui Moimoi is it in the NRL.

He had a song written about him by radio station 2GB, to the tune of an Abba hit. And after a stellar season, he's poised for the biggest game of his life in the week he turned 30.

Befitting his status, Moimoi is notoriously media-shy even though he's a renowned character in the Eels' sheds.

The story goes he pretended he couldn't speak English when he arrived at Parramatta in 2004, and successfully avoided interviews for months.

His first recorded quote came via former South Sydney coach Paul Langmack.

Frustrated by a lack of playing time in 2003, Moimoi reportedly told him: "Fuifui play 10 minutes, Fuifui trains for 10 minutes" before abruptly leaving training for home.

At the Eels' media session on Monday, he was as elusive as ever. A few lucky ones snared some verbal gems, but you had to be as quick as Jarryd Hayne.

Talk to some of his teammates and it's clear who the star of their rise to the grand final is - and it's not Dally M player of the year Hayne.

"He's been leading our pack all year. Everyone's talking about Haynesy, but Fui's been doing it right from the start of the season, rolling forward for us and really inspiring everyone in the team with those massive runs that he does," captain Nathan Cayless said.

"Last week the Bulldogs came out very hard but they tired pretty badly towards the end. They put so much effort into the start of the game trying to take Fui out.

"They got a few good shots on him but Fui finished way over the top of any of their forwards."

All this with a cracked rib. It's the latest injury to his seemingly indestructible 1.83m, 108kg frame that Moimoi will carry into the grand final.

Moimoi told the Daily Telegraph: "When I'm out on the field I can't feel the pain. I just forget about the pain going through my body. After the match it gets pretty sore and that's when I have to treat it with physio and bath salts."

Hopefully, his body holds up for a few more weeks as he looms as a certainty for Steve Kearney's Kiwis squad for the Four Nations in the absence of Cayless (retired) and Roy Asotasi (injured).

Moimoi played five tests for the Kiwis in 2007 but when he didn't figure in Kearney's World Cup plans he opted for his native Tonga last year.

He was ruled ineligible, which led to a court case over eligibility rules which still didn't help him get a start.

He still misses his homeland, where he financially supports his mother and 12 siblings. He paid to build his mother Manise a brick house, one of the few in their village on the island of Mataika.

"My mum inspires me. I think of her and my family during the game when I am tired or sore. It makes me play," he was quoted as saying recently.

"Mum gets to watch the games through Sky TV and most of the village turns out to watch the game. They think I am a big man there."

Manise and his brother Havea will be in the crowd on Sunday after making the long trip to Sydney via the Tongan mainland.

So will Moimoi's nine-year-old son, Sani, who was flown to Sydney by the club.

His seven-year-old daughter Summer will be decked out in her own Eels jersey back in Auckland, cheering him on on television with her mother, Vai.

Eels coach Daniel Anderson, meanwhile, will unleash his wrecking ball on the Storm forwards with no special instructions.

Anderson said an off-season, where he trained harder than ever, delivered the form all his fans are now celebrating.

"I haven't used any special keys or buttons. There's an expectation of him as a front rower and he delivers," Anderson said.

"He's funny and I enjoy coaching him. It's pretty simple and there's not much to getting the best out of him. There's an expectation from his teammates and he's mature enough to deliver that."

- NZPA