League: A back-door exit for Paleaaesina

Paleaaesina played his final game for the New Zealand Warriors last night. Picture / Herald file

As Iafeta Paleaaesina headed to the changing room after training for the final time at Ericsson Stadium, two elderly women were on hand to wish him all the best.

It drew a smile on the massive prop's face before he quietly walked down the tunnel to pack up his bags and head for the exit door.

It was the type of send-off the 23-year-old wanted, to slip quietly out the side door. Compare that to the pomp and ceremony surrounding Stacey Jones' departure a week earlier - there have been no great eulogies, beers and lounges named after him or lunches in his honour - but how Jones would have loved to have swapped places.

Paleaaesina played his final game for the New Zealand Warriors last night before flying the coop and pulling on the red and white of the Wigan Warriors in the UK Super League next year.

"It's pretty weird because this has been my home for the last five years," he said taking a look around Ericsson. "It's gone so fast but I will cherish every moment here."

Paleaaesina hasn't ruled out returning to the Warriors when his contract's up in three years' time - he said it would be the only team in the NRL he would contemplate playing for - but, like so many others before him, he found it hard to say no to the the English pound.

With a deal reported to be worth as much as $500,000 a season, the Warriors had little chance of hanging on to the talented prop, who has shaken off his six-minute tag to become a consistent NRL front-rower.

Paleaaesina answers diplomatically about "new challenges" before admitting that "Wigan gave me the deal I wanted and I couldn't say no". It would be erroneous to suggest it was only about money, particularly as the Warriors have two top-drawer starting props in Steve Price and Ruben Wiki and the fact there were plenty of Kiwis in the UK urging him to move to the other side of the world.

"I've been talking to a lot of the boys over there, like Ali Lauitiiti, Henry Fa'afili and Motu Tony, and they love it," Paleaaesina explained. "They love the people and the atmosphere at the games with the crowd closer to the grounds."

Already he's made sure he will be close to one of his mates, having secured a place next door to former Warriors prop and new Wigan team-mate Jerry Seuseu - "I will be able to knock on his door if I get homesick."

But he won't be the only new boy on the block, with Rabbitohs pair Bryan Fletcher and Scott Logan and Tigers winger Pat Richards joining the Wigan revolution.

The club have underachieved in recent seasons and are fighting for their lives to scrape into the top six playoffs this year with three rounds to play. Paleaaesina has already been assured of more game time at the glamour club than he's been given throughout his career at the Warriors and is expected to be a huge hit in the Super League.

"We are going to miss him," Warriors coach Tony Kemp lamented. "He's got an intimidation factor because when oppositions see Feka running on to the field they know he's going to carry the ball at 100mph.

"We're also going to lose a very good front-rower. He's gone from a bloke who plays six-minute stints to 30-minute stints."

Kiwi league fans might get to see him make those trademark bullocking runs in one final 30-minute stint if he makes the Tri Nations squad to take on Australia at Ericsson in October.

Like always, he won't be the centre of attention with other more high-profile players taking the limelight - but that's just the way Paleaaesina likes it.

"I'm not really a guy that wants a big fuss about anything," he said, before bumping into his two female fans. If he continues to make big strides in the game, he might not have much choice about it.

- HERALD ON SUNDAY