Mate Ma'a Tonga players start for Leeds in Super League [1]
Friday, February 1, 2019 - 19:10. Updated on Tuesday, February 19, 2019 - 18:31.
Mate Ma’a Tonga players, Konrad Hurrell and Tui Lolohea have been named in the starting line-up for their first Super League game this weekend after signing with Leeds Rhinos Rugby League Club in the UK.
The pair were instrumental in the Mate Ma’a Tonga’s Rugby League World Cup success in 2017 reaching the semi-finals for the first time in history. Last year, both players finished up with their NRL clubs based in Australia, Konrad with the Gold Coast Titans and Tui at Wests Tigers.
The duo have each signed a three-year contract with the club. Konrad’s explosive running and Tui’s playmaking in the game is set to propel Leeds forward this year after they finished 9th in the Betfred Super League tournament last year.
Konrad told the Yorkshire Evening Post yesterday he hopes to fit in to Super League’s playing style.
“I hope it will suit me. I don’t know much about Super League, but I’ll just put my head down and work hard and do my best for the team,” he said.
“Obviously, they have signed me for a reason and I have come here and trained hard and I want to do what they’ve brought me here for."
“It is crazy how they train here, they just bang each other and go hard and at the moment everyone’s fighting for positions.”
Leeds new head coach, Dave Furner, was a former assistant-coach for Tonga which Konrad says has helped him settle in.
“To be playing under him is a blessing. I have been coached by him before and that made life easier when I came over here.”
“Dave is a good coach and he is a legend of the game as well,” he said. “He has been at the top of the NRL and Super League as well as a player.”
After Leeds poor performance last year in Super League, Konrad hopes his new team can “move on and work hard and hopefully we’ll turn it around this year”.