All Blacks legend and Moana Pasifika coach Tana Umaga has spent the week with Dolphins coach Wayne Bennett and one short and sharp observation from the master made him prick up his ears.
“One of the things Wayne said to me was, ‘you are always learning’. That’s coming from someone who has been in the game for 50-plus years but he doesn’t rest on his laurels or think he knows it all,” Umaga told AAP.
“I haven’t got away and looked at another organisation in years, and obviously league is doing some really good things on and off the field.
“I have come to learn off the great man and at a great club.”
Umaga played 74 Tests for the All Blacks, whom he also captained, but started his career as a league player and represented the Junior Kiwis in 1991. He signed with the Newcastle Knights but was back home in New Zealand inside a month.
“I got homesick. I was probably pretty naive around what a professional rugby league player was,” he said.
“I don’t look back and have any regrets. I had a couple of opportunities to come back and play league in my early years of rugby union.
“I played for Wellington against ACT and I got a phone call from Tim Sheens at Canberra.When the Warriors first started there was a little bit of chat around that, but at that stage I didn’t feel like I had achieved enough in my rugby career and just wanted to keep going.”
Umaga, of Samoan heritage, wants to give back to the sport that gave him so much as coach of the fledgling Moana Pasifika side in the Super Rugby competition.
The Dolphins have shared insights about starting a new club with the Perth NRL bid and have also been collegiate in their dealings with Umaga.
“At Moana we are a young club into our third year and the Dolphins are into their second, so there are similarities around start-ups, what they have put in place and will put in place,” he said.
“I can learn from that. We want to grow as a club as well. Like Wayne has done here, it is about putting things in place and making sure it is sustainable.”
Bennett’s wisdom has also left its mark on Umaga.
“It is just his knowledge, understanding of his players and the way he manages people. That relates to my role as head coach and it is not just managing players. It is also the other staff and how he gets their trust,” Umaga said.
“He treats them all as individuals and not just as someone who is doing you a service. As a result they feel they can talk to him whenever they want and will get the honest answer, whether it is brutal or positive, because it is about both.
“I am just passionate about players being able to live the dream that I have been able to through playing and coaching.
"I didn’t get here just through what I did myself. It was through what I learned from other players, coaches and my family. I believe that as Pacific Islanders we are made for both rugby league and rugby union.
“There are great pathways through sport that can assist our people and I just want to help them take those opportunities.”
