“I’m all right now. But I’m out for 11 days. He came up to me afterwards, but I’m disappointed. It’s not the way I wanted to start my Tongan journey.”
Utoikamanu switched his allegiance from Samoa to Tonga this year to honour his father’s heritage.
He had been on a high just a few weeks ago after his powerhouse performance in Melbourne’s preliminary final win against Cronulla prompted Storm coach Craig Bellamy to label him the form prop in the game.
Junior Paulo leads the Samoan Siva Tau on Sunday.Credit: Getty Images
The 25-year-old then caused a stir in grand final week when he admitted he did not like a few of the Broncos players, and thought they were “stuck up”. Utoikamanu was later ridiculed for those comments by some of Brisbane’s stars as they celebrated the win.
Loading
“As I said before the grand final, this time last year I was doing the total opposite to what I’m doing now. It’s been a massive year, I can’t wait for next year, and to see what next year holds for me,” Utoikamanu said.
“That whole thing during grand final week, it dragged on.
“I don’t really know most of those [Brisbane] boys. Like any footy player, you need motivation before you go on the field, and that was mine.
“I said I don’t like them, so I play better and do my job better. It’s s— we lost, but I can’t do anything about it. I got to play in a grand final. And I’m stoked for those boys, they got the win.”
Tongan coach Kristian Woolf said Utoikamanu’s concussion did not cost Tonga the game, but the rules needed to be looked at. The bunker still had an opportunity to intervene if they felt the incident was a reportable offence.
“You don’t just lose a player, you lose an interchange, you potentially lose a player for two weeks, and there’s not much repercussion the other way; it needs to be looked at,” said Woolf, who is hoping Jason Taumalolo (knee) can come straight into the side to replace Utoikamanu.
Earlier this year, Rabbitohs coach Wayne Bennett said he was a fan of binning players once a rival had failed a HIA, and the NRL trialled the concept during the trials.
“I don’t think they should bring this proposal in next season – they should bring it in now,” Bennett said midway through the year.
Sports news, results and expert commentary. Sign up for our Sport newsletter.
