He was touted as the next big thing to come out of the Sydney Roosters, but even centre Tautau Moga sees that as being unlikely – with the young boom centre citing a serious ankle from last year, as the reason for his slow start to the year.Â
After heavily impressing Roosters team-mates and coaching staff at the beginning of the year, Moga himself knows that this persistent, and at the time, potentially serious ankle injury, prevented him from being as explosive as he once was.
At one stage, Moga was tipped to start in first-grade, on the back of two scintillating pre-season games for the Roosters.
“I was afraid of getting tackled,” Moga said from the Queensland U20s Origin camp.
“To be honest my confidence dropped heaps. It was so hard to deal with because it’s the first injury I’ve ever had. I’ve never gone through this before.
“You know, it’s pretty hard. I was having a pretty great pre-season and now I’ve got to start from scratch. It’s a mind thing. That’s the hardest part.
“Only time will tell, I guess, but hopefully I can get back this year, maybe next year. Realistically it’s probably going to be next year, but I’m still young. All I can do is keep doing the little things to get me back there as quick as possible.”
The injury is so bad, that at the completion of every training session, Moga’s ankle swells up – and he requires ice on his injured ankle every day.