Kiwi-NRL Spotlight: Salesi Foketi Debut For Roosters
Salesi Foketi is the first Kiwi-NRL debutant of the 2025 NRL season after coming off the bench for Sydney Roosters in their round one loss vs Brisbane Broncos. The Manurewa junior was called into action mid-way through the first half, replacing Lindsay Collins and Foketi then stayed on the field for the rest of the game to finish with 52 minutes on debut.
Most of those minutes were through the middle and Foketi showed his versatility in finishing the game on the right edge for Roosters. Foketi had 7 runs - 52m @ 7.4m/run, 1 tackle break and 34 tackles @ 87.1% in a hefty loss which didn't offer the ideal situation for the 19-year-old to showcase his ability, although there were glimpses.
Foketi and fellow South Aucklander Benaiah Ioelu are the premier Kiwi-NRL juniors in the Roosters system, so expect Ioelu to join Foketi in making his debut this season as a hooker. While still at St Paul's College in Auckland, Foketi started playing for Roosters in Under 17s Harold Matthews Cup during the 2021 season and swung back around to help St Paul's College win the 2021 Auckland championship.
In 2022 Foketi moved up to Under 19 SG Ball Cup, before combining SG Ball and Under 21 Jersey Flegg Cup footy in 2023. Keep in mind that Foketi is currently 19-years-old, so he was steadily playing up the age grades for Roosters and he also made a NSW Cup appearance during the 2023 season (32 tackles @ 96.9% in that one game).
Foketi then rolled through 15 NSW Cup games last year with 3 tries, 11 offloads, 82m/game and 90% tackling. All of those reserve grade games were as an 18-year-old and Foketi then started this year playing both pre-season games, before being selected on the bench for the season opener vs Broncos.
Having represented Tonga through the junior ranks in Aotearoa's cultural rugby league tournaments and then playing for Tonga-A vs NZ-A in 2023, expect Foketi to pursue an international future with Tonga. Along with other youngsters like Leka Halasima (Mangere East), Tonga will inject some of the best Kiwi-NRL juniors into their squad and they have just as much potential as the senior forwards who will soon make way.
Roosters are relying on youngsters to contribute straight away in the NRL this season and while that may lead to struggles as seen in their loss vs Broncos, their Kiwi-NRL recruitment and development will be on display. Plenty of Kiwi-NRL lads across all levels have departed Roosters in the past 18 months, especially those who Roosters recruited from Aotearoa and yet there are still a bunch of lads who Roosters have invested heavily in.
Naufahu Whyte was linked to Roosters while still at Kelston Boys High School and Siua Wong was recruited by Roosters from Mt Albert Grammar before moving to Sydney to finish his schooling. Foketi finished school in Auckland before moving to Roosters alongside Ioelu who was at Tangaroa College. All four are likely to play key roles for Roosters as youngsters will need to play lots of games and big minutes this season.
Even then, the Aotearoa flavour has diminished at Roosters below the NRL tier. They did sign New Plymouth's Makahesi Makatoa to add depth to their middle forward stocks, but Fetalaiga Pauga (Glenora) is the only other notable Kiwi-NRL junior named in their NSW Cup/U21 teams this round.
Unlike the youngsters, Roosters didn't recruit Makatoa and Pauga from Aotearoa. They do have a strong crop of Kiwi-NRL juniors in their U19 SG Ball team though with this week's team featuring Jackson Stewart (Hornby), EJ Mahu-Delamere (Aorere College), Phillip Lavakeiaho (Wesley College) and Kanaan Magele (De La Salle College).
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