North Queensland officials laid down the law to wayward league player Sione Faumuina before throwing the former Kiwis player an NRL lifeline yesterday.
Faumuina, who has two test caps, rejected overtures from Brisbane and Gold Coast to join the Cowboys and relaunch his career in Townsville after itnosedived during a tumultuous 2006.
The 25-year-old secured the two-year deal with the Cowboys despite concerns over previous indiscretions.
Faumuina cited personal reasons when he sensationally walked out of a three-year deal with English Super League side Harlequins only months after being sacked by the Warriors for several alcohol-fuelled incidents.
Cowboys football manager Kelly Egan said the club had made Faumuina acutely aware of the club's strict disciplinarian regime.
The Cowboys last year sacked representative forward Mitchell Sargent after an in-house drug test showed he had used cocaine. It was Sargent's first indiscretion.
"Sione's quite clear on his situation with the club and we've been nothing but direct and honest the whole time through the whole process," Egan said.
"For us, he's a welcome addition and he won't be treated any differently to anybody else here.
"We have a good standard and code of conduct and he's very aware of that so we're very happy that he's taken that on board and he by his own admission is very keen to uphold that."
Faumuina said he was confident he had put his personal demons to bed.
"Coming up here for a fresh start with a new club, I didn't want to leave the NRL in the first place, but I'm happy that I'm back," he said. "I just want to play footy."
Faumuina had come under fire again this week from his manager Peter Brown's business partner, former New Zealand rugby league coach Frank Endacott, who said there was a "big question mark" hanging over the Kiwi giant's head.
Endacott claimed Brown had threatened to sever ties with his client.
But Faumuina said he had negotiated his own contract with the Cowboys and had only used Brown to negotiate his deal with Harlequins.
"Peter Brown was not actually my manager. I hired him for a one-off deal and that was it. That was the Super League deal.
