League: Hutch graduates but leaves it late

He might look a bit different to the original but, much like his namesake, Hutch Maiava usually nails his man.

Named after the character in the 1970s TV show - his brother is Starsky - Hutch Maiava is creating something of a storm in the NRL for the Sharks with his huge frame, rampaging runs and dreadlocked hair.

It could have been a different story for the 28-year-old prop who never really considered becoming a professional rugby league player - until he met John Ackland that is.

Topping the scales at 144kg and clocking off the hours at a meat-packing factory, Maiava's terrorising of opponents in the Auckland second division made it to Ackland's ears.

"I was in the Grey Lynn RSA when this guy told me he had never seen anything like Hutch in his life," Ackland recalls. "He was playing for Point Chev at the time, would catch the kick-offs and then scream up the field, hair everywhere. He'd scatter people left, right and centre. But he'd only last 10 minutes."

Ackland persuaded Maiava to train with Ackland's Mt Albert Lions Bartercard Cup side - getting time off work to do so. "Obviously his boss saw something in him as well," Ackland observed. "I told him if he could lose weight, he could play NRL."

During the summer Maiava shed as much as 24kg and led the Marist revival that saw them win the Bartercard Cup in 2002. "He was dominating and it got to a stage where he played for 20-25 minutes at a time," said his former coach, who played one test for the Kiwis in 1983.

Ackland, who's now with the Warriors but who acted then as a scout for Canterbury Bulldogs and alerted them to Sonny Bill Williams, knew he was on to something and sent Maiava to the Bulldogs for testing. "They told me he was the fastest guy over 100kg they had ever tested," Ackland remembers. "At the end of the year, they signed him up."

For Maiava it's been a hell of a journey from playing with his cousins on the parks of South Auckland.

He has one regret, however, that he didn't take league more seriously as a youngster and, at 26, he became the oldest NRL debutante when he appeared for the Bulldogs against Wests in May 2004. "Things have worked out now, though," he said.

"A couple of junior coaches said I should give it a go but I never looked at it like that," Maiava said, following another Sharks training session ahead of last night's game against the Warriors. "I was more into working and making money. It makes me appreciate where I've come from.

"I don't know what John Ackland saw but he spotted a little bit of talent in me and gave me the chance."

Maiava had few opportunities with the Bulldogs as he played second fiddle to the likes of Steve Price, Dennis Scott and Mark O'Meley and played only five games in two years. In what was perhaps a cruel twist of fate, he signed with the Sharks before learning Price was on his way to the Warriors and Scott had teamed up with the Storm.

"Two days before Pricey joined the Warriors, I signed," Maiava explained. "I didn't think he'd leave. Maybe if he'd signed earlier I'd have stayed but I have no regrets."

For Ackland, Maiava personifies all of the triers in rugby league - the guys for whom things don't necessarily come naturally.

" Hutch always does what he says he's going to do," Ackland explained. "He represents all of the shit-kickers running around in the competition."

Much like the TV cops Starsky and Hutch, then.

- HERALD ON SUNDAY