Addin Fonua-Blake ripped and ready to impress in first season with Cronulla Sharks after leaving Warriors

Addin Fonua-Blake during a pre-season session with the Sharks. Photo / Sharks Instagram

As if it wasn’t going to be hard enough for Warriors fans this season to watch former prop Addin Fonua-Blake running it up for a rival club.

The Dally M prop of the year winner is looking fitter than ever as he prepares for his maiden season with the Sharks in 2025.

Fonua-Blake played four seasons for the Warriors, but requested a release from the final years of his contract at the end of the 2023 season. He was convinced by club management to play out the season last year as the Warriors fell short of the playoffs.

He joins a Sharks team who were one win away from the grand final in 2024.

“I knew they were a fit team and it shows in the way that they play, coming up against them they’re constantly a threat,” he told the Daily Telegraph yesterday.

“I knew I had to do some sort of training, I didn’t want to come [to the Sharks] and make a bad impression, so I did some running sessions, but when I came in they eased me back into it.

“But I feel refreshed now, having had that smaller pre-season prior to Christmas. I’ve done everything they’ve asked, and I can slowly see the changes in my body and I’m feeling good, man. I’m feeling fit.

“I can’t wait. I’m ready to go.”

With a strong core of props at Cronulla, Fonua-Blake will be playing shorter stints in games under Sharks coach Craig Fitzgibbon, and that means he has to improve his fitness levels.

“They train extremely hard, Fitzy has set a high standard.

“I’ve been training hard with him to get myself to suit his style of the game,” the Tongan international said.

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The Warriors have an exciting core of young forwards on their books for the future, with the likes of Zyon Maiu’u (21), Leka Halasima (19), Jacob Laban (20) and Demitric Sifakula (20) all having gained NRL experience last season.

The club has also secured arguably the biggest signing of the year in replacing Fonua-Blake with Kiwis captain James Fisher-Harris on a four-year deal starting this season.

At the end of last year, a departing Fonua-Blake said the Warriors were in good shape.

“It’s definitely helped me grow, coming to the Warriors,” he said. “We’ve had some difficult times, but I feel like the club’s in good stead.

“Even though we didn’t get the results we want this year, the group of kids coming through and the core of older boys staying on next year, it feels like the club’s not too far away from success.”