League: Villasanti available now Price is down

The man they call Villa the Gorilla. Picture / Fotopress

When Steve Price tore his knee ligaments against the Tigers last Sunday, the intake of breath from the Ericsson faithful was almost audible.

It might have been the bitterly cold and wet weather but it was more likely the fact Warriors fans and players alike knew what their skipper meant to the side.

He has consistently been their best player this season and his value was never better exemplified than Price's man-of-the-match performance for Queensland in Origin 1.

One person who caught his breath, but for different reasons considering what it meant to him personally, was Richard Villasanti. He put on his distinctive striped headgear and ran onto the field knowing he was the No 2 prop behind Ruben Wiki.

Although modern-day league is more of a 17-man game because of the interchange bench, there are undoubted responsibilities that come with starting.

"I wouldn't wish any injury on my team-mates because Steve is going to be sorely missed but it's a chance for me to stake my claim as a starting player," Villasanti said in the lead-up to last night's match against the Dragons.

While he might have seen his chances of regular starting action diminish with the arrival of Price and Wiki in the off-season, Villasanti realises he's not the player he was in 2003 when he earned a call-up for the Kangaroos.

"It would be nice to play the way I did back then but I'm not up to that mark yet," the 25-year-old said. "I've changed as a player and think I'm a lot more mature. I came over here as a youngster and took things for granted a bit because I would do just enough to get by. I know now that professionalism is a 24-hours-a-day, seven-days-a-week thing."

Despite the fact he's expressed an interest in perhaps playing for the Kiwis one day, it's clear his ultimate loyalties still lie in Australia and with New South Wales in particular, where he grew up. In many respects you could say that, unlike Kiwi-born Queensland wannabe Karmichael Hunt, he's hedging his bets before committing one way or the other.

It's a tactic he's used successfully considering he was born in Canberra to a Samoan mother and Tongan father, was adopted by Spanish parents and had a New Zealand resident grandmother. Because of Villasanti's cosmopolitan background, he played for the Junior Kiwis in 1999, Tonga at the 2000 World Cup then the Kangaroos in 2003.

"If the chance comes to play [for Australia] again then I would grab it," the former Balmain and Wests Tiger said. "I'd do it because Origin is still a big goal and playing for the Kiwis sinks my chances of doing that. But I still have a lot of thinking to do because I have always had a desire to play for the Kiwis."

Another thing for Villasanti to think about is his 100th NRL game, considering he notched up his 98th last night, and 85th for the Warriors. But he still has a long way to go to catch Steve Price who has 232 but the next few weeks will at least give Villasanti a chance to show he is a worthy replacement.

- HERALD ON SUNDAY