NRL: Shocking mistake put behind with one-year contract

Shaun Metcalf. Photo / Chris Skelton

There will be a new boy at Warriors training tomorrow but, unlike most who become fulltime professionals, he is more well-known for what he has done off the field.

Shaun Metcalf was 15 when he and two Warriors development squad team-mates brutally attacked his girlfriend in 2003 in the hope she would miscarry the baby she was carrying. The child survived repeated kicking only because the mother wrapped her arms around her stomach.

It was a shocking crime that not only saw Metcalf spend 5 months in prison but also curtailed what had been a promising rugby league career.

On Thursday he signed a one-year contract with the Warriors as cover for the injured Jerome Ropati, who is out for the season with a knee injury. Metcalf will begin training tomorrow and the club has an option on him for 2012.

It won't be a universally popular decision but the Warriors believe he has paid for his crime and deserves a second chance. The board and management were unanimous in their support of the decision to offer him a contract.

"He paid a pretty big price for what he did," Warriors chief executive Wayne Scurrah said. "He was very young at the time. It was something he will regret forever, but he knows he can't change that. He wants to prove what sort of person he is through his family and footy career.

"For him to come back from where he was to being signed by the Warriors is quite a story and it gives us a lot of satisfaction to give him the chance to take this big step forward. He deserves this opportunity and we'll give him all the support we can."

The Warriors had been in negotiations to sign Metcalf to a part-time contract for the rest of 2011 and then evaluate whether to offer him a full-time deal for 2012. But Ropati's injury accelerated discussions with the 23-year-old centre.

"This is just unbelievable. It means so much to me and to my family and I'm going to do all I can to make the most of it," said Metcalf, in a statement released yesterday.

He now has 6-year-old twins with his long-time partner. The club said he would not be talking to media.

"I'm not proud of my past and I never will be. I can't do anything about that now but what I can do something about - and what I've been trying to do ever since - is to rebuild my life and get it back on track.

"I have so many people to thank for supporting me through this, my partner, our kids, my family and friends and also rugby league itself. I also owe so much to [manager] Frank Endacott, to the Vulcans and to the Warriors for having faith in me."

Endacott signed Metcalf as a 14-year-old and, along with Sonny Fai, was seen as one of the most exciting talents in the country. He was just 16 when he scored two tries in an NRL pre-season match against the Dragons in 2004 but his Warriors contract was terminated a few months later when he was convicted and imprisoned for the attack on his ex-girlfriend.

Although he was cleared by the NZRL to resume playing rugby league in 2005, and he first played for the Auckland Vulcans in 2007, visa restrictions meant he couldn't travel to Australia. That condition was lifted earlier this year and he has played across the Tasman twice this season.

Endacott and Metcalf mapped out a plan this year in the hope of securing an NRL contract in 2012.

"I stuck with him because I have always believed people are allowed one mistake in life and he made his mistake," Endacott said.

"It was a big mistake. He's paid his dues, over and over. It's been eight years since that incident. It's nice to see him get an opportunity now and to make something of his life, because he certainly has off the field.

"I think 99 per cent of people have said, 'hey, let him get on with life'. He has copped more than murderers do."

Metcalf is still said to have some way to go before he is ready to make an NRL debut.