It would have been reasonable to wonder where Match Fit could go after two seasons. Were there many more widely recognised retired rugby players prepared to strap on the boots? What hadn’t been done? It turns out it’s gone to a new level.
From the opening minutes of Match Fit: League Legends, there’s a sense that the former rugby league legends have a different sense of camaraderie, and perhaps a different place in the hearts of the public. That’s boosted by the presence of Tawera Nikau as the team’s head coach in the bid to get fit for a match with the Australian oldies team, the Kangaroos Classics. It has the makings of a hit.
“I definitely think so,” says Nikau. “I think just with the communities that our players live in, how they’re involved with their local communities, it’ll be really great.”
The league version also gets into men’s health issues – and in particular, those of Māori and Pasifika men – more quickly and more deeply than the previous seasons.
“Part of doing the show was really to try and connect and engage with Māori and Pasifika in terms of that, because, you know, we are at the wrong end of all the health statistics,” says Nikau. “There’s a vulnerability from the guys throughout the show, and there’s some transformational messages there. We all face different challenges at different times, but just because the boys played in the NRL, played for the Kiwis, doesn’t mean they’re not still human beings.”
All of the former players – Ali Lauiti’iti, Paul Rauhihi, Epalahame Lauaki, Jerry Seuseu, Henry Fa’afili, Lesley Vainikolo, Clinton Toopi, Shontayne Hape and Sione Faumuina – stacked on the kilos after they retired. Hape has already begun his “weight-loss journey” and looks fit, but things get real very quickly for one of the players, former Warriors and Kiwis wing Fa’afili. He now runs a community boxing gym for at-risk kids – but discovers that he has a serious problem with his own health and needs support.
“My role as a coach was not only to get the guys physically better, but also that mentoring role; to be beside [Henry] to try and check in – how is he going, how is he feeling? You know, at the top of his game, Henry was one of the best finishers in the game – and to see him in the state he was in was heartbreaking,” says Nikau.
“For me, it was really about trying to help these guys through some of the challenges, and I think just being open and vulnerable for these guys. To be saying to the Māori and Pasifika community, to all males really, don’t be afraid to put your hand up for help. Because that’s the biggest thing for us as males – we don’t like talking about some of those issues.”
Nikau was determined to put in the training mahi, along with his assistant Ruben Wiki. When the first aerobic fitness test comes, Nikau’s there, prosthetic leg and all.
“I haven’t played in 21 years, since 2002, but just being back in that environment, the camaraderie, the brotherhood, the mateship – all those things come flooding back to you and you forget, because you sort of get back into the grind of life. Coming back together with the boys, it was absolutely fantastic to see them. During the training, that’s one of the things Ruben and I really spoke about. We really had to lead these guys, because Māori and Pasifika people always judge you on what you actually do.”
But Match Fit was, he says, fun as well as hard work.
“Playing in the games in the series, just reconnecting with the boys, because you never lose that sense of brotherhood. One of the good things about the league boys is that we’re all pretty humble and down to earth. Just coming back together [we’re] having fun, spending time together and training.
“It’s been a long time since you could call them high performers, but it didn’t take long for that mindset to click back in. We’re doing this, it’s going to be really tough, but as a group of guys, we can do it together and support each other. So that was the fun thing. Just being back together having some laughs, but also doing the mahi, doing the hard work. That’s what the guys thrived on.”
Match Fit: League Legends season 3 is available to watch on Three Now.
