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NEARLY two years later Marika Koroibete can not come to see a repeat.
October 2, 2016 and after the full-time siren session has sounded in the NRL grand final at ANZ Stadium with Cronulla leading 14-12, Melbourne makes a break-down in the field, moving the ball left and right.
Koroibete, who started the break, takes a pass from Cooper Cronk and just as it seems he will shine through the match winner, is pulled down by Ricky Leutele.
Koroibete switched to rugby the following year and watched his former Storm teammates stop the premiership of 2017 without him.
can be something that gives me a better feeling, but we have to do it step by step and go fast in the first game.
"To go back and play, I do not want to think about the grand finale, it is now the All Blacks and I'm really looking forward to that.
" I will focus on winning the first game .
"What motivates me so much is that I want to be the side of the first Australian team to win the Bledisloe Cup after so many years."
"We can not doubt ourselves, of course they look down on us but this year is another year.
"We have a young team, we can do it, but it will come with hard work.
" The All Blacks are number 1, but we know we can win, we have to do our best and prepare for that world class ru gby.
"Last year we fell short, this year we know we can, we believe in the boys and the technical staff."
To emphasize how long it has been since Australia held the trophy, remembered Koroibete that she had seen that 2002 game on a VHS band in Fiji.
"I was back home in year 4," Koroibete said.
"We did not watch it live, we had to get the videotape from the shops."
"Someone goes to town, gets the band and we all sit and watch.
" Built in Fiji, come here, I did not have the dreams that other children grew up.
"Children grow up here and want to play NRL or Super Rugby or for the Wallabies, but for me that is hardly there for children who grow up in Fiji.
" I am blessed to be here. Many Fijian boys go abroad or come here and miss this opportunity.
"It's about showing the young children at home, and my family, how hungry I am, how I want to play the game the best … can.
" It's not about keeping my place, that comes naturally, I take nothing for granted. I will do my best for my teammates, my family and the country. "
Koroibete, 26, scored a try in the Wallabies & # 39; 23-18 victory on New -Zeeland in their last game in Brisbane last October, and start this game as the fastest player in Australia, according to GPS data.
"When you get older you think your body is slowing, but I feel no difference," said Koroibete
"Haydn (Masters), our strength and condition coach, is pretty good with the outer backs. We do a lot of hip conditioning, hip locks, every time I go to the Wallabies, I feel fast.
"That's the honor of the S & C, I ran very fast, probably just as fast as I did in my early 20s, we're working hard on it.
" After the training you can click on the data on the GPS see how fast you are training, they have always done for us to see our working speed, how many meters we get every second, running at high speed.
"When you get older, you feel like your body is abandoning you, but when you come here, it's really professional and they take care of you and charge you pretty well."
Out of contract this year, Koroibete revealed that he probably will be signing again at Australian rugby for the 2019 World Cup, and has closed the door on a return to the competition.
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"I'll probably stay," Koroibete said.
"At the moment I have kept my rugby, I have my time in the NRL.
" I have been in the grand finale, and I continue from there. "
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