Mosese Voka learning fast in new surroundings

By James Gardiner
Updated October 31 2012 - 1:50pm, first published June 3 2009 - 11:42am
DYNAMIC: Fijian Mosese Voka is proving a key signing for Singleton this season.- Picture by Jonathan Carroll
DYNAMIC: Fijian Mosese Voka is proving a key signing for Singleton this season.- Picture by Jonathan Carroll

MOSESE Voka had no idea what his Singleton teammates were talking about when they told the Fijian flyer he was leading the Anderson Medal.Where Voka comes from there was never an award for the player of the year. Let alone one judged by referees.Rugby and life were much simpler."We had a man of the match, but that was it," he told The Herald."It is much bigger here. I did not understand what they were talking about, but it is good."The Anderson Medal, named after Evan James "Tuney" Anderson, was presented first in 1949 and is awarded to the best and fairest player in the NHRU.Wallabies Cyril Burke and Steve Merrick, who both won it four times, head an impressive list of past recipients.Voka is on track to add his name to the honour board.The dynamic No.8 is on 12 points after seven rounds and has a three-point lead over Wanderers breakaway Dan Kevill.Though happy to be leading the medal count, Voka has higher ambitions."My dream is to play rugby as a career," the 23-year-old said."That is why I came to Australia, to learn and see where it takes me."It is a much different style to Fiji. It is much more structured, which is good. It is a good experience for me to learn new things."Voka is from Lautoka, a town 25 kilometres north of Nadi which, apart from producing sugar cane, is a hotbed for sevens rugby."Every afternoon we would go to the local ground and play rugby," Voka said."A lot of the times we did not have a rugby ball. We would just use anything that was round, a plastic bottle or whatever."Voka joined Vio, one of the top sevens clubs, and made his first-grade debut at the age of 17.A dynamic ball runner, Voka has crossed for six tries and added a new dimension to the Bulls attack."He is a typical Fijian in that he loves to run the ball," Singleton coach Shane Thompson said."It is something Singleton has not had for a few years, a back-rower who scores tries and causes the opposition havoc."The other thing he does do which is not typical of Fijians is that he is a good defender. He stops blokes dead in their tracks and has long arms." Meanwhile, Bulls centre Jacob Miller was last night suspended for two games after he was found guilty of headbutting in their 55-5 loss to Merewether on Saturday.

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