Mr T wins contract with Roosters

The Newtown Jets player of the year in 2010, rugged front-rower Tinirau Arona, known as Mr T, has won selection in the Cook Islands national rugby league team to play NSW Country in a representative challenge match at Tamworth on Saturday.

Arona has already been rewarded for his excellent 2010 season by winning a full-time contract in 2011 with the Sydney Roosters in the NRL competition.

It has been a great year for this hard-working prop forward. He joined the Sydney Roosters after being an outstanding performer in the Penrith Panthers Toyota Cup (under 20’s) squad in 2009 and won the Newtown Jets best and fairest and best forward awards, after a season in which he also claimed a swag of player of the match accolades.

His coach at the Newtown Jets, Greg Matterson, rates Arona very highly, saying that “Tinirau was a valuable member of our NSW Cup squad. He absolutely thrives on hard work and the tougher it was in the battle of the opposing forward packs, the more he revelled in it”.

Former North Sydney Bears and Australian Test forward David Fairleigh is the Head Coach of the Cook Islands national team and he is also a big admirer of Arona’s toughness and work-rate. Fairleigh said “I’m looking forward to Tinirau being a mainstay of our forwards when we take on the strong NSW Country team next Saturday, and I also envisage him as being a major player in the Cook Islands team’s quest for a place in the 2013 Rugby League World Cup.”

The Cook Islands and NSW Country representative teams clash at Scully Park, West Tamworth on Saturday, 16th October at 5.30pm. - CIRL