Maitua returns from NRL abyss, stars for Eels | Thebigtip

Reni Maitua’s comeback party to the National Rugby League was last night gate crashed by a depleted Brisbane Broncos side who were hell bent on impressing coach Anthony Griffin with a number of players away on State of Origin duty.

It is October 2004 and the Canterbury Bulldogs have just beaten the Sydney Roosters in the grand final at Homebush in front of 82 127 people. A content 22 year old sits in the bowels of the Olympic Stadium and takes in what has just happened. He looks around the jubilant locker room and can barely believe his luck. Superstars like Willie Mason and Sonny Bill Williams are celebrating their triumph. In his very first year of first grade football, Reni Maitua has won an NRL premiership.

City Origin selection the following year would be only one of two representative jumpers the gifted utility would ever grasp.

The life of a rookie rugby league player can sometimes be even too fast for the players themselves and with the world at his feet in early 2006, the fast times came back to bite the youngster.

On the 27th of April, Maitua was charged with drink driving and fined $15,000 by the Bulldogs. Like many young footballers before him, he was at a fork in the road. But just like many of those kids, he didn’t realise he was at the fork. He was a professional rugby league player and he was invincible. A drink driving charge and a meagre fine wasn’t going to stop him from taking over the world. 

What would be his slap in the face? There wouldn’t be one.

Instead he was handed his very first Australian test jumper at the end of the season. Everything he touched turned to gold. Nobody could or probably wanted to help him. Just another footballing machine from the conveyer belt. Results first, player welfare second.

By 2008, the very club that failed to help him had sacked him after he didn't show up for training. Maitua was no longer needed by the Bulldogs. The conveyer belt was still rolling and the Maroubra local was on the scrap heap.

Eight games into his stint with the Cronulla Sharks and Maitua tested positive for Clenbuterol. He was given a two year ban and the rest is history.

Last night’s return for the Parramatta Eels was his middle finger to the system. A system which has failed so many footballers. Off course he took a banned drug and yes he spent two years in exile. The fork in the road he never saw all those years ago is now there in front of him. He now knows the ruthless nature of the beast. It once gave him everything he ever wanted, only to be taken away from him even quicker.

Eels coach Stephen Kearney had nothing but praise for Maitua last night.

"He showed some good touches out there and it is a real credit to Reni, he has worked hard since Christmas to physically get himself right and the last month he has spent with the group he has been positive," Kearney said.

"He went back and played well for Wentworthville and got the opportunity tonight and showed enough to suggest he still has something to offer a footy team and I felt that was a real plus."

That’s all Maitua wanted to hear.