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http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/spo...-1226473741447
JUST as they always do, the memories came roaring back when James Tamou rolled into Coogee's Crowne Plaza Hotel late yesterday.
The beachside gym where he and father Dave trained together.
The pool hall above McDonald's where his posse of junior footy and school mates would hang out.
And finally his first Australian home on Dudley St, located just around the corner from North Queensland's team hotel.
"Sometimes our team bus drives down my old street, and I'll point out our house to the boys and say, 'Look, that's where I used to live'," Tamou says. "They're just like, 'Whatever'.
"But it doesn't matter. I still get pretty excited and it happens every time I go back to Coogee."
So why did he ever leave?
In 2008, Tamou was playing out the final year of his contract with the Roosters' inaugural Toyota Cup team. The previous season he won the club's Jersey Flegg Player of the Year Award, earning Junior Kiwis selection. He trained alongside NRL stars Willie Mason, Mark O'Meley and Nate Myles that summer, but knew deep down his chance at Bondi was still some time away.
Then it disappeared altogether.
Midway through 2008, Tamou was told there would be no contract extension. The tough call had more to do with the club's over-supply of promising big men than Tamou's ability. It eventually came down to a direct shoot-out between him and Stanley Waqa, who occasionally moonlighted in a chicken suit as the Roosters mascot.
Officials chose the 115kg Waqa, because they felt his tank-like body was unique compared to the club's other front rowers.
"That's correct - it was a choice between Stanley and I," Tamou recalls. "I actually remember him really well. He was a top fella.
"He was a real character of the team. Being the mascot and wearing the chicken suit - that's something he would do.
"That was the type of person he was - he liked clowning around."
In hindsight, it's easy to kick the Roosters for getting this toss of the coin decision so horribly wrong.
Tamou has since gone on to become one of the game's premier props, a status amply illustrated by the international tug-of-war for his allegiance earlier this year.
And Waqa? After playing eight NRL matches for the Roosters in 2009, he was released when charged for assaulting his girlfriend later
that year. The charges were ultimately dismissed, but Waqa's career never recovered.
"If I wanted to stay in Sydney, I would've been playing NSW Cup because I was too old for Toyota Cup the following year (2009)," Tamou says. "I wanted a proper go and the Cowboys offered me that.
"I really liked it at the Roosters - the facilities, the people, everything. But I don't think I would have had a chance if I stayed.
"At the time they had guys like Mason, O'Meley and Myles.
"Then there were other
players like Stanley and Marty Kennedy ahead of me who hadn't even debuted."
Opportunity might have awaited in the tropics, but so did homesickness. Although he only moved to Australia from New Zealand in 2005, Tamou already had Sydney's eastern suburbs in his blood. His mother Pippa recalls
the morning he left for Townsville as a foreboding sign of the difficult year ahead.
"I remember his final night in Sydney, the little monkey went out with his mates and was feeling worse for wear when we took
him to the airport the next day," Pippa says.
"He just stood there looking at me and that's when it hit him.
"He started to cry and said he didn't want to leave.
"It was pretty terrible at first. He was on the phone a lot, saying he just wanted to pack-up and leave. "He's had to grow up real fast, but every time he comes here, he thinks of home. One day we visited him in Coogee before a game and the 400 bus drove by.
"He said, 'Look Mum, there's the 400 bus'. He was pretty excited because it brought back so many memories. James used to catch a lot of buses."
Unlike a lot of kids in Sydney's most glamorous plot of real estate, Tamou had to work for everything.
During his time at the Roosters, he'd rise as early as 4.30am to catch a bus to training or Cook & Phillip Park aquatic centre where he worked as a life guard.
"I miss Sydney all the time," Tamou admits. "My very first year at the Cowboys was real tough. I was going out drinking mid-week and doing the wrong thing.
"I just wanted to go home. I went to the club every second week and told them I wanted to leave. I didn't care about anything else.
"But my manager (Sam Ayoub) talked me out of it. He kept telling me the chance would come.
"I got that chance in round eight, 2009 and from then on I started to enjoy Townsville more."
Whether Tamou enjoys it enough to resist the big money offers from Sydney clubs will be determined early next year.
Roosters insiders would love to get him back. Then there's Parramatta and the lure of playing full-time under Ricky Stuart.
"I think I can stay in Townsville long-term," Tamou says. "Thinking ahead, it would be a great place to raise a family.
"If it actually comes to that point with me, Townsville would be perfect because it's so laid-back.
"I'd really like to stay longer."
JUST as they always do, the memories came roaring back when James Tamou rolled into Coogee's Crowne Plaza Hotel late yesterday.
The beachside gym where he and father Dave trained together.
The pool hall above McDonald's where his posse of junior footy and school mates would hang out.
And finally his first Australian home on Dudley St, located just around the corner from North Queensland's team hotel.
"Sometimes our team bus drives down my old street, and I'll point out our house to the boys and say, 'Look, that's where I used to live'," Tamou says. "They're just like, 'Whatever'.
"But it doesn't matter. I still get pretty excited and it happens every time I go back to Coogee."
So why did he ever leave?
In 2008, Tamou was playing out the final year of his contract with the Roosters' inaugural Toyota Cup team. The previous season he won the club's Jersey Flegg Player of the Year Award, earning Junior Kiwis selection. He trained alongside NRL stars Willie Mason, Mark O'Meley and Nate Myles that summer, but knew deep down his chance at Bondi was still some time away.
Then it disappeared altogether.
Midway through 2008, Tamou was told there would be no contract extension. The tough call had more to do with the club's over-supply of promising big men than Tamou's ability. It eventually came down to a direct shoot-out between him and Stanley Waqa, who occasionally moonlighted in a chicken suit as the Roosters mascot.
Officials chose the 115kg Waqa, because they felt his tank-like body was unique compared to the club's other front rowers.
"That's correct - it was a choice between Stanley and I," Tamou recalls. "I actually remember him really well. He was a top fella.
"He was a real character of the team. Being the mascot and wearing the chicken suit - that's something he would do.
"That was the type of person he was - he liked clowning around."
In hindsight, it's easy to kick the Roosters for getting this toss of the coin decision so horribly wrong.
Tamou has since gone on to become one of the game's premier props, a status amply illustrated by the international tug-of-war for his allegiance earlier this year.
And Waqa? After playing eight NRL matches for the Roosters in 2009, he was released when charged for assaulting his girlfriend later
that year. The charges were ultimately dismissed, but Waqa's career never recovered.
"If I wanted to stay in Sydney, I would've been playing NSW Cup because I was too old for Toyota Cup the following year (2009)," Tamou says. "I wanted a proper go and the Cowboys offered me that.
"I really liked it at the Roosters - the facilities, the people, everything. But I don't think I would have had a chance if I stayed.
"At the time they had guys like Mason, O'Meley and Myles.
"Then there were other
players like Stanley and Marty Kennedy ahead of me who hadn't even debuted."
Opportunity might have awaited in the tropics, but so did homesickness. Although he only moved to Australia from New Zealand in 2005, Tamou already had Sydney's eastern suburbs in his blood. His mother Pippa recalls
the morning he left for Townsville as a foreboding sign of the difficult year ahead.
"I remember his final night in Sydney, the little monkey went out with his mates and was feeling worse for wear when we took
him to the airport the next day," Pippa says.
"He just stood there looking at me and that's when it hit him.
"He started to cry and said he didn't want to leave.
"It was pretty terrible at first. He was on the phone a lot, saying he just wanted to pack-up and leave. "He's had to grow up real fast, but every time he comes here, he thinks of home. One day we visited him in Coogee before a game and the 400 bus drove by.
"He said, 'Look Mum, there's the 400 bus'. He was pretty excited because it brought back so many memories. James used to catch a lot of buses."
Unlike a lot of kids in Sydney's most glamorous plot of real estate, Tamou had to work for everything.
During his time at the Roosters, he'd rise as early as 4.30am to catch a bus to training or Cook & Phillip Park aquatic centre where he worked as a life guard.
"I miss Sydney all the time," Tamou admits. "My very first year at the Cowboys was real tough. I was going out drinking mid-week and doing the wrong thing.
"I just wanted to go home. I went to the club every second week and told them I wanted to leave. I didn't care about anything else.
"But my manager (Sam Ayoub) talked me out of it. He kept telling me the chance would come.
"I got that chance in round eight, 2009 and from then on I started to enjoy Townsville more."
Whether Tamou enjoys it enough to resist the big money offers from Sydney clubs will be determined early next year.
Roosters insiders would love to get him back. Then there's Parramatta and the lure of playing full-time under Ricky Stuart.
"I think I can stay in Townsville long-term," Tamou says. "Thinking ahead, it would be a great place to raise a family.
"If it actually comes to that point with me, Townsville would be perfect because it's so laid-back.
"I'd really like to stay longer."
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