Koroisau: Chasing a series victory

Three NRL Premierships with two different clubs, three World Cup campaigns with the Fiji Bati, but Westpac NSW Blues hooker Api Koroisau still has one Rugby League goal on his mind.

“There’s a lot of achievements in my lifetime and Origin is the next one I want to tick off my list,” Koroisau said.

“At the end of the day I haven’t been part of a winning series from the start, so looking forward to crossing that off.”

To be fair, he did play one game in the 2021 series – Game Three, which NSW lost 20-18 although the series was won 2-1. Koroisau also played two games in the 2022 series.

But he wants to play all three games of a series – and winning a Game Three match would be a welcome change.

He is reunited for Game One of 2023 next week at Adelaide Oval with five of his former Penrith teammates, Nathan Cleary, Jarome Luai, Brian To’o, Isaah Yeo and Liam Martin.

“He’s one of the best in the game. I call him ‘the Sensei’ because he’s a bit older, he’s done it all, he’s got a lot of life lessons to tell too,” Luai said.

“I love being around my boy Api. I’ve missed him.” 

The feeling is mutual.

“I think I know these guys pretty well and how they like to play, so I’ll be looking to rekindle that relationship on the field with our combinations,” Koroisau said.

“I’m confident we can fall back into what we need to. They’re such a good bunch of boys and we made some history together (winning consecutive premierships).”

Koroisau will be doing a lot of the heavy lifting as the only recognised No.9 in coach Brad Fittler’s Blues side.

“Half the battle when there is another hooker named on the bench, you know someone is there to take it from you,” Koroisau said.

“When you know you’re the only one, you just go hard and you know nothing is coming. Mentally you go for as long as you need to. You never really stop in these games.

“I’ll back myself to do a job for the boys.”

He smiles at the thought that Robbie Farah is no longer the only Wests Tigers hooker to play for the NSW Blues.

“He congratulated me... but I let him know that fact.”