"What is it about pulling on that black and white jersey? You grow another six feet and two foot wider!"
Olsen Filipaina in action for the Kiwis. Photo: Photosport
The passing of the great Olsen Filipaina yesterday in Sydney aged 64, brought to mind that question, posed to him in the cramped and crumbling corridors of Carlaw Park late in the afternoon of 7 July, 1985.
Filipaina's Kiwi side had just demolished the Kangaroos 18-0 in perhaps their most famous victory ever, with the big five eighth playing a key role.
He kicked three goals in his old school, two-step toe hack out of the fabled turf, securing the first trans-Tasman victory New Zealand had tasted over the Australians - only their second trans-Tasman victory in 14 seasons.
The narrative around Filipaina, born to a Māori mother and Samoan father in his parents' backyard in Kaikohe, and his seemingly superhuman abilities once he represented his country as opposed to club form that often saw him left in reserve grade, is a well-known one.
But it only tells a fraction of Filipaina's story. It's one of a trailblazing pioneer, a player who left the comfort of home to take on the best competition in the world. Filipaina's legacy endures through to the present day where players of Pasifika heritage now make up almost half of the entire competition.
But it was far, far away from that in 1980 when Filipaina moved to Sydney after starring for Mangere East in Auckland's Fox Memorial competition. He played 77 games for Balmain over the next five seasons, however often found himself dropped from the first grade side by coach Frank Stanton.
The then-NSWRL Premiership was almost totally made up of white Australians, with the odd indigenous or Māori player forcing their way through. Filipaina was constantly the target of racial abuse both on and off the field, both overt and institutional.
In Patrick Skene's The Big O, an excellent biography of Filipaina released in 2020, he revealed that the relationship with Stanton was a complicated one. Both men came from such differing backgrounds and generations that it was always going to be a challenge.
Being constantly in and out of the first grade side didn't hinder his selection for the Kiwis, however. This was an incredibly violent era of both club and test rugby league, typified by the famous 1985 season that saw the infamous brawl against the Lang Park fence between Kevin Tamati and Greg Dowling (Tamati snapped after Dowling had sent a torrent of racial abuse at the Kiwi front rower then patted him on the head after they had both been sent off). Filipaina's provided a cool head at five eighth, possessing a big boot in a time when scrums were highly contestable, but also a considerable physical presence.
The third test at Carlaw Park began with prime minister David Lange greeting a beaming Filipaina and the rest of the players before kickoff. The men he was shaking hands with contained some of the legendary names of NZ league: Bell, Leauluai, Tamati, Graham, O'Hara, McGahan. Lange was a staunch Mangere and league man, having gleefully played his part in turning the tide of public opinion against the All Blacks and their foolhardy plans for a 1985 tour of South Africa only a fortnight before. Filipaina completely outplayed the great Wally Lewis across the series, grinding 'the King' into the Carlaw Park mud, setting the platform for his halves partner Clayton Friend to run riot.
After the win, Filipaina returned to Sydney and, in another nod to how times have changed, his fulltime job as a rubbish collector. After finishing his first grade career after stints with Eastern Suburbs and North Sydney, the 'Galloping Garbo' continued his work on the rubbish trucks until his health started to fail.
In The Big O, Filipaina disclosed that his homesickness and treatment in the early days of his career led to a long stint of depression, in a time when player welfare concerns were non-existent.
But the battles he fought helped bring about something more important than any footy trophy.
He represented changes in society across both New Zealand and Australia, in a time when Pasifika role models were not seen as a priority on TV. Filipaina smashed that thinking to pieces with his career, inspiring a young David Tua to name-drop him on a famous appearance on Wheel of Fortune.
The fact that Tua's 'O for Olsen' saying was so blithely misunderstood is, in hindsight, something New Zealanders should now cringe about.
Since Filipaina's days, the number of brown players in what is now the NRL has steadily increased, but that has not been matched in coaches' and media boxes. The cultural understanding of Pasifika and indigenous players has massively improved, that's for sure.
But perhaps when we see a change in who is in charge of the games and storylines, the path that Filipaina started will be near its goal. After all, the part of his test/club form anecdote that doesn't get mentioned much is the opinion of the man himself. His answer to the original question posed after the famous 1985 win at Carlaw Park says a lot:
"I don't think I've been doing anything different than what I've been doing for my club."
Olsen Filipaina played 50 games for the Kiwis, including 29 tests, and 103 NSWRL first grade games.
