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PARRAMATTA young gun Tepai Moeroa has taken his first step towards competing at the 2016 Olympics — even though it would mean disappearing overseas eight weeks before the NRL finals begin.
Speaking with The Daily Telegraph this week, Moeroa revealed he has spoken with Dave Bruce — the athletics coach who helped him set a host of junior shot put records — about creating a program to work around his footy commitments for the next 17 months.
Having thrown an Olympic shot put 14 metres in his early teens, the young Eel is convinced he can earn a 20m qualifying hurl in time for Rio de Janeiro.
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Tepai Moeroa is planning to put league on hold to compete in the 2016 Olympics. Source: News Corp Australia
Of more concern for the Eels enforcer, however, is the Olympics start date of August 5 — or roughly Round 22 of an NRL season.
While Parramatta are yet to officially shoot down the plan, it's understood coach Brad Arthur is long odds to allow his young star — a player Peter Sterling describes as the best young forward of the past decade — to potentially miss up to eight games of footy.
Apart from training for two sports daily, and then attending Olympic qualifying meets, Moeroa would also have to significantly alter his weights program given throwers bench press above 200kg.
"But I'm speaking with Mr Bruce to see what's possible,'' the Eels young gun said. "Obviously it will all come down to what Parramatta says I can and can't do.
"But given we train mostly mornings with the Eels there is time to work on my throws each afternoon. This is something I've always wanted to do and hopefully I can give it a try."
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Despite having hardly trained in the past year, Moeroa is currently ranked third in shot put for Australian U20s.
And despite being long odds for Brazil, Bruce confirmed he would draw up a blueprint for his 19-year-old charge because "if the football club is behind what he wants to do ... yes, I believe he can get there".
"But it all depends on Parramatta,'' the coach said. "The two programs, they'd have to work together or the whole thing is useless.
"Certainly Tepai will be rusty but who knows? If he wasn't playing footy in the NRL, we'd probably be preparing him for the Olympics right now.
"He's always had the right attributes for a great thrower, (laughs) there just isn't a lot of money in it. So it all depends on the people paying the bills ... the Eels have to come first."
A 15-year-old Tepai Moeroa shows off his ability at shot put.
Rugby league has something of a history in throwing, with Warren Ryan placing seventh at the 1962 Commonwealth Games with a toss of 15.75m.
Penrith centre Jamal Idris also holds a range of junior shot put, discus and javelin records.
But can Moeroa go further? Apart from an outstanding athletics career, the western Sydney teen also represented the Australian Schoolboys rugby team two years ago.
Quizzed on her son's incredible genetics, mum Paris said he could thank both sides of the family.
Moeroa has been tipped for greatness by some league legends. Source: News Corp Australia
"When we were living in the Cook Islands, Tepai's father was a great rugby league and union player,'' she said. "And his size, that comes from his grandfather, my dad.
"He was about seven feet tall and, everyone who saw him play, they say he was a monster. No one wanted to tackle him.
"Initially we took Tepai to his first Little Athletics meet after his first league season. He was seven and we didn't want him to get lazy.
"Then at about 12, he started talking about the Olympics. It has been a dream ever since."
Manager Craig Baker agreed, adding: "I still remember the day we first met, Tepai said 'I want to play NRL and throw shot put at the Olympics'.
"Nothing has changed since."
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