Long after the Roosters won the NRL grand final five years ago, Trent Robinson got up in front of his playing squad during the pre-season and called Dylan Napa and Isaac Liu forward. He had a couple of premiership rings with him.
Most of the bling had already been handed out to the title winners Sonny Bill Williams, Anthony Minichiello, Roger Tuivasa-Sheck, Mitchell Pearce and co. But there were two other men the Roosters thought deserved it just as much.
Ring to it: Isaac Liu.
Napa and Liu were both only in their first years of NRL but had to deal with being left out of a grand final side having helped them the Roosters get there the week before. Robinson drafted in Boyd Cordner, who had sat out the previous six games with a broken ankle. He also called up veteran Luke O'Donnell.
"I was so young," Napa said. "I’d only just got into first grade and everything was a bit crazy. At the time it was my job to play the weeks leading up and prepare the boys for the grand final. It was just a next job mentality.
"I didn’t hold any grudges and it didn’t make me want it anymore. I still want it as much as anything. This year I get my chance."
For Liu, perhaps the motivation comes from a different place. He actually warmed up before the Roosters went on to beat Manly, wondering if he'd play or not and always having one eye on Cordner.
"It was crazy," Liu said. "In the warm-up it was like, ‘I could definitely be in, I could definitely be out’. The emotions were going out the window and unfortunately I didn’t get on. But that experience was pretty awesome."
In the warm-up it was like, ‘I could definitely be in, I could definitely be out’. The emotions were going out the window
Robinson's team-first mentality meant he was never going to let the pair go unrewarded, having played 22 games between them in 2013. It was why he wanted to make a big deal of the duo after the Roosters had returned to training for their premiership defence.
"Robbo got us up," Napa said. "That was a nice gesture, to be rewarded with that. This Sunday I’m going to try to get one myself. I’m just excited to be a part of this week."
Liu is also excited, not that you would really know it. He's one of the NRL's quiet achievers, one of its most dependable. There are rarely any displays of emotion from the New Zealand-born 27-year-old, who admitted to a little bit of emotion when he was handed his first premiership ring.
"To receive that [ring] I still felt I was a part of it," Liu said. "It was really special. It was a bit weird receiving it, but when I got home I let [the emotions] go and I took it in. I just said, ‘thank you [in front of the team]’. I didn’t say too much."
Napa will have the shoe firmly on the other foot this year having sat out the Roosters' last three games through suspension after a sickening head collision with Andrew McCullough on the eve of the finals.
And like Cordner five years ago, Robinson has already stressed he will have no hesitation picking him for the grand final against the Storm.
For Liu, he'll warm up for another grand final. Only this time he has a chance to win a ring at the end of it.
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