Culture and connection is paramount to Dolphins fullback Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow and it is the rapport he shares with coach Kristian Woolf that is set to keep him at the club long-term.
When the Dolphins superstar, revered as "Hammer", celebrates a try with his trademark “Phins up” gesture it is essentially a tribute to the shark, one of the Torres Strait Island totems from his ancestral roots that he has tattooed on his forearm.
During the club's recent bye week, Tabuai-Fidow and Woolf visited Thursday Island communities, including a language and cultural centre.
On his mother Karina's side, Tabuai-Fidow can trace his ancestry back to the island of Saibai in the Torres Strait, just five kilometres south of the Papua New Guinea mainland.
Woolf was born in Mount Isa and also went to school in Cairns and grew up with an appreciation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture.
The trip north was a huge boost to 24-year-old Tabuai-Fidow ahead of the NRL’s Indigenous Round clash with Brisbane on Saturday night.
“It was a pretty special thing to do with the club … just having that exposure to where I'm from,” he said.
“We went to schools, did clinics with them and got to sightsee. Woolfy is from Cairns and he knows some boys that are Torres Strait Islanders.”
Woolf understands what makes his try-scoring whiz tick.
“That is a big one,” Tabuai-Fidow said.
“Him growing up with Indigenous boys and girls, he knows how to work us out and how to get the best out of us.
“We can go into our shell and be pretty quiet, but we're growing out of that as a culture and just being proud. Woolfy's proud of that as well.
“It's something special to have as a coach and that bond you can build as well.”
Tabuai-Fidow is signed until the end of 2027 but can speak with other clubs from November 1. AAP has been told the Dolphins have started negotiations to keep him at the club long-term.
“My preference would be to stay here,” he said.
The Dolphins signed Tabuai-Fidow as their inaugural fullback when he was unable to tie down a regular start with North Queensland. He has since become a marquee player for Queensland and his beloved Dolphins, for whom he has 61 tries in 71 games.
Talk to Dolphins insiders and they will tell you that Tabuai-Fidow is proud of being No.1 on the team list and also the No.1 Dolphin. It was the number he wore when he ran out for the club’s inaugural match against Sydney Roosters in a famous 28-18 win, when he was also the club’s first try scorer.
When Tabuai-Fidow was 15 he moved away from his family in Cairns to attend Brisbane Grammar School on a rugby union scholarship where he was in the Queensland Reds emerging program.
Also an Australian Rules prodigy, he was in the Gold Coast Suns system as well. League was his first love and when a choice had to be made between the three codes his parents told him to “follow your heart”.
He signed a $2000 contract with the Cowboys while still at school and the rest is history.
“League was the first sport that I played and watching all my uncles and my dad play, it was something I wanted to do," he said.
“I'm a league guy for life now. I still love it."
