After a roller coaster 12 months for Australia in which he was robbed in England, celebrated World Cup glory, got dumped for the mid-season Test and is now set to start for the first time in a green and gold jersey on Sunday at WIN Stadium, Josh Papalii believes he is now ready to fulfill the potential that saw three nations fight for his services.
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Papalii, who was born in Auckland but moved to Queensland at the age of six, could have been playing for Samoa instead of against them had Kangaroos coach Tim Sheens not recalled the Canberra forward after dropping him for the mid-season Test against New Zealand.
Officially, the reason for his axing was poor form, but Papalii now concedes that stemmed from a poor attitude after he returned to the Raiders from the World Cup, where he had forced his way into the Kangaroos squad for the 34-2 triumph over the Kiws in the final at Old Trafford.
It was a perfect end to a tournament that had started badly for Papalii when he was robbed of £200 at an ATM on the day the Australian team arrived in England.
Papalii was walking back to the Kangaroos hotel on his own after a night out with teammates in Manchester when approached by two men. But police did not pursue the matter because he could not fully recall the incident.
"I guess I was just in a bad place at a bad time," Papalii said on Friday. "I didn't know much about England, that was my first day there, but I guess you shouldn't walk by yourself. It was pretty hard but a lot of boys helped me out."
The 22-year-old enforcer went on to have a breakout World Cup for Australia but his form dipped dramatically when he returned to the Raiders and he endured a mid-season stint playing Queensland Cup for Canberra's feeder team, Logan City.
Sheens also dropped him and Cronulla prop Andrew Fifita from the World Cup winning team for the mid-season Test.
"I knew myself that my form was poor," Papalii said. "Coming back from the World Cup on a high I definitely started pretty slow with Canberra.
"I was definitely carrying a bit of weight and I put my hand up to play Queensland Cup. I spoke to Sticky [Raiders coach Ricky Stuart] about it and he gave me the opportunity to go home and visit family as well as going back to where it all started [Logan City] and I guess refresh my mind.
"It gave me a fresh start and I came back with a different attitude."
After being given a second chance, Papalii is looking forward to playing against the nation of his heritage and has vowed not to give up his Kangaroos jersey so easily again.
"Talking to [Australian assistant coach] David Furner, who was my ex-coach at Canberra, we talked about coming off the Four Nations or the World Cup and how you have got to go back and play the same way as before you were selected," Papalii said.
Despite his Samoan heritage, Papalii said he was focused solely on ensuring the Kangaroos qualify for the Four Nations final in Wellington next Saturday, but admits that some of the 15 family members coming to watch him, who will include his parents Patrick and Luama, would have mixed emotions.
"I haven't played for Samoa yet, so I have to go on Sunday and treat it as another Test match for Australia," he said.
"I am pretty focused and pretty excited to play against Samoa. I am not sure about all of my family, I might see a few blue jerseys there."
