Former Cronulla Sharks and Wests Tigers enforcer Andrew Fifita might have retired from the NRL at the end of 2022, but he is now set to make a rugby league comeback in the local Cronulla competition.
The experienced forward, who was an NRL premiership winner in 2016 with the Sharks and played ten Origins for New South Wales, as well as seven Tests for Australia and another ten for Tonga to go with 252 NRL appearances over a 13-year career, will turn out for De La Salle in the Cronulla local league during 2025 per a News Corp report.
It's understood his primary responsibility, alongside playing, will be working with the younger players at the club and acting as a mentor.
"He'll be good around the younger boys," club president Dave Nicholson was quoted as saying by the publication.
"He brings a really good work ethic. It's not about money but more about him wanting to put back into junior footy."
Fifita has dipped his toe into coaching at local rugby league level previously, but there is no mention of him taking over that role while playing at De La Salle.
He will juggle his new playing commitments with coaching at the Sharks this year, where he has taken over as head coach of the under-19 female Tarsha Gale Cup pathways side.
The Sharks fell short in Round 1 of the competition to the Penrith Panthers, but hammered the Manly Sea Eagles 48 points to 6 at Cronulla High School over the weekend.
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The elite under-19 female pathways competition, which was set up to match the male under-19 equivalent (the SG Ball Cup), Cronulla's women's system is one of the most developed of all NRL clubs and the side made the finals last year.
