In an attempt to be the best player he can heading into 2021, Sharks star Andrew Fifita has lost around 20 kilograms and revealed that a call to twin brother, David, was the inspiration for making it happen.
The NRL has made it known that a key rule change will be coming into play for the 2021 season, where a play-the-ball restart rather than a scrum after a ball is put into touch will take place, meaning less rests for forwards like Fifita and therefore a much needed push in the fitness department.
Fifita said that he weighed around 137kg's at one point in the off-season, and after speaking to his brother who is currently playing under the new rule in the Super League, it was extra motivation to shed the extra weight he had put on.
“I think the best thing for me was a phone call from my brother,” Fifita told NRL Media.
“He played the rules that we are playing under now and he just said ‘we need to go down to under 120kg’. He said it’s really fast, it’s different.
“I said what about when they kick out and he said it is straight on, it’s play on, and I was like ‘wow’.”
Fifita added that he didn't want to jump on the scales during that period because he knew he needed to lose weight.
“I didn’t want to jump on the scale and show the boys I was a fat mess,” he added.
“When I realised, I grabbed my little brother and said ‘I need to lose weight’”.
Fifita hasn't had the greatest run with other injuries over the last few seasons and struggled with a chronic knee issue during the 2020 season which hampered his ability to perform on a consistent basis, and with the star forward off-contract in 2022, he will be looking for a bounce-back year in 2021 to prove his worth.