Api Koroisau was meant to be a Bulldog in 2020. It was the worst kept secret, even his teammates knew it.

Except he signed with the Panthers.

The 27-year-old’s future looked set in August when reports came out that he would be joining the pack at Belmore.

Koroisau spent four seasons with Manly but with the surging rise of Manase Fainu, his position as starting hooker became challenged and despite being contracted to the end of 2021 the Sea Eagles gave him permission to negotiate with rivals.

Round 19

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The race to Koroisau’s signature was all Bulldogs with a little bit of Warriors.

But then Panthers coach Ivan Cleary swooped in to orchestrate Koroisau’s return to Penrith.

When the Fiji International made a decision on his future, his teammates already knew where he was heading. Or so they thought.

“I didn’t really have to tell them because news broke so quickly,” Koroisau told foxsports.com.au

“There was an Instagram post of me in a Bulldogs jersey maybe a couple of days after I had a meeting with the Dogs so I wasn’t going to say anything. The boys were like ‘nah it’s a gee-up’ but that had already started the rumours.

“I had a bit of fun with it. The boys had a meeting and I stood up the front and said ‘boys, have you seen I’m probably leaving, but I’m not going to the Dogs … I’m going to Penrith.’

“Penrith wasn’t even in the conversation of rumours or anything so it was quite good, everyone started laughing and made a little joke out of it so there were no tears thankfully.”

So how did Cleary snatch the 2014 premiership-winning hooker from the Bulldogs’ paws?

Koroisau says it was one conversation that lured him over.

“For me it was probably the chat I had with Ivan.

“I had already met with the Bulldogs and had spoken to a couple of other teams by then and it wasn’t until a week and a half, maybe two weeks after I had spoken to the Bulldogs that Ivan called my manager.

“He spoke a lot about how my off-field was going. He didn’t really talk too much footy which was different and good for me.

“I felt like there was more of a connection there and that’s what resonated with me.

The contract didn’t rest in just Cleary’s hands though. Koroisau had to sell himself as well to let Cleary know he’d grown up since playing with the club in 2015.

“I was obviously here at 2015 – I was a bit of a loose character when I first arrived. So he just wanted to see if I’d had any growth off the field. That sort of conversation went the way it did and it swung me towards Penrith.”

Koroisau has definitely grown since 2015. He now has two daughters with his wife, Amy whom he is beyond smitten with.

“It was one really drunken night at Bucket List in Bondi,” Koroisau says when recalling how he met his wife.

“I saw her there and I was so drunk just trying to talk to her but couldn’t even get words out – I was slurring. But she ended up messaging me the next day asking if I got home all right, which is super sweet.

“We’ve been together just over four years now and married for two and a half years. We had our oldest daughter straight away, we found out she was pregnant about five months into our relationship.

“It wasn’t a shock, we actually wanted it to happen. There’s that saying once you know, you know. I’ve been super blessed, I can’t give her enough praise to be honest, I don’t even know how she’s still with me.”

Following the tragic death of basketball legend Kobe Bryant and his daughter Gianna, an ESPN journalist recalled a conversation she had with Bryant where he referred to himself as a ‘girl dad.’ The term perfectly sums up Koroisau who is a gritty footy player on the field but off it, is totally controlled by his two daughters.

“I have no choice when it comes to my daughters honestly. My youngest is only three-and-a-half months but the eldest is 3-years old and she’s ridiculous.

“She plays up for mum and once I get home it changes, she’s a huge daddy’s girl. Everything she asks for she gets, mum doesn’t like it, but I can’t help it. She has this really sweet look on her face and just knows how to play me.”

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Koroisau’s reunion with the Panthers hasn’t been an easy run. He’s ditched the coastal breeze at Narrabeen to train in 45-degree heat in Penrith.

But the toughest test was the army-style camp the Panthers took their players on in January.

“So I’ve done maybe three camps now and that was probably the hardest,” Koroisau said.

“It wasn’t as much flogging as the rest of them but it was a lot of mental challenges. But it was also the best because there was a lot of learning experiences.

“The first day probably went for 20 hours, it was really big. Then the second day was just as big, so they tried to teach us about sleep deprivation and how to work under stress and all that.

As gruelling as it was, Koroisau is confident the camp’s leanings will benefit the squad throughout the season.

“We took so many things out of it and we’ve already incorporated it into our everyday training, principles and values so that it will be with us all year regardless. I think it worked really well in bringing the lads together as well.”

Koroisau has achieved a lot on his career. He won a premiership in his debut season after replacing a suspended Issac Luke in the 2014 grand final, he’s represented Fiji 19 times and he’s regarded as one of the most consistent hookers in the NRL.

Despite achieving many great things, he doesn’t actually set himself goals.

“I’m not a goal-setter at all, I just can’t do it. I’ve always been a go with the flow kind of guy.

“I just feel like I put blinkers on if I set a goal and that just doesn’t work for me. I work as hard as I can all the time and whatever happens sort of happens I’ll leave that up to my footy.”

Koroisau has never had a rugby league player – or any athlete – that he’s idolised either.

“I’ve never looked up to someone as like I want to be them.

“I used to go for the Tigers growing up – I never watched the footy – but I just went for the Tigers because my uncle told me too. Benji Marshall and Scott Prince were playing back then so I really liked them.

“But in terms of idols it’s probably only mum just because she works so hard. I’ve never really followed someone in-depth.”

In case you didn’t get that, Koroisau didn’t grow up watching footy. A little uncommon, but not the first time we’ve heard of a player who didn’t grow up watching rugby league.

But Koroisau still doesn’t watch it.

“I couldn’t stand footy. My cousins would put it on to watch and I would just play in the background. I still don’t watch footy now.”

He has 107 NRL games under his belt, is a dangerous playmaker and doesn’t watch footy.

How? Why?

Koroisau mentioned before that he’s a “go with the flow kind of guy” so it makes sense that doesn’t study other players.

“I play my best footy when I’ve been away from the game. I like to go with the flow so if I come into a game trying too hard, I think that sort of fails me a little bit so I like to be able to go out there with a clear mind.

“Playing as a hooker, I’m given a licence to play what’s in front of me so I can do that best if I don’t have any thoughts.”