Fa’amanu Brown eager to pass on experience of challenges – in RL and life
FA’AMANU Brown needed just three matches to make a mark he hopes has a long lasting effect on rugby league.
OK, that mark was on Warrington player Ben Currie’s head with the sending off that forced a rewriting of new rules.
But the Hull FC star hopes the impact of what he found himself in and the way he responded can be felt for years to come.
Then again, when you have been told you may never walk again, reacting to challenges is nothing new.
Brown’s red card for making head contact left everyone in a spin, even he did not realise at first he had been sent off.
Thankfully, the Rugby Football League saw sense and added the word initial to its law after he spun round then collided with Currie.
“It’s not about me, it’s about the game moving forward and the next generation coming through,” said Brown, who eloquently penned his thoughts on social media.
“With that post, when it’s genuine, it comes from the top of my head. It came from the heart, so it didn’t take very long.
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“It was just important as that happened at a critical moment of a game we could’ve won. I just wanted to speak as you don’t want to get to the play-offs or when teams are chasing two points to make a Grand Final and for that to happen.
“I spoke to Robert Hicks and the team at the RFL and they agreed they got it wrong. Sometimes as humans, you get things wrong and it’s how you go about it going forward.
“The sport is learning a new way of playing. Everyone agrees we need to lower the concussion rate but at the same time, there needs to be a bit of common sense that things could happen accidentally.”
It is not just on the rugby pitch where Brown has faced challenges.
A serious foot injury raised fears he may never walk again, let alone play the game he loves.
But just like his recent drama, he tackled it head on and came out the other side.
Now as Tony Smith’s men head to Catalans Dragons today, he is passing that same attitude on to his younger team-mates.
The 29-year-old added: “God doesn’t really give you challenges if you can’t achieve them. With what came my way, I knew God gave them to me because he feels like I can handle them.
“I adopt that mentality every day. I know what it’s like to not have rugby league in my life, so I appreciate things a lot more.
“I came out the other side and this is another challenge. We’ve a young team and have a lot of injuries and suspensions but we have to rise above that.
“For me, I’m trying to pass on my experiences to our younger players and against London, they just hung in there. That showed their character and personality.
“I remember being their age and being there for the ride but I’ve experienced tough things in my life and you have to pass on that knowledge – I don’t want them saying, ‘Shoulda, woulda, coulda.’
“I feel it’s my calling to not only play well but to mentor the younger generation coming through, guide them in the right way.”
Brown and Hull face a Dragons side coached by one of their own in Steve McNamara.
But he and centre Matt Ikuvalu have warned them to expect a reaction from the 18-10 loss at Leeds – and a cleaner side.
McNamara said: “We were really happy with the way we defended against Leeds but we lacked a cutting edge and it hurt us.
“It’s only a huge disappointment if you don’t respond. We’ll respond, I’m sure.”
Ikuvalu added: “We put that on ourselves with a few sin binnings and penalties when we shouldn’t have given them away.
“We dominated in terms of field position but a few disciplinary actions cost us.”