Felise Kaufusi was wearing green and gold, but his father Taniela was having none of it.
In the stands of Auckland’s Mt Smart Stadium in 2018, the Kaufusi patriarch was proudly clad in bright red Tongan kit despite his son starting for Australia against the Mate Ma’a.
Kaufusi still laughs at the scene. And is all smiles after a long-awaited return to Tongan colours last week against Papua New Guinea.
The 30-year-old’s homecoming comes at the end of his toughest season in an eight-year career. A mid-year dash to the US meant Kaufusi missed Queensland’s series-winning Origin III upset to be by his parents’ side when Taniela was admitted to intensive care in a Los Angeles hospital with a leg cut that became badly infected.
“I didn’t get a chance to tell Dad,” Kaufusi told The Herald after his first Tongan appearance since 2017. “He improved enough to come home and lived on for a month in the ICU, but eventually it was his time to go.
“But I know he was there watching that one and the love and support from my family, they’re so proud that I’m representing not just him but all of us and our little village in Tonga too.
“It was quite emotional being out there again. I hate emotion, I try and keep it out when I’m playing. But those thoughts, they overcame me naturally.
“I was thinking of the old man and what it meant to him for me to be playing for Tonga again – it would’ve meant the world to him.”
Having turned 30 this year, Kaufusi knew that opting in for Tonga would likely mean the end of his playing days for Australia, even when he remains a regular fixture in Queensland’s back-row.
As one of nine Kaufusi children to one-time Bundaberg fruit pickers Taniela and Pelenatita, the Dolphins recruit played the first of three Tests for Tonga in 2015 before being a shock Kangaroos selection for the last World Cup on Australian soil in 2017.
Felise Kaufusi (far left) battled emotions in his return for Tonga at the World Cup in England.Credit:Bernard Platt
With 14 Origins and two premierships at Melbourne, Kaufusi offers an experienced hand and a sound defensive option in Kristian Woolf’s impressive edge options that also include Keaon Koloamatangi, Haumole Olakau’atu and David Fifita.
In turn, the chance to represent his family’s heritage resonates far more with Kaufusi than it did in the early stages of his career.
“Once I made the decision, I knew that was it for me with Australia,” Kaufusi said. “Playing for Tonga means a lot more to me now than it did the first time around.
“When Woolfy met me when I landed, that’s the one thing he said: ‘you’re back where you belong’. I feel a lot closer to my family and my heritage now.
“Woolfy gave me a call and said he’d love for me to come back. He basically said, ‘it’s up to you’, but he didn’t want me to be half-half or just waiting to see if I was picked for Australia.
“You’re either all-in or not in. He gave me a month or two and I called and told him I was all-in. The success they’ve had and what they’ve built, I just wanted to be a part of something special.”
