They came, they hooted and hollered, and even broke the fence.
Paramatta’s premiership-starved fan base was out in force on Monday and already their presence in an all-western Sydney NRL grand final has Sunday’s event tracking for its earliest sell-out in years.
Limited tickets remained six days from the decider against Penrith, with an 83,000-capacity crowd at Accor Stadium expected to be declared well ahead of game-day.
On the first day of the school holidays, almost 3000 fans swarmed the Eels’ Kellyville base to greet players and coach Brad Arthur, the man charged with ending Parramatta’s 36-year premiership drought.
Players signed autographs and posed for selfies for over an hour after training with supporters.
Star half Mitchell Moses, who met his newborn baby daughter just hours before playing in Friday’s nail-biting win over North Queensland, was especially popular with supporters, as were co-captains Clint Gutherson and Junior Paulo.
But none were as popular as Maika Sivo. The Fijian fan favourite was last off the paddock as he diligently worked his way around an adoring fan base, only pausing briefly to conduct interviews between autographs.
Those delays prompted regular renditions of the “Sivo” chant that has rung out so often at CommBank Stadium. At one point, the temporary fencing around the training paddock collapsed as fans clamoured for a moment with the 28-year-old.
“This is my favourite part of rugby league, I can’t believe these fans,” Sivo told The Herald.
“I’ve barely moved in an hour. I’m so lucky to be on this stage and representing Parra fans. It’s a big club with a big group of fans, they’re so passionate and they back us every week.
Maika Sivo was Parramatta’s man of the moment on Monday.Credit:Getty
“This is why you play and I can’t wait for this whole week.”
It’s a world away from Sivo’s humble origins in his native Fiji. The Eels powerhouse famously found his way into blue and gold via a stint with Penrith courtesy of the Gundagai Tigers in Group 9.
His parents Joeli and Mere are now preparing to make a mad dash from their Fijian village of Momi to see Sivo step out on the NRL’s grandest stage, with visa applications being hurried through this week.
“It’s been three years since I’ve seen them because of COVID-19,” Sivo said. “Hopefully they can get here, I think some cousins are coming too.
“It’ll be emotional, they’ll get to meet my son for the first time and even before we played last week, dad was calling me telling me he was coming for the grand final.”
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