Four of the biggest names in footy have formed a boy band.
Joseph Manu, Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii, Sitili Tupouniua and Siua Wong – bonded by their time at the Sydney Roosters and their love of rap music – have come together as Dreamyourz.
The group dropped their first album, Off-SZN, last month and within two days clocked more than 85,000 streams on Spotify.
Their debut track, We Rock The Party, has also gone viral on social media. Perhaps if the quartet aren’t involved in the NRL grand final, they could perform on the big day?
“I don’t know about that,” Tupouniua grinned. “The album started off with just the boys just mucking around. We used to go to Joey’s [Manu’s] house, we love listening to music, and then we ended up buying some DJ equipment, recording equipment.
“Obviously, it just started off as something that we enjoyed, and one song led to another, and we ended up coming up with an album. We were joking around about it, and then we actually did it.
“There’s a few people who may enjoy it and a few that may hate it, but it’s something we did on our time off.”
The reaction on social media has been mixed. Footy friends, including James Tedesco, Angus Crichton and Jason Taumalolo offered online support, while some have been less kind and suggested they stick to footy.
However, the foursome are unfazed and continue to dabble in their new hobby. The members of Dreamyourz have gone their separate ways from a footballing perspective; they all played at the Roosters last year, but only Wong remains at Bondi Junction after Tupouniua switched to the Bulldogs, Manu defected to Japanese rugby and Suaalii to the Waratahs and Wallabies.
At a January training session with the Wallabies, Suaalii’s new teammates had the debut Dreamyourz album on high rotation.
“At first we were nervous about letting it out there because we’re footy players and we know what everyone was gonna say.”
Sitili Tupouniua
“I can tell you that got played every gym session – he was sick of it,” said Wallaby Nic White. “It’s actually not that bad a song is it?”
Asked if he’s a fan of the single, Wallaby Noah Lolesio offered a “no comment,” before adding good humouredly, “Nah good on him”.
Given their footballing commitments, there are no immediate plans for a follow-up album, although the boys are open to the prospect of performing their tracks live if a promoter wants to book them.
“That would be good,” Tupouniua said. “We wouldn’t say no to performing somewhere, especially if all the boys here are back together in Australia or wherever it is.
“Definitely something like that, we wouldn’t mind. If someone wants to come and say ‘You want to perform here?’, I’m pretty sure the boys would be keen.”
In the meantime, the band members continue to collaborate.
“At first we were nervous about letting it out there because we’re footy players, and we know what everyone was gonna say,” Tupouniua said.
“But it’s something we enjoy, and a few people have come back and said that they’d enjoyed it, so that’s all that matters if you feel it’s not too bad for some footy players.
“We’re in a group chat where we’re still talking.
“Everyone writes their own verses and then like the chorus, we have got so many beats and then one of the boys will just make a chorus for the beat and send it. If the boys like it, they’ll write their own verse or their own little rap to it, and then it just goes from there.”
With Jonathan Drennan
