Andrew Fifita’s unforgettable NRL debut was the mark of a prop who revolutionised the position

Fifita’s mate, Jason Schirnack, who made his debut in the same game, has slightly fuzzier recollections.

Members of a star-studded Tigers squad that included Benji Marshall, Lote Tuqiri, Robbie Farah, and Chris Heighington, Fifita and Schirnack both started on the bench for the Sunday afternoon round two match at the Sydney Football Stadium.

With obvious potential, they’d both started in the Tigers’ losing NYC grand final side the previous year too. For all the highs and lows of his storied career, that loss remains a sore point for Fifita.

In a tight match where the lead changed hands five times, Storm fullback Gareth Widdop was awarded a controversial 74th minute try when he barely managed to get his fingertips to the Steeden after a grubber.

Widdop’s clutch conversion gave Melbourne a 24-22 win, but Fifita – who played with a lairy blonde streak in his hair – is still filthy that the try was awarded.

“I still get angry about that grand final in ’09,” Fifita tells CODE Sports. “It wasn’t a try. Like, it just wasn’t a try.”

It was a tough initiation to the swings and roundabouts of big-time footy, and arguably a sign of things to come for Fifita over the following decade.

A few months after that defeat, Fifita was knocking on the door of an NRL debut, while Schirnack had joined the Tigers’ first-grade squad.

Born and raised in Wellington, Schirnack represented the Kiwis at under 18s level, and followed his older brother Alan to Australia in 2006 with hopes of cracking the big time. The hard-hitting backrower first learned his trade under Trent Robinson in Newcastle’s SG Ball side, but it was at the Tigers a few seasons later where he got his big break.

While Fifita had a big contingent of friends and family on hand after being named on the bench for that 2010 fixture against the Roosters, Schirnack had played reserve grade a day earlier and – expecting to be a spectator for first grade – had hit the town in a pretty big way.

“We hadn’t even been home, we just went straight to the game,” he tells CODE Sports.

Drama struck hours before kick-off after Liam Fulton was ruled out when a painkilling injection punctured his lung.

Wests were a man down and coach Tim Sheens didn’t have many options.

“Tim Sheens came out and grabbed me and my brother, who had also been out with me the night before, and took us into the sheds and asked one of us to play,” Schirnack says.

“We didn’t have our boots or anything, so whoever could fit into Liam Fulton’s boots was going to play.

“My brother had already played a few games, so he was happy to let me play, but, yeah … I was a bit dusty.”

Fifita’s brother David had been out with the Schirnack boys the night before, so sitting on the bench, Andrew knew exactly how much his mate was suffering.

“He’s been on a bender all night,” Fifita laughs.

“We were sitting on the bench waiting to go on, and he just looks at me and goes, ‘I don’t know how I’m gonna do this, but I’ll do it’.

“Fun times, man.”

On a sweltering Sydney afternoon that necessitated a drinks break every 20 minutes, Wests went ahead early with tries to Marshall and Tuqiri before the Roosters stormed out to a game-winning 44-16 lead with 15 minutes remaining.

A Tigers win was out of the question, but the two debutants weren’t about to roll over.

Having blown out the cobwebs, Schirnack – wearing Fulton’s white boots – hit a gap off a short ball from Marshall and ran untouched to the tryline for his first and only NRL try in the 68th minute.

Ten minutes later, hinting at what was to come over the next decade, Fifita received a short ball from Farah on the Roosters’ 10m line, broke one tackle and dragged two defenders over the paint to become the second debutant to score that afternoon.

Good times, but their careers diverged after that game.

Fifita scored four more tries in 2010 as the Tigers broke a four-year finals drought, and over the next 10 years he’d win Origin and premiership titles and become the best prop in the world.

Schirnack went back to reserve grade and that August became the rugby league equivalent of Evander Holyfield to North Sydney winger Mitchell Stevens’ Mike Tyson in a bizarre ear-biting incident.

“Me and my brother, we go pretty hard on the field and we’ve always got each other’s backs,” he says.

“Something happened to him, so I ran in. The other guy ran in too and we got into a fight.

“We were wrestling on the ground and he bit my ear and took a chunk out of it. There was a fair bit of blood, but it wasn’t too big, and the doctors didn’t have to do too much.”

Schirnack went on to play for the Cutters in Mackay’s 2013 Queensland Cup-winning side, and also had a stint with the Newtown Jets in Sydney.

Happily retired now, he lives in Wellington and helps out coaching and mentoring at his junior club.

His memories of his slightly inebriated debut might be a bit hazy, but he’ll always have clear visions of the hard-charging, brash young bloke who would become one of the game’s best front-rowers.

“Andrew was always the loud mouth of the group,” Schirnack says.

“He was pretty cocky, but his performances on the field always showed why he could be.

“He didn’t get the kind of respect he deserved back then, but look at him now. He changed the game for front-rowers.

“It was a huge mistake for the Tigers to let him go.”