Fonotia happy to give up tee [Nelson Mail]
Kieron Fonotia's counting the days until he can finally hand over the goalkicking duties for good.
That might seem like a bizarre confession after the strapping Marist centre became the first Nelson Bays senior club rugby player to post 100 points this season following his team's impressive Bayleys Tasman Trophy win over Awatere in Seddon last Saturday.
For the record, the 24-year-old Cantabrian has now scored 106 points, including 20-point hauls against both Renwick and Awatere, his tally so far including seven tries, 22 conversions and nine penalties.
But, by Fonotia's own admission, he is anything but a first-choice goalkicker and is looking forward to handing those roles back to Marist's first choice No10 Jason Merrett.
The problem is that Merrett has been injured since the game's opening round, with Fonotia reluctantly assuming both the No10 and goalkicking duties. While his statistics look appealing enough, he admits his strike-rate this season has been "hit and miss" and he is now ready to hand the kicking tee back to his former Christchurch clubmate.
"Yeah, I'll be really stoked to give it away, I'm not a goal kicker at all, mate," he laughed. "I haven't kicked a goal since the under-9s.
"I can't wait, and I'm pretty sure [Merrett] can't wait either."
And following the seriously understrength Marist team's poor start to the season, where they recorded just one win and a draw from six games, Fonotia's now enjoying the team's spectacular resurgence after three impressive wins and a leap to the top of the Tasman Trophy pool B standings.
"Yeah, it was a bit touch and go there at the start, but getting some of the lads back and with Franco [Francis Smith] back now as captain, it's made things a lot easier.
"When I first got back from Christchurch, in our first game against Nelson, I think there were only two or three of us from the [Nelson Bays club] final last year. I didn't even know half the guys.
"[But] there's a pretty good feeling in the camp now, we're starting to get some confidence back."
He is also delighted to be back in the No13 jersey, where he had also made an impression last year in his debut ITM Cup season for Tasman.
"I was happy to get out of 10, it wasn't really my spot.
"My instincts are to have a crack and that's probably not the best thing for a 10 or [for] your outsides ... they don't see a lot of ball, so I need to get wider.
"It's a lot more natural to me, centre, than 10."
His inclusion in the Crusaders development squad also provided a significant early-season boost.
"I learned heaps in that camp with [former All Black] Aaron Mauger as coach and he taught me a lot about my position, just little things that I didn't know. He helped me big time and I loved it, it was a good camp."
Besides Marist's continued improvement, Fonotia's also looking forward to his second ITM Cup campaign and adding to his 10 appearances for the Makos.
"It was my first year in the ITM Cup so it was all new ground for me. It's just a lot quicker and at least you know now where you've got to be at and I'm targeting this [year] for myself as a pretty big year."
As one of Tasman's contracted players, he said there was no lingering residue from last year's disappointing campaign when they only won two of their 10 matches.
"There's a pretty good feeling amongst the boys and everything's clicking already at training. It's good to go down there and train with quality players."
He is feeling strong and confident at 109kg, but reckons he will eventually get his playing weight down to 106kg. He is also committed to working on his speed.
"My [off-season] work-ons are getting quicker off the mark. I don't feel naked out there or anything, but I could always be quicker over that first 10 metres.
"I'm happy with my defence, I've just got to be a wee bit more dominant now and start putting on some bigger hits and dominating tackles instead of just making them."
