By LIZ MOORE

It’s all in the family for Digby Ioane coming out of retirement to play for Sunnybank, and in so doing bumping out one nephew to claim the wing spot whilst playing alongside another in the centres. 

Powered on by the memory of his rugby-loving father, former Wallaby Digby Ioane has unapologetically claimed what was previously his 23-year-old nephew Jess Ioane’s No.14 spot on the wing for Sunnybank.  

Ioane said whilst he had retired from rugby once his father passed away at the end of 2018 and had no desire to play, the spark was reignited after he got stuck back in Queensland through the Covid-19 period and started watching his nephews play at Sunnybank.

“I like to go down and watch my little nephew who plays Under 12s and I’d just go watch his game every Sunday and then I watched a couple of the Premier games.

“The guys have potential. They’re doing their best, and I thought ‘why not?’, my mum’s telling me to go play. But it’s a bit hard, I just couldn’t make up my mind whether I wanted to play cos everything that I did was because of Dad. 

“When I used to finish a game, I’d ring him up and ask him what he reckoned of the game. ‘How do you think I went?’ So it was a bit hard getting back into playing. I think I was just running away from rugby,” 35-year-old Ioane said of hanging up the boots 18 months ago. 

“Dad loved the game. He was my biggest supporter and I could say my hero because just being there. He played rugby himself. He just loved the game. 

“He introduced me to this amazing sport we call rugby. He’s been around. When he passed away, I got lost. 

“I thought ‘geez, what do I do?’ I even had a cry, I’m not going to lie. I had a cry in the game against Wests,” Ioane said of his first game back playing rugby three weeks ago.

“We lost that game but it was funny, having been away from the game for so long, I got so much joy from just going out there and enjoying what I’m good at for a long time. 

“It’s just funny, I used to put so much stress playing club footy, but now you just play a lot smarter cos you have that experience. You don’t have to bash your body so much. 

“I even told (Sunnybank coach) Sione, ‘I’m not there to take anyone’s spot, if I can help out in a way, I would love to be a part of it’,” Ioane said of his talks with Sione Fukofuka. 

It has meant the electrifying winger has bumped out nephew, Jess, while playing close by his 22-year-old nephew, Puni Aupuni who takes up No.13. But Ioane’s making no apologies.

“I told them ‘I want to come play, cos you guys are pissing me off. You guys are making me so mad cos I know you guys can deliver more but you just don’t know it. So when I play, I don’t care, I’m gonna take your spot no matter what because I want you guys to understand, you have to earn your spot no matter what. 

“Don’t just be happy to be there. You have to be there cos you’re gotta make a difference. You gotta be there and cement your spot.’

“That’s the pressure I’m trying to put on them. It was a tough decision for me to go play because I wanted to see ok, if I play, what am I gonna bring to the team. 

“And for me, I thought ok, if I do play I want to put pressure on these players cos I can push them to play at their max.

“I do believe everyone’s competitive but you just gotta prove it to yourself. Like if you have your mates or even have your uncle around you, it’s good to compete but I’m only pushing you to be the best player you can be. 

“And that’s how I believe I became good cos I had a lot of good wingers around me back at the Reds or the Wallabies, I’m not trying to compete against them but they pushed me because I believe they made me the player who I was back then because of your teammates, cos everyone’s fighting for a spot. The best can push you because you’re playing at that high level.

“So that’s what I thought coming back to play at Sunnybank. I’m gonna push these guys and if I can’t talk to them off the field, if they don’t understand where I’m coming from, I guess I have to play and actually show them.”

Ioane has a history of letting his playing do his talking. It was his playing for Sunnybank that earned him his spot directly into the Wallabies squad when Eddie Jones bypassed the Super Rugby system and chose Ioane and a couple of other players directly from club ranks in 2005. 

The next year, Ioane went to Western Force in Perth for a couple of years, before joining the Reds for six years. Since then, he has played in France for two years and most recently, in Japan’s top league competition for four years. 

As for strapping the boots back on in Brisbane, Ioane is “loving it”. 

All except the hamstrings, which have previously never been a problem, but Iaone puts it down to age, time off rugby and returning to his explosive style of running on the field that he’d been missing in his ‘retirement’.

As for his plans for this weekend’s big game against a strong Bond side, Ioane is giving his attention to the little things. 

“For myself, the plan is to recover. I need to get my hammies firing up,” Ioane said with his ready laugh. “It’s just the little things are hurting us. Just keeping the ball in hand and just knowing our roles. If everyone knows their role, we don’t have to do anyone else’s role. We just do the simple things right.

“I’ve got my nephew’s asking, ‘so is this your last game?’ and I go ‘no, it’s not my last game’,” Ioane laughed. “I’m going to finish the season. There are only four games left.”

IMAGE: SUPPLIED