In the spotlight: Jonah Raidaveta

“My first game of rugby league was under 14s in Dubbo in NSW for a club called St John’s,” he said.

“I had played union since under 5s and a couple of boys I went to school with were playing league so I thought I’d give it a go. I was playing basketball at the time as well.

“I stopped playing union in under 16s and I stopped playing basketball in under 17s so I could just play league. My first year of just league would have been 2021.”

Despite having already set up successful pathways in both rugby union and basketball – making regional representative teams and state development programs across the two sports – it was a surprise opportunity that saw Raidaveta dedicate his time to league.

The backrower, who grew up watching the game with his dad and brother as a Melbourne Storm supporter, went to trial for the Western Rams team in the Andrew Johns Cup in NSW in late 2020.

He was trialling for the under 16s, but the coach of the under 18s at the time was former Newcastle Knight, Kurt Hancock.

Hancock was still friends with former Newcastle teammate, Dane Campbell, who had recently joined the Cowboys as their recruitment officer.

“Kurt told Dane, ‘you might want to have a look at this kid’,” Raidaveta said of the moment he was discovered.

“And that was it. Kurt gave me a ring and said an NRL club was interested in me and gave me Dane’s number. I told mum and dad to give Dane a call. That’s how it came about.

“It was pretty out of the blue. It came as a big shock. I hadn’t even found out if I had made the actual team I was trialling for yet.”

Raidaveta did go on to play for the Western Rams in 2021 after joining the Cowboys for a stint of pre-season training over the 2020 Christmas period.

Then ahead of the 2022 season he moved to Townsville permanently, joining the Cowboys on a development contract.  

Raidaveta – who now says his favourite NRL team is the Cowboys – said he never found it too difficult to make the switch from union to league until he started to reach the “higher levels”.

Now with the Blackhawks, Ignatius College and Souths RLFC in Townsville, he is starting to train with the Cowboys Young Guns in preparation for a promotion next season to becoming a fulltime Young Gun. As part of being a development player, he also does three rugby league camps a year through the NRL club.

“It wasn’t too hard,” Raidaveta said of coming across to league.

“It wasn’t until I got to a higher level of league where I had to focus more on the mechanics of it that I started to notice the difference.

“Watching it as much as I did, you get more of an idea anyway. It’s not that hard to transition if you watch it all weekend.

“I’ve learnt that I’m a pretty motivated person. I want to go as far as I can in league … make a career out of it.”

And while he has big dreams for the future, Raidaveta’s immediate focus is on this Saturday’s semi-final.

Townsville dominated the northern pool in the Auswide Bank Mal Meninga Cup this year and are still hurting from last year’s grand final loss to the Souths Logan Magpies.

With a sight set on back-to-back grand final appearances for the Blackhawks, Raidaveta is hoping he only gets better with each game.

“I moved up probably a bit too late for (Auswide Bank Mal Meninga Cup) last year,” he said.

“I was in the squad and did the training but all the other boys did the whole pre-season and trained that long so I couldn’t come in and take one of their spots.

“This season has been good. There’s a lot of quality teams and for me, it’s just about getting games under my belt, improving each game, and taking it into the next one.

“I’m very excited for Saturday … very keen for it.”

Main image: Raidaveta for the Townsville Blackhawks. Photo: Chris Robson/Townsville Blackhawks