Tongan rugby league players wait to find out if families affected by tsunami
KRISTIAN Woolf has told how St Helens’ Tonga-born stars are frantically trying to find out how their families are after seeing their homeland devastated by a tsunami.
And the worst part of it all is no-one knows what is going on as communication has been cut off.
The Pacific nation was swamped when an underwater volcano exploded, sparking a tidal wave that engulfed it.
That has left Konrad Hurrell and Agnatius Paasi, who were born there, and others with family there – even the national boss himself – fretting about what has happened.
And no player, either in the UK or Australia, has managed to make contact as Woolf said: “At this stage there’s been no communication whatsoever.
“That makes it really difficult, they want to know how their loved ones are and want assurances they were able to get to safety.
“Here, Konrad, Agnatius and Will Hopoate have close family connections, Konrad’s spent most of his life there and that’s what he knows as home.
“The unknown is the worst part of it."
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Three-times champions Saints will be without Wales winger Regan Grace for up to the first month of the season because of an elbow problem.
And new signing Curtis Sironen will sit out Alex Walmsley’s testimonial on Friday after finding himself stuck in Italy.
Woolf, who called on the NRL to give the World Club Challenge his side has missed out on again more credit, revealed: “His partner came over for Christmas and they went on a short trip.
“Curtis has done everything right, he’s double jabbed, but tested positive as he prepared to return and had to go into isolation – he then tested positive again which meant it was extended.
“It ended up being 17 or 18 days. He did nothing wrong and had every right to have a short holiday during his time off – it’s not a major drama.
“We’ll put steps in place to make sure he’s up to scratch ahead of round one.”
