BY DAN

In the rush to get on with life there’s a tendency to pretend the experiences of the pandemic didn’t happen. What was a formative experience is now just a blur, it’s lessons pervasive but sometimes ignored. The moments that kept us afloat during this time consigned to the corners of our minds, ignored lest they bring forth that penetrating anxiety that made the coffee all that more effective in 2020 and 2021.

As painful as that time was there are moments we should be grateful for. Amongst the rubble of all those memories, and well down the Maslow was Semi Valemei and his contribution to the Canberra Raiders. Semi emerged during the pandemic ruined 2020 season, mostly because there was no one else. Curtis Scott, who had joined the club to replace BJ Leilua had struggled to find his best form before injuring himself midway through the season. Bailey Simonsson was injured. So was Michael Oldfield. Seb Kris had taken the year off football. Soon to be father (of Cam Munster and Matt Burton) Matt Timoko was yet to be a fixture in first grade. Similarly the promise of Harley Smith-Shields was just that. The Raiders needed an answer.

He first appeared on the bench against the Roosters in round 11 in 2020. Simonsson, Scott were all watching. Michael Oldfield limped from the field, his hamstring unable to survive in the face of the Roosters’ onslaught at their absolute pomp. In came Semi, nothing but raw-boned running ability, to play alongside Jordan Rapana, who is an absolute madman at the best of time, but as a centre partner must be like trying to waltz with an overcaffeinated monkey. But Semi came in and did his job, and somehow the Raiders held on. From that point forward that was how Canberra would roll. Semi tearing into the line with his powerful thighs alongside Rapana’s (sometimes) controlled chaos.

And it worked. Semi was immediately effective as a winger. It suited his skill-set. He could get through yardage work as well as anyone, such a critical part of Canberra’s approach to the game. He had surprising pace, bringing that Kenny Nagas style running where he would hardly appear to be moving but somehow also gliding away from the chasers. He was clearly still learning and developing and the limited role of winger suited him perfectly. We all became acquainted with his smile and the abandon he approached the game – the personification of the old maxim ‘if you’re going to mess up, do it at 110 per cent.’

Valemei was hardly perfect. He was a player that no one expected to be playing first grade in normal circumstances being forced to learn his trade in front of us. The bumps that would normally be smoothed in Cup footy were being felt in front of the eyes of thousands of house-bound lunatics. The emotional toll must have been massive, and that doesn’t even consider the off-field challenge of culture shock and leaving a new family behind in Fiji.

That it held together was a minor miracle. That was until the Storm worked out that Semi wasn’t perfect under the high ball in the preliminary final and gave him one of those nights that can scar. Valemei had faced an impossible task all season and managed to hold it together with elbow grease and a smile. There’s nowhere to hide at the highest level and Valemei bore the brunt for the loss from a frustrated fandom because his mistakes were the most brazen. No quarter was given to a man who had to build his own foundations.

A curtailed Cup footy season limited his ability to learn his lessons through the first half of 2021, and then circumstances (injury, and Caleb Aekins’ uninspired performance) brought him back to first grade. Again his development happened in front of our eyes, and Valemei continued to struggle with lessons normally learned in lower grades. Dropped bombs, missed defensive assignments, an inability to make complex decisions at pace. It was all there.

This was compounded to start 2022 when instead of *finally* being given a chance to either learn in Cup (or continue his role in first grade) Coach Stuart decided to Aidan Sezer him and push into a centre. This position wasn’t so much ill-suited as ambitious. Centres have to make some of the more complex decisions of any defender on the field, and have to do it a full pace. That last bit was never an issue for Valemei, but being given time to learn the intricacies of which decision make was not an option. In the end the fit was like a child in his Dad’s suit. Again, he learned in public and we punished for him for it. That he maintained his enthusiasm and equanimity about it, kept working at his game, was a testament to character.

This year Valemei finally got time to learn. Resting solidly at the back of a long depth-chart of outside backs for the Milk he barely sniffed first grade this year. In the Cup outings the hard carry was always there, the thigh bones made of steel pumping away for extra metres in yardage, or away from defenders in space. He’s still only 24, and given what he’s shown in the past it’s a smart pickup by the Cowboys. Given time and a little patience he could be anything.

But even if he doesn’t turn this opportunity into stardom I think it’s important that what he gave us during the pandemic is valued and appreciated. And most of all, not forgotten.

Courage is the most important of all the virtues, because without courage you can’t practice any other virtue consistently. You can however like the page on Facebook, follow me on Twitter, or share this on social media. Don’t hesitate to send us feedback (dan@sportress.org) or comment below if you think we are stupid. Or if we’re not.