Player Profile - Iafeta Paleaaesina

New Zealand Warriors rugby league prop Iafeta Paleaaesina has gone from KFC to skinless chicken and rice, but put on about 5kg in the off-season.

It's all muscle.

Paleaaesina, 22, is beginning his fourth season in the National Rugby League and big things are expected of this giant of a man.

With his mentor Jerry Seuseu off to England at the end of the year, Paleaaesina knows it's his chance to make a big impact and secure a place at the club where he is contracted only until the end of this season.

"It's the hardest off-season I've had," he said after moving in with captain Monty Betham.

"No junk food, high-intensity training. I feel better. I feel fresh and ready to go."

Paleaaesina, nickname "Feka", was dubbed "Mr Effective" after a debut in 2001 during which he skittled Northern Eagles players with a galloping charge that has become his trademark. In his fifth game he suffered a ruptured spleen.

The club had already signed him to the end of this year but after removal of the damaged organ he struggled through 2002.

Paleaaesina admitted he had suffered as much from a mental setback as he did the physical one.

But he said he's over that now. "I don't have a spleen to worry about any more."

He had learned how to manage the injury worry and how hard he had to work if he wanted to maintain his place in the team.

"It's all in my hands. It's up to me to work hard and perform."

Betham had helped and so had Seuseu.

"Jerry's the mark, a real model for me. He helps a lot of the young guys and I'm keen to learn as much as I can from him."

Paleaaesina said the big Warriors forwards had been knocking each other around in pre-season, a mark of the competition for a starting spot.

He was aware he could be regarded as lucky to move up from the interchange because of the injury to Richard Villasanti, who returns in a fortnight.

Others he has to watch are Karl Temata, Mark Tookey, new buy Matt Jobson and big frames from the development squad.

The Warriors' coaching staff are open about the expectation they have for the big man.

They believe he has lots of ball skills that will become more apparent as he gets more comfortable in his role.

His physique is much better and they expect him to play more minutes on the field and to expand the impact he's made coming off the bench, to make more carries and more tackles.