EVARN Tuimavave could have been excused for wondering what sort of mess he had walked into when he joined the Newcastle Knights late last year from the New Zealand Warriors.
Just a month after Tuimavave crossed the Tasman, the Knights were stunned by the departure of Danny Wicks, who resigned in tumultuous circumstances when he was arrested and charged with dealing illicit drugs.
The dust had barely settled when Chris Houston suffered a similar fate less than two weeks before the 2010 season kicked off.
It was a nightmare scenario for any club, and if the remaining Knights players were not rattled by the loss of two valuable teammates, then the ensuing scrutiny, rumours and media attention soon became an unwanted, irritating distraction.
But Tuimavave knew better than most that, while things were bad, they could be much worse.
Two words tattooed on his right hand - Sonny Fai - were a daily reminder of that.
In January last year, Tuimavave and his Warriors teammates spent a day searching notorious Bethells Beach for the body of Fai, the 20-year-old regarded as a future superstar.
He was never found.
Fai disappeared the day before as he helped his brother and four cousins to escape a rip that was dragging them out to sea.
His relatives made it to safety.
Not only had the Warriors lost a player they believed could have scaled the game's greatest heights, but Tuimavave had lost a dear friend.
"We were really good mates," he said.
"When I was a young guy coming up, there were guys like Ali Lauiti'iti I looked up to, and I tried to help Sonny out as much as I could.
"It was pretty sad. It took its toll."
Eventually Tuimavave accepted that life goes on.
And in his case, a change of scenery was just what he needed.
After debuting as an 18-year-old for the Warriors in 2002 he played in another 104 NRL games for his home-town club.
But many of them were off the bench, taking a back seat to veterans Steve Price and Ruben Wiki, two of the modern-day champions of the engine room.
Having earned his first New Zealand Test jersey during the 2008 World Cup, Tuimavave was preparing to take his game to a new level last season.
But a pre-season wrestling mishap left him nursing a bulging disc in his neck that threatened his career.
Out of the blue came an approach from the Knights, and when Newcastle flew to Auckland in June to play the Warriors, then-coach Brian Smith met Tuimavave and delivered the perfect sales pitch.
Not that the 109-kilogram, 183-centimetre nugget needed much convincing.
He had fond memories of Newcastle's EnergyAustralia Stadium, having played his first game of rugby league in Australia there, as part of a junior touring team. He made his Kiwi debut on the same turf.
Throw in the fact that Newcastle had two ex-Warriors in Cooper Vuna and Constantine Mika in their squad, and the idea of leaving Auckland started to grow on Tuimavave.
He happily accepted a two-year deal.
The 25-year-old admitted he was "a bit homesick" when he first arrived last November but has felt more settled since his partner, Casey, followed him out.
On the field, he has wasted no time making himself at home, establishing himself as a starter alongside NSW Origin prop Ben Cross in coach Rick Stone's front-row rotation.
Tuimavave and Cross laid solid foundations in Saturday's 20-16 win over Canterbury, and Stone is confident their partnership will continue to improve.
"He's a likeable sort of bloke, Evarn, and an experienced bloke," Stone said.
"He's quiet but confident in his own ability.
"He's been a great addition to our pack, and probably a bloke who's been underrated, I think, in NRL situations.
"His pairing with Crossy gave us a good start against the Dogs.
"Evarn can do a bit of pre-line and post-line offloads, he's strong in defence and carries the ball well in tough situations.
"If you were building a front-rower, he's got a lot of skills you'd like to have."
Tuimavave felt he and Cross had not taken long to click as a combination.
"Obviously Crossy's a big human being, so I try to complement him and push when we can," he said.
"I just do what I do in any game of football."
Stone admitted he did not know a great deal about Tuimavave before he arrived in Newcastle.
"When I took over, I did some homework, watched some vision and spoke to him a couple of times," he said.
"I just reassured him that we were confident we'd made the right choice in him and were continuing to go forward with the deal.
"From there, we've hit it off pretty well.
"I think he admits he needed a change from the Warriors, and he's come here with a decent attitude and a few goals to improve himself."
Tuimavave may not have felt the same heartache as the rest of his teammates when Wicks and Houston departed, but the significance of a season-opening win was not lost on him.
"We've had a few hiccups in the off-season, which everyone knows, but the best way to silence our critics is to win games," he said.
"Hopefully we can carry it on throughout the year."
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