THE English phrase ‘Good things come to those who wait’ is one that many people would acknowledge as being true, but if you were to ask Bathurst rugby league talent Harry Siejka he may hold a very different view.
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Before the talented playmaker made his debut for English Super League club the Wakefield Wildcats late last month he had to wait to recover from injury then wait again as visa issues delayed his departure from Australia.
Now he is waiting for his first win with his new club.
He was delighted upon his arrival in mid-March to watch from the sidelines as the club he had signed a one-year deal with beat the Catalan Dragons.
“It’s taken a lot of time but I’m happy to be here now,” Siejka said at the time.
“I was training hard by myself, but once the visa got knocked back a couple of times it rocked me a bit.
“It was a bad injury but if anything, the stuff around the visa has given me a lot of time to recover. The nine month spell is the longest I’ve had ever, so I feel really fresh and the injury feels fine, so I’m itching to go.
“When they said there was only 4,000 people in the stands I had to look again because it sounded like there was about 20,000. It wasn’t a big crowd but they were very, very vocal.”
When Siejka, who made the move to England after a brief stint with the Illawarra Cutters, was finally named in the Wildcats squad it marked nine months between games.
But while Siejka has brought enthusiasm to his latest role as he looks to build on a career which has taken him from Bathurst to Penrith, across the ditch to Auckland, on to Illawarra and now to Wakefield, he has not enjoyed good results.
The 22-year-old was used off the bench in his debut match against St Helen’s, being injected into the match in the 67th minute to replace second-rower Danny Kirmond.
At that stage the Wildcats were trailing 24-16 and that was how the score remained.
On March 30 against Hull KR Siejka got more game time, replacing hooker Paul McShane in the 49th minute, but at that stage the Wildcats trailed 22-0.
It did not get much better and by full-time Wakefield were on the wrong end of a 44-6 loss.
Siejka did come close to scoring his first Super League points in that match when he tried to dive over from close range out of dummy half, but Hull’s James Green came up with a try-saving tackle.
Those two Super League defeats were followed by a hefty 60-6 home loss to the Leeds Rhinos in a fourth round Tetley Challenge Cup match.
“We couldn’t compete. We talked about the quality we’d need to have with the ball if we were to compete against Leeds, but we gave up too much ball early,” Siejka’s new coach Richard Agar said of the match.
“We need to have a good look at ourselves and fully understand what it takes if we want to compete at this level.”
It means Siejka, who has been given the number 17 jumper, is still waiting for his first success with his new club.
He will be hard- pressed to find it in his next match as the Wildcats are drawn to meet the Rhinos again on Friday night.