Bulldogs release Groom to Sheffield Mon January 19, 2009 by Matthew O'Neill Fiji's World Cup star Aaron Groom has signed with English side Sheffield Eagles after he was granted a release from the Bulldogs for personal reasons.
Groom played six NRL matches for the Bulldogs in 2008 after transferring across from Manly where he was unable to crack it into their first grade side. Groom will now play in the 2009 Co-operative Championship, which is a competition below Super League.
There were rumours towards the end of the 2008 season that Groom wanted out of the Bulldogs, but nothing at the time eventuated from the speculation.
Groom played for Fiji in the World Cup last year and won the Man of the Match award in both of Fiji's victories, which saw them make the semi finals for the first time.
The Bulldogs granted Groom conditional release from the final year of his contract on the grounds of personal reasons after Groom requested to move to England to be with his girlfriend and pursue career options.
Groom said today, "I genuinely believe the Bulldogs have a big year ahead, I will be following them closely and I wish them well for the 2009 season.
"I have an opportunity to move to the UK with my English girlfriend and will be exploring career options outside of football."
Sheffield Eagles CEO and former player Mark Aston said, "The signing of a player of this quality will make people sit up and it shows that this club is on the way up."
Groom's signing has been hailed as the biggest for Sheffield since they won the Challenge Cup against all odds defeating Wigan 17-8, which Aston was one of the stars in that game.
Sheffield have recruited strongly signing four players from the World Cup last year with the other three being Samoan Tangi Ropati and Papua New Guineans Menzie Yere and Trevor Exton.
Groom's Fiji World Cup team-mates hooker Waisale Suka, stand-off Alipate Noilea and centre Seva Koroi have also signed to play in the 2009 Co-operative Championship and will link with newly promoted side Barrow.
Former Fiji International Waisale Sovatabua was a member of Sheffield's historic 1998 Challenge Cup side and Sheffield will be hoping that Groom can provide the same spark.
The Bulldogs won't be making any immediate plans to replace Groom with Brett Kimmorley, Michael Ennis, Ben Barba, Daniel Holdsworth, Ben Roberts and Michael Ennis the leading candidates for the halves and hooker positions in 2009.
It appeared that Groom was only an outside candidate for an NRL position this year at the Bulldogs following the acquisitions of Kimmorley and Ennis plus the development of Barba. There were reports he was a bit behind the eight-ball and obviously Groom believes that his future lies in the UK where he can be alongside his girlfriend and continue to play football.
Bulldogs Groom shines for Fiji Bati (Audio Interview) Sun November 2, 2008 by Matthew O'Neill Fiji Bati halfback and Bulldogs utility Aaron Groom produced his finest performance at senior level last night to take the Jetstar Man of the Match award following Fiji's 42-6 victory against France at Wollongong's Win Stadium.
Groom joined the Bulldogs this season looking for an opportunity to play more first grade, but injuries held back his progress and he was unable to cement a regular position in the top grade despite the Bulldogs finishing with the wooden spoon. He was shifted between halfback and hooker and on occasions got limited game time from the interchange bench.
Groom's first grade debut for the Bulldogs came when Ben Roberts was forced out and he came out of his sick bed to play halfback against the very inform Scott Prince and produced an encouraging debut. Groom wasn't seen for several weeks after that, but later in the year played a lot at hooker.
Rleague.com was fortunate to interview Groom after the match where he spoke about the game against France, his ambitions for the remainder of the World Cup, how proud he is to represent Fiji and how excited he is about returning to Bulldogs pre-season training after the World Cup.
Commenting on winning the Man of the Match, Groom said, "It was a massive bonus to win Man of the Match tonight. I didn't expect it. I just wanted to go out there and do my bit for Fij - for our country and the people back home. It's all over the papers and big news back in Fiji. All the boys here came and we all have the same goal. We don't want to be individuals - we want to be a team."
Groom's defence was an impressive feature in his performance and when asked about his effort in defence he said, "They are a big side. I assume they would have been spotting me out and coming at me with their bigger blokes. I didn't want to let the boys down."
When asked about Bulldogs pre-season training and teaming up with Brett Kimmorley, Groom said, "I'm looking forward to it a lot. Obviously last season wasn't our best and with Brett Kimmorley coming - he's done it all. He's got plenty of experience and hopefully sit back and learn a bit off him."
The five-eighth position is going to be most hotly contested position at the Bulldogs with Groom, Roberts, Daniel Holdsworth, Ben Barba and Michael Sullivan in a five-way shoot out to partner Kimmorley in the halves and work with hooker Michael Ennis. When asked about wanting to play five-eighth, Groom said, "Anywhere in the 17 I'm happy with. I'll play hooker, five-eighth, halfback - whatever."
Kevin Moore takes over as Bulldogs coach next year and when asked whether he's looking forward to playing under him he said, "A lot. He was obviously our assistant coach this year and he had a lot to do with us at the back end of the year and I'm really looking forward to starting a fresh with the Bulldogs and things should go pretty well next year."
Groom admitted that he didn't get to watch the Tonga v Samoa game as the hotel Fiji stayed at didn't have Fox Sports.
The Pacific Cup has been talked about and Groom said, "That would be great. A lot of these boys back home have got a lot of natural ability it's just that they don't have the right competitions to play in and they don't go through the right sort of training. As you saw tonight they have got the potential and need the right sort of competition."
Groom finished off by saying he would do anything for the players in the Fiji side.
[View] Pool B [01 Nov 08] W 42-6 v France. [HB] [View] Pool B [05 Nov 08] L 16-18 v Scotland. [HB] [View] Qualifying Final [10 Nov 08] W 30-14 v Ireland. [HB] [View] Semi Finals [16 Nov 08] L 0-52 v Australia. [HB]
[View] Round 10 [16 May 08] L 20-24 v Gold Coast (A). [HB] [View] Round 13 [07 Jun 08] L 12-22 v Knights (H). [BE] [View] Round 17 [07 Jul 08] L 30-34 v Rabbitohs (H). [BE] [View] Round 20 [28 Jul 08] L 0-30 v Dragons (A). [DH] [View] Round 21 [03 Aug 08] L 4-56 v Tigers (A). [DH] [View] Round 22 [09 Aug 08] L 12-36 v Cowboys (H). [BE]
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