Dean Ieremia’s dream of developing his skills to be “playing with the boys on TV” came true recently. On 30 April he played his debut game in Australia’s rugby league, with top-rated Melbourne Storm.
DOWNLOADA member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, he says, “I made a promise to God that if I could improve my ability to play, I would keep the commandments.
I set some standards and my faith motivated me to keep them. I put in the hard work and God gave me the opportunity.”
Ieremia continues, “One of the reasons why I choose to play for Melbourne is because the club puts family first, and family is important to me.”
He thanks his parents for their unfailing support through many challenges and trials. He says he was surprised and delighted to see the large group of family and friends at the game, holding a huge poster of him.
The home-town local played solid defense in his “cracking debut.” He represented Victoria from the under 14’s through to the under 20’s and played for the Storm's junior and feeder teams before getting a late call up to the NRL side in round eight.