Former Kiwi NRL and Super League player Kylie Leuluai has had the chance to wear his proud dad cap this week after his son Marley took another significant step in his own sporting career, albeit in a completely different arena.
Yesterday 17-year-old Marley Leuluai signed with Burnley in the English Premier League, meaning the famous Leuluai name has now expanded from rugby league to football.
Speaking to Breakfast this morning, Leuluai senior said his son had always wanted to play sport but his code of choice surfaced early on thanks to other influences.
"Obviously I played rugby league and I thought he might follow my path but he chose a different one, mainly because we're based in England and it's the top sport over here in the UK," Leuluai said.
"At school, everyone plays football. He loved rugby until he went to school and then things changed and opportunities came."
Don't let the strong Yorkshire accent fool you - Marley Leuluai comes from strong Kiwi sporting stocks. (Source: 1News)
Leuluai said that first major opportunity was joining Premier League powerhouse Manchester City's academy when he was just eight, although it wasn't a perfect path.
"He's done extremely well. He came through the pathways at Man City - he was there for nine years since he was eight and then he had a couple of injuries at the back end of two seasons," he said.
"It was a pretty tough time for him but it was really good to be able to see that resilience.
"When you're going through that journey, you have to have some sort of a disappointment in order for you to push forward and he's done that and been through that so that's set up nicely, hopefully, for the future."
During his signing announcement, Marley was photographed penning the deal with his family present while also wearing an 'ulafala [traditional Samoan necklace] - a detail that was important to him.
"My wife, she's half-Samoan, half-Dutch, so we're both Samoan and he's very passionate about his culture, whether it's Samoan or Dutch and I'm half Māori as well," Leuluai said of his son.
"He always likes to represent his people and he lets them know because of his thick accent. He doesn't like people to be confused so he's quite stern with them - I'm not from here, I'm from New Zealand."
With that said, Leuluai has been preparing to help New Zealand qualify for the under-17 FIFA World Cup in Indonesia this week, with the tournament kicking off later today.
Leuluai said he believes a big drawcard for his son was not only the opportunity to play international football, but also the chance to reconnect to his roots.
"He's been here for 17 years because we moved here when he was three weeks old," he said.
"I think it was more reconnecting with his roots and reconnecting with his country because we've always been proud Kiwis - we follow the All Blacks and everyone.
"We're just really proud of where we're from and he's followed us so we've sort of brainwashed him into representing New Zealand!"
The New Zealand U17 team's first match is on Sunday against Venezuela.
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