Nikau was a disappointment for me but there were mitigating factors. He was NRL loose forward of the year the year before we signed him but didn't look like that when he played for us. He was angry and looking for trouble on the pitch, probably out of frustration. He had come from the NRL Grand Final winners and then suddenly had a lot of mediocre players around him at Warrington so wouldn't have had the runners off him that he was used to and that will have limited his game.
In his second season he had to deal with the tragedy of the death of his wife. He was a strong character then because he stayed to finish his contract, and after Langer, Gee and Mercer quit mid season, he stood up and provided leadership. I seem to remember his best form for us coming at the end of that second season.
I think my disappointment with Nikau was wrapped up with my overall disappointment that the big signings for 2000 didn't make us a top 5 team. I think I was hoping that signing the NRL's form loose forward, at a time when the gulf in standard between the two leagues was huge, meant we were going to have someone on par with Sculthorpe or Farrell, but guys like Brad Mackay at Bradford and Adrian Vowles at Cas were better overseas 13s.
I respect Nikau though as a lot of big name overseas players find ways to get out of their contract if they don't like it. Nikau stayed through all the turmoil Warrington were going through in 2001 at a time he'd experienced massive personal tragedy and he actually started playing better that year. The signing didn't worked out as I hoped but I don't see him as someone who fleeced us.
