It wasn’t just enough to sign a good footballer. What was required was a statement to the rugby league world: that the Rabbitohs were truly back, that the best players from the best clubs were again proud to wear the cardinal and myrtle. And Roy Asotasi was that man. Whatever it takes. “The good thing was that Russell wanted him,” says Rowan, Asotasi’s long-time manager. “I’ve learnt that what Russell wants, Russell gets.” What it took was a five-year, $2.55 million deal to prise him out of Canterbury. Given the salary cap was just $3.37 million at the time, it meant spending more than 15 per cent of South Sydney’s salary cap on a single player.