Brandon Wakeham will celebrate his 50th NRL appearance on Friday night. Even before he was arrested in the Brookvale Oval car park two years ago, it is a milestone that appeared beyond reach.
It is a testament to how much Wakeham has turned his life around on and off the field that he has gone from a reserve grader embroiled in a major scandal to an integral member of Manly’s spine.
“It feels mad. I didn’t think I’d get to 50 [games],” Wakeham said on the eve of the Sea Eagles’ away clash with Cronulla on Friday.
“It was such a big thing to happen. Even if someone was playing in the NRL it would be too hard to come back from.
“The position I was in – I wasn’t playing first grade, I was playing reserve grade at Blacktown – I thought maybe that might be it.”
The “big thing” Wakeham refers to was the moment he was arrested, and his home was raided, in May 2024. The former Bulldogs and Tigers half was charged with a string of serious offences – including drug supply and participating in a criminal group – while playing for Manly’s feeder team.
Wakeham maintained his innocence throughout the ordeal and all the charges were dropped, but even then, it seemed his NRL days were over. Wakeham began this season on a train-and-trial deal, trying to add to a first-grade career that stalled at 40 games when he finished up at the Tigers in 2023.
However, two life-changing events made an unlikely comeback possible.
“Spiritually, giving my life to God is the biggest thing that’s changed,” he said. “I feel like a different person to who I was at the start of my career. Where I am now, going through the things that have happened, I’m a better person for it now.”
The other big transformation was a shift from the halves to hooker. While the Fiji international will come from the bench against the Sharks, he has been the starting No.9 for much of Manly’s winning run under coach Kieran Foran.
“I’m where I want to be as a footy player mentally, and away from the field,” he said. “Going to training and playing, it’s a lot easier now than the pressure I put on myself in the early days. Now that I have sorted things away from footy, it has a flow-on effect.”
Such has been the transformation, Wakeham has been upgraded to a development contract, and his management is now in talks with Manly about a new deal for next season.
Yet even though he’s established himself in Foran’s team, the 27-year-old continues to work as a builder on almost all his days off. Working on the tools full-time during his sabbatical gave him a new appreciation for the game.
“It was hard waking up early in the morning, not coming home until late,” he said. “It was hard yakka on the body obviously, but it was a bit refreshing not having the pressure of training and game day, trying to perform and be judged by the coaches every day and having the pressure that comes with losses on the weekend.
“That’s something I probably didn’t handle coming through, so it was refreshing to be away from footy at that time.
“At the same time I missed it, and it makes me more hungry to stay in it. Even now, every day off I’m on the tools, I’m still working … It’s helped me come back in, the work ethic to be on the job site and still train. I feel like I’m better for it … It’s something I want to do after footy, too.”
Wakeham said he was enjoying playing under Foran.
“I look at the way he played, he was so tough,” he said. “That’s how I want to play for him – I don’t care what I have to do.”
