NRL legend Tawera Nikau has revealed the unlikely place his amputated leg ended up after almost being barbecued.
The Melbourne Storm icon lost his right leg in a motorbike accident in 2003 – two years after he retired.
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But instead of leaving his leg at the hospital, he asked doctors if he could take it home.
Nikau, 59, explained that amputated body parts are considered sacred in Māori culture, and it is not uncommon for Māori amputees to request the return of their limb.
The 1999 Premiership winner even had a bizarre plan for his leg – to keep it in his bar at home.
“When I told the doctor I was gonna have my leg cut off, he came and gave me this green form,” Nikau told Fox League’s Face to Face program, which you can watch on Kayo Sports.
“I said, oh, what’s that for, Doc? He says, oh, can you sign the form? When you cut your leg off, when we amputate your leg, you see look at the window. I said, yep, you see those big incinerators? We incinerate the leg.
“And I said, Doc, have you heard of cultural sensitivity? And he says, what do you mean? I said, I’m Māori, that leg belongs to me. I’m gonna take it home when I go.
“He said, well, no one’s ever asked to do that before. I said, well, can you sort it out?”
Nikau was granted permission to recover his leg and he felt it would look great in his new home.
“There’s a lady in the office, I gave her the green form. She looks at the form, looks at me, she goes, what are you gonna do with your leg?” Nikau continued.
“I said, oh, I just built a new house and I got a big bar in it.
“I’m gonna put it in big jar and leave it on the bar in formaldehyde. She goes, oh, that’s a bit gory, isn’t it?
“It’s my bloody leg, I can do whatever I wanna do with it can’t I? So I got the leg, got home that afternoon, my mum picked me up, took me home.
“And I wanted to see what my leg looked like, so it was in this brown box about this big. So when I got home, I had to look at it.
“I thought, oh, s***, that looks a bit gory. I don’t know if I’m gonna put that on the bar in the jar, so I just got a big rubbish bag and I wrapped it up and I put it in the freezer at home in the garage.”
But that is not where the leg finally ended up, with the amputated limb almost becoming part of dinner at a barbecue.
“About two weeks later, we had a barbecue at my house,” Nikau said.
“True story, true story. My mate Shane, the butcher, comes over. I said, bro, can you go in the shed and grab that leg of pork off the top shelf?
“So he goes in the shed, unwraps it, opens it up and he throws the leg in the air, it was my leg.”
A family tragedy years later saw Nikau make the decision to finally part ways with his leg.
“Not long after, about two years later, one of my nephews passed away,” Nikau said.
“There is a place in Maori culture where we bury all our dead.
“And one of my nephews passed away and I buried it upside down on top of my nephew, so he could have something to play around with. But that’s what happened to my leg, mate.”
