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Chee-Kam repaying Tigers' faith

3 minute read

Michael Chee-Kam says he's happy to be repaying the faith shown in him by the Wests Tigers after he was convicted for slapping a ride share driver.

After finding himself plastered all over the news for all the wrong reasons earlier in the year, Michael Chee-Kam says he has been driven to repay the Wests Tigers.

The Tigers utility reinforced his x-factor potential after he manufactured from nothing a brilliant individual try to give Michael Maguire's side a nail-biting 14-9 NRL win over South Sydney on Thursday.

With little doing, he took off from the halfway line, left Adam Reynolds and Kyle Turner grabbing at air before taking on and stepping around fullback Corey Allan.

It was the second time in three months that the Auckland native came up with a scintillating solo try with minutes on the clock to give his side a valuable two points after breaking Brisbane's hearts in similar fashion in round five.

Having come on for his second stint in the 63rd minute, he claimed he was just fresh and exploited some tired Rabbitohs defence.

But he also revealed that Benji Marshall and Maguire had urged him in the dressingroom to take the game on and backed him to come up with a match-winning play.

"It was Benji, before the game, a couple of us boys weren't feeling too good, had a bit of the flu, he just said we're going to have to do it tough and I think you're going to come on and do something special for us," Chee-Kam said.

"Even Madge said it to me before the game too. He said 'think about that Broncos game, I know you can come on and be an x-factor for us, just focus on your role'.

"It's crazy how things turn out man."

But just a few months ago Chee-Kam was in the headlines for all the wrong reasons after he was convicted of common assault for slapping a ride share driver after getting into an argument in the streets.

He was given a 12-month good behaviour bond and fined $2000.

He expressed his remorse and said he was determined to repay the club after they backed him, even on the days he had to miss training so he could attend court.

"That's not me. Everyone that knows me knows I'm not that type of person," Chee-Kam said.

"I guess it was just a big misunderstanding, the wrong place at the wrong time, I really regret it, I let a lot of people down - family, friends and the club, I put them in a bad light.

"I'm really looking to repay them with stuff that I'm doing off the field. On the field too. It was a big learning curve, we all make mistakes, it's all about how you bounce back."

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