Deon Ieremia Evans-Leifi is a proud Samoan playing in the First Nation Australia team that participated in the Teuila 7s tournament on the weekend. 

He is from the village of Lalomanu, the son of Faga Leifi. His mother, Kimberly Evans is from the tribe on the South Coast of Sydney. 

In an interview, he said he had long planned with his father to visit Samoa but things always got in the way for them. However, the opportunity struck when he least expected it. 

"Me and Dad have, quite a few times booked to come to Samoa but things got in the way like COVID, tsunamis, but blessed that God has given me the opportunity to come here with the Australian Indigenous side," he said. 

"I get to visit Samoa, get in touch with my roots on my father's side. It's a blessing.

"It's my first time here. We have a bit of a tight schedule, we were going around visiting schools, and had an ava ceremony at Wesley College  which was a good highlight. Hopefully, the tournament is almost done, if we get a little bit of time, I'll drive down to Lalomanu and meet my family. Looking forward to it."

He was very happy that he finally got to meet his uncle whom he is named after Ieremia Leifi. He also met a few other members of his family here in Samoa. He reminisced on how great it is to be in Samoa to feel and breathe in. 

"The culture it's all just coming into life a bit. It's a blessing that my father has been involved with my life as much as he can. I've learnt a lot through him in terms of the Samoan culture," he added.

"But just to be here, to live and breathe it, he's here as well when he heard and flew over from Queensland." 

When he was asked about the banter during their matches, he laughed and said that he just feels good about being in the homeland.

"I understand a few and I just laugh it off. It's just good to be back here in the motherland. Yeah, 100 per cent, that'll be a blessing. I think it's something that would mean so much to my family. That is definitely something on my books. Never say never."