Topless hakas and wild celebrations – how rugby legend is bringing winning culture to Chelsea’s billion pound youngsters
FROM doing a topless haka in the Chelsea dressing room to punching the dugout in celebration of the Club World Cup win, you can see the passion that Willie Isa brings to the Blues.
The former world champion rugby league star, 36, started in the brand new role of player support and development officer for the Premier League club only in February.
Yet the viral videos of the Samoan demonstrate Isa is already very much at the heart of what is going on at Stamford Bridge.
It comes as no surprise to Isa’s former boss at Wigan Warriors that he has become so popular, so quickly in his new life in a new sport.
In February 2024, head coach Matt Peet led Wigan to victory in the World Club Challenge.
And Isa, who had been at the club since 2016, was the “cultural architect” who set the standards on and off the field that underpinned the triumph.
Peet told SunSport: “It can sound vague I think, like wishy-washy words, when you talk about culture and standards.
“But it comes back to what are you willing to accept and what are you not willing to accept.
“And who’s going to set where the line is and acknowledge when things fall below standard.
“Willie was someone who would be driving the cultural side of the environment, standards, behaviours, attitude, just 24/7. Those people are so important.
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“We all knew he’d be an addition to any environment. So it’s just fair play to Chelsea for identifying him. They had obviously done their homework.”
Just weeks after Isa became a world champion with Wigan in February last year, he suffered an horrific injury.
A fractured fibula and dislocated ankle put him out for months, but even then – especially then – he made sure he continued to contribute.
In the autumn, after Wigan had lifted the Challenge Cup and Super League without him on the field, Isa said: “I was elevated a few years back as a leader and, with the injury, I wanted to play a part in the team in some other way.
“The one-to-one stuff I love but also leading in the group. I make sure our principles stay intact as a club in performance and as people.”
Isa returned to training but never to matches before Chelsea offered him the chance to show his off-field skills were transferable to a different sport.
You could say Isa was to Wigan what James Milner was to Liverpool under Jurgen Klopp, with the former Kop boss saying Milner was absolutely vital in setting the tone and standards which propelled the Reds back to the top.
It is a comparison which Peet agrees with and Isa would appreciate.
Because, after joining Widnes Vikings in 2012, he became a committed Liverpool fan. He was in Madrid to watch Klopp’s side win the Champions League in 2019 and long-term partner Gemma Bonner plays for the Reds’ ladies side.
But now Isa finds himself working for one of Liverpool’s big rivals.
The average age of a Chelsea starter last season – 24 years and 36 days – was the youngest in Premier League history.
And Peet believes Isa is the perfect role model, mentor and confidant for Enzo Maresca’s youthful squad.
Peet said: “Any young player, they want to be challenged to improve. They want to be shown the way to lead your life as a professional, in high performance.
“But first and foremost, they want to know that there’s a genuine care there.
“That’s what Willie will be good at. He’ll put his arm around those that need it, but it won’t be a softly, softly approach.
“It’ll be driving them to be the best they can be.
“Whatever age group, whatever walk of life these players and staff are from, Willie will have a good way of engaging with people, building relationships and trust with everyone really.”
That was certainly the case at Wigan, as Peet recalled: “The story I like telling about Willie is we were having a team culture discussion one morning.
“We asked all the players to talk about something that a team-mate had done for them which no one else knew about.
“There were 25 people in the meeting that shared and probably over half of the people mentioned Willie.
“Giving them a lift to training. Borrowing them some money. Allowing them to stay at his house rent free when things had gone wrong for them…
“Or when they had moved over from another country, just catching up with the lads for a coffee or doing things for their families.
“You would think, in a meeting like that after a while, certain people would be friends with some groups more than others.
“But it was really evident that Willie was a good team-mate to a cross-section of the team.”
Behind his strapping physique and competitiveness, Isa really is a man for all seasons.
Peet said: “He’s interested in his sport, no doubt. When he was in the rugby club he was 100 per cent rugby league, but then at the weekend he’d go watch Gemma or Liverpool.
“He also had a diverse range of interests. What he’d read about, what he’d talk about, politics, social issues.
“I know that weekly he’d visit homeless shelters. Not as an appearance, they wouldn’t even know he was a professional athlete. He’d just go and do it off his own bat.
“He’s just an interesting guy. He’s happy to have a conversation about a range of subjects.
“It’ll be seen as a team role that he has, linked to culture and environment. But it’s really built on individual connections and that’s where Willie will excel.”
By all accounts, Isa is really making an impression at Chelsea.
He is a daily presence at the club’s training ground in Cobham and part of the backroom staff for every match. A popular figure. A leader of men.
And, just months after swapping an oval ball for a round one, part of a world championship-winning team again.