![RELIEF VALVE: "Once I reconnected to being active and being physical again, I was like, 'Oh my God!'" says Yirrbi Jaffer-Williams. Photo: Mark Bode RELIEF VALVE: "Once I reconnected to being active and being physical again, I was like, 'Oh my God!'" says Yirrbi Jaffer-Williams. Photo: Mark Bode](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/KUhQizDbwW8WqAyPP4x5yp/07b11a25-55dd-40f9-bb85-b5faee27c017.jpg/r0_0_4032_3024_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
Yirrbi Jaffer-Williams' given name means kingfisher in the language of his mob, the Lardil people of Mornington Island in the Gulf of Carpentaria.
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He was well named: the 24-year-old's movement was bird-like while searching for the best pose for photos for this article - his idiosyncrasy an introduction to a distinctive conversationalist.
He would appear to be a highly individual new addition to the Group 4 landscape, having joined the club this year after moving from Hanging Rock to Tamworth late last year "to train more". He currently does Muay Thai and boxing at Fighting Arts.
Last weekend, Jaffer-Williams made his first-grade rugby league debut when he played on the wing in a win over the Bulldogs in Gunnedah. He has been named on the wing for Saturday's highly anticipated clash against the Roosters at Jack Woolaston Oval.
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The Bears can thank their second-rower Livinai Tuicakau for Jaffer-Williams signing with them.
For it was the Fijian who spotted Jaffer-Williams at a Tamworth service station earlier this year and, according to the latter, said: "Hey bro, you play footy?"
Tuicakau has good instincts. Because although Jaffer-Williams had not played football for a few years, he played on the wing for the NSW and the Australian schoolboys rugby union sides in 2016. Australia toured New Zealand and Samoa.
A low 11-second 100m runner, Jaffer-Williams boarded at St Joseph's College in Sydney and played First XV for the school for two years.
He also played colts and some lower-grade games for Randwick in Sydney.
!["My entire uni education has been like a Subway sandwich: I've made my own little things here and there." "My entire uni education has been like a Subway sandwich: I've made my own little things here and there."](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/KUhQizDbwW8WqAyPP4x5yp/47890518-64aa-4de5-9673-68297fe07cc2.jpg/r0_0_4032_3024_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
Born in Mount Isa, his family moved to Sydney so his mother, Kelly Jaffer, could finish university. She now teaches at Tamworth High and lives in Hanging Rock, where the family moved to in 2009.
Jaffer-Williams said Sydney was where he "had the main part of our childhood in terms of cultivating our culture and stuff like that".
"He was a very big cultural dancer," he said of his father, Wunun "Wayne" Williams. "He taught us a lot in terms of the dances. Passing on that knowledge is very important for our people."
Jaffer-Williams works behind the bar and in the kitchen at the Peel Inn Hotel at Nundle. He is unsure if he will return to the University of New South Wales, where he initially studied criminology but "chopped and changed" courses.
"My entire uni education has been like a Subway sandwich: I've made my own little things here and there. So, I haven't really finished a degree yet.
All I needed was for someone to ask me, 'Hey, come play footy,' and there I was.
"I've got a bit of a love-hate relationship [with uni] at the moment. Because I can see the potential and value of going to uni, but also I can go to a bookstore or Vinnies and pick up a book for $2, which I've been doing. I love reading."
If Jaffer-Williams does return to university, he would like to study teaching. But for now, he is a Bear.
"Man, I love it. I love it," he said of playing for Norths, adding: "I kind of didn't realise how much I missed team sports, in a sense."
He continued: "Once I reconnected to being active and being physical again, I was like, 'Oh my God!' All I needed was for someone to ask me, 'Hey, come play footy,' and there I was."
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