A BASKETBALL career beckoned for Michael Bani, but Manly's latest speed sensation said it was a moment of Matt Bowen magic in the 2005 State of Origin series that prompted him to take a punt on rugby league.

Having stepped inside Bowen to set up the final try against the Cowboys in Saturday's semi-final, Bani can hardly comprehend how life has turned out.

"I was watching that Origin game at a pub back home [in the tiny Torres Strait island of Mabuiag]," Bani recalled yesterday. "When he took that intercept in extra time to win the game for Queensland, I thought to myself, 'If a guy his size can play at that level and do that, I should be able to do it too'.

"He played a big part in my decision to go to Bundaberg to play league."

Before that epiphany, Bani was set to be a baller. A naturally gifted athlete, he picked up the sport aged 19 but excelled so rapidly mentoring by Danny Morseu, the first Torres Strait Islander to represent Australia at an Olympic Games in 1980, was arranged.

"We all thought basketball was the sport he would make something of himself in," said Bani's mother, Meroma Fell.

Bani always had the ability but struggled with self-belief in sport.

"Ever since I was a kid I dreamed of making the big time," he said. "But when things got tough I was looking for short cuts. I didn't believe enough in myself, I didn't want to put in the work and that's why I never went to the next step with basketball."

Having decided to seriously pursue a league career, Bani became the Bundaberg player of the year last season thanks largely to the advice of his club coach, Tat Whaleboat.

"He believed in me a lot," Bani said.

He joined Manly's premier league team this year and has now helped the club qualify for their first NRL grand final in a decade.

He remains well grounded despite the spectacular rise, and as another emerging talent of the Mormon faith, Bani said he is contemplating a two-year overseas mission.

"I have strong faith that if I did go, God would give me the blessings to come back even better," Bani said.

For now, he remains determined to fulfil his potential on the football field.

His parents could not be prouder. Ms Fell and Bani's stepfather, Keith Fell, drove for four days from Cairns to Sydney to watch the 23-year-old play an inspired match against the Cowboys at Sydney Football Stadium.

They are hoping he will line up in the decider, and there was a humorous moment at Narrabeen's NSW Academy of Sport yesterday after Manly's training run had finished when, while the Herald was speaking with Bani's parents, Hasler came over to congratulate them on their son's success.

When asked: "Will Michael play this weekend?", a cautious Hasler replied: "He is definitely in the picture, I can't say anymore because there is a journalist standing here," after which Mr Fell began to beat away this pesky reporter with a flag.

They'll get their answer this afternoon when the team is announced, but if Bani has to make way for regular winger Chris Hicks, who was ruled out of Saturday's match with injury, they have still experienced far more than they thought possible.

Posing for newspaper photographs and talking to television reporters, the family at times appeared to disbelieve what has transpired in the past week.

Bani, who is signed for next season with the Sea Eagles, has much more to accomplish. And if it doesn't work out, there's always basketball.

"I'd give it a go," he said.

"If the Sydney Kings asked me to train I'd try it out."