He’s a tattoo artist from Mascot with a clothing brand idea inspired by his uncle; and now Wes Lolo is out to make him proud in his Rugby League journey, with the desired destination being the NRL.
Standing at 186 centimetres tall, and tipping the scales at 115 kilograms, Lolo is an imposing figure on the football field, and was an integral part of the Wests Tigers Intrust Super Premiership NSW preliminary finals push last year.
Family is everything for Lolo and when speaking about debuting for the Tigers' NRL team, emotions ran high - his uncle has played an integral part in the 23-year-old's life.
“There are no words to explain how much it would mean for my family,” Lolo tells NSWRL.com.au.
“I’m sorry to get emotional, but my uncle played a huge role in my career, it would mean so much to get a crack and do him proud.
“Unfortunately he did not make it before God called him, but he’s watching me from upstairs and hopefully I can make him proud.”
Lolo has represented the Niue Rugby League team on a number of occasions and travelled to South Africa to play a post-season series.
He then took a giant leap over the pre season towards his NRL ambition, by beating the man in the mirror and adding some discipline into his life to further his career.
“I knew that I wanted any chance to play first grade that I would have to crack down on my diet and lose a few kilograms,” Lolo says.
“It was really tough going into pre season, I weighed in at 127 kilograms playing in the Intrust Super Premiership NSW last year.
“I’m fortunate and blessed to have the pre season that I got and I lost 11 kilograms.”
While a destructive force on the field, Lolo possesses rare talents off it.
He has a passion for art, and has since become a tattoo artist, and formed his own clothing brand called LoloInk, and he even helped design the Wests Tigers 2017 Auckland Nines jersey.
“I’ve always been a fan of art, and I thought either tattooing or airbrush was a career for me after footy or after high school,” Lolo says.
“I started a little hobby when I was in under-20s, I was enjoying tattooing and I had an idea from my uncle Charlie to start a clothing brand, and I came up with LoloInk.
“Obviously it’s named after my last name but the idea was to transfer the ink on the body to the shirt.”
“I don’t have a website or anything, my stuff is just on social media; it’s been a long start, but it’s picking up now and making it worthwhile.”
Lolo’s business can be found on Instagram at loloink, and on Facebook at LoloInk.
