Rugby news: Taniela Tupou on cusp of new Rugby Australia deal, set to join Melbourne Rebels
Taniela ‘Tongan Thor’ Tupou is the kind of household name that Australian rugby needs in
Wallabies
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Taniela Tupou is on the verge of signing a two-year extension with Rugby Australia that is also set to see him defect to the Melbourne Rebels.
The development came after Tupou’s new manager, Anthony Picone, is understood to have placed a 72-hour deadline on re-signing “Tongan Thor” before he looked at overseas clubs.
Tupou, off contract at the end of 2023, has been in negotiations with RA for the past year.
Originally, RA was looking to re-sign the tighthead prop for a further four years.
However, lack of form and an Achilles injury made them rethink their position.
In that that time, Tupou defected from player agency Wasserman to Picone, who has a long history of taking Australian players to Japan.
Because of that reason, the Queensland Reds – who Tupou plays for – decided they would no longer deal with Picone, who was instrumental in setting up a multimillion-dollar deal for then Red captain Samu Kerevi at Japanese club Suntory.
Tupou, 26, has made it clear to those close to him that he wants to leave Queensland, and is keen to join the Rebels, where he has several friends in the team.
While the talks stalled with Tupou, RA moved to extend the contract of Brumbies skipper Allan Alaalatoa until the end of 2027.
As speculation increases that Alaalatoa could be the new Wallabies captain under coach Eddie Jones, Tupou could struggle for a starting Test spot in coming years.
However, his marketing appeal is valuable to a code that is struggling to find household names.
Tupou’s deal could be worth as much as $1 million a year, but will be heavily dependent on bonuses as RA seeks to minimise the risk due to his injury history.
If no deal can be reached this week, Tupou would hit the overseas market.
But given he is expected to miss most of this year with the Achilles injury, his value will have decreased from when he took the rugby world by storm during the 2018-19 seasons including the World Cup.
