Sport Confidential: Daniel Tupou backs Roosters’ Dom Young signing
Daniel Tupou’s time at the Roosters could be coming to an end but that hasn’t stopped him from backing the club’s chase of another gun winger.
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Off-contract winger Daniel Tupou has endorsed the Roosters’ chase of Newcastle star Dom Young even though it has left his own future in a precarious position.
Tupou’s contract expires at the end of the year and at the age of 32, he knows time is running out.
He hasn’t made a call yet on what he will do next year but he has backed the Roosters’ decision to sign Young, who will join the club in 2023.
“It is a great signing for the club,” Tupou said.
“Dom Young is a great young talent coming through and I have been impressed with how he has gone about things so far.
“The club are trying to be a top contender and he is a great signing. I am supportive of it. They have been transparent with me.
“He is a great winger and has done really well. It will be awesome to see what he can do for the Roosters in the future.”
HINDMARSH GETS SHOT AT REDEMPTION
Nathan Hindmarsh has waited 20 years for redemption.
No we aren’t talking about chasing a premiership win or another Origin series success.
Instead the Parramatta legend will compete in a potato race on Saturday.
For just the second time Fox League’s Hindmarsh will return to his home town of Robertson and race in the Robertson Open Potato Race.
The last time he took on the event – where they race for 400 metres while carrying 50kg worth of potatoes - he was in peak physical condition and at the top of his game in the NRL.
“With about 20 metres to go my left leg buckled,” Hindmarsh said.
“I was in front by about 50 metres and I failed miserably. I was in the best shape of my life and I couldn’t finish it.
“I haven’t exercised for 10 years so how am I going to go this time around? I am shitting myself.”
Hindmarsh finished last.
The race has haunted Hindmarsh long before he was a rugby league star. He once competed in the juniors and dropped the bag of potatoes on his own face.
To make matters worse his brother Ian took out the event in 2004.
“A lot of people thought I fell over on purpose,” Hindmarsh said. “So I just went with that for a while. But I was already counting the $1000 prize in my head.
“Fletch (Fox League stablemate Bryan Fletcher) has been putting me through an old-school training regimen. We’ve been doing sandhills and plyometrics.
“You get a T-shirt for entering,” Hindmarsh said. “And I love that T-shirt. If I finish and I don’t spew, I’ll be happy.”
Only 30 people can enter into the race, with local producer Hill Potato Farming supplying the 1500kg of Robertson-grown spuds. The race will be filmed by Fox League’s crew for a Fletch & Hindy segment in a few weeks.
The Hindmarsh family donated the land for the showground in 1879 continue to support the show, which starts on Friday, with the use of their surrounding farmland.
SHARKS TO LAND ROOSTER ON EARLY DEAL
The Cronulla Sharks are closing in on securing Sydney Roosters young prop Tuku Hau Tapuha on an immediate deal.
Despite the Roosters struggling with forward depth as a result of a stack of players being unavailable, they are set to release Tapuha from the final months of his contract.
The 21-year-old played three games off the bench in 2021 but has not been seen in the top grade since.
Sharks coach Craig Fitzgibbon still has two spots available on Cronulla’s 30-man roster.
CHALMERS’ TOUGH CALL ON DONATING BRAIN
Tony Chalmers caught up with a host of his teammates from Parramatta’s 1986 premiership-winning side last Friday. The next day, he finally found the time and courage to post the envelope that had been sitting in his car for nearly a week.
Inside the envelope was a form pledging his brain to the Australian Sports Brain Bank, based at the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital and working in conjunction with the Concussion Legacy Foundation in America.
“I filled out all the documents,” Chalmers told Sports Confidential.
“I got my wife (to sign it) - you have to have a second signature on it. Then I drove around with it in the car for about a week.
“I don’t know why. I don’t know whether it was a subconscious thing. It is just an admission that you aren’t going to be around forever.
“What was hard was telling the family — they don’t want to know about your mortality.”
Chalmers has been a familiar face to rugby league fans for nearly 40 years. He played 54 games for the Eels during their golden age, scoring on debut in 1985 and winning a premiership the next year.
He played another 16 games for Balmain before becoming a key figure in coverage of the game, first at the Nine Network and more recently at Fox League.
There are few more respected figures in the sport. Rare is it that players or coaches turn down an interview request from Chalmers. He has walked in their shoes and that commands enduring respect.
He also has a genuine love for the game and it helps explain why he has decided to donate his brain in the name of research.
As rugby league grapples with another week of headlines around concussion and the use of independent doctors, Chalmers’ hope is that others will follow his lead.
“I reckon I had a minimum of eight or 10 concussion when I played, maybe more,” Chalmers said.
“I do suffer depression and stuff like that. You take it as that is part of growing up, it will be all right. You just want to be careful that you are not over analysing it but I definitely have days when I have better memory than other days.
“You can just feel it, you know what I mean. I really care for the players and I care for the sport. It wasn’t something I had to do, but it was something I could not do.
“I see a lot of old players - not just players I played with - you just know they are not right. You know something is wrong.
“The more people who do it, the more research they can do and they will know more about the brain. What’s the good of burying it and no-one learns anything from it.”
MANNAH TRIBUTE
The nephew of the late Johnny Mannah will be on hand to present the trophy to the winner of the Eels and Cronulla clash on Fright night.
10-year-old Johnny – named after his uncle – will be at the ground alongside his father Danny as part of the celebration of the former Cronulla and Eels prop life after his death in 2013.
Former Eels skipper Tim Mannah will also be on hand to pay tribute to his brother.
“My sister in law was pregnant and found out she was having a boy just before Johnny passed away,” Mannah said. “They told Johnny they were going to name their son after him.
“It is the first time my nephew will present the trophy. He is of that age now and obsessed with footy.
“We are extremely grateful. It’s not like Johnny and I are the Johns brothers who were superstars of the game. In such a short career he touched so many lives. We don’t take it for granted that we can celebrate him.
“It’s special for the family to reflect on his life.”
SOLLY SLAMS RUGBY RAID THREAT
South Sydney chief executive Blake Solly has fired a broadside at Rugby Australia and Wallabies coach Eddie Jones over their mooted plans to target NRL players, led by Rabbitohs captain Cameron Murray.
Jones is a South Sydney diehard and has been a constant in and around the club when time permits.
Solly, frustrated at the ongoing speculation over Murray’s future in the media, told Sport Confidential that Rugby Australia’s predilection with NRL players was being used to shift attention away from the real issues within rugby union.
Namely, the rival code’s finances and struggles at the grassroots of the code.
“I’m not surprised Rugby Australia are interested in Cameron,” Solly said.
“He is a skilful and courageous player, and his leadership is growing all the time. We hope he plays the rest of his career here - ideally captaining premiership winning teams and playing 300 games.
“However, soon Rugby Australia are going to have to move on from talking about NRL players they can’t sign; and address the real challenges in their game.
“They’re $25m in debt, have a dysfunctional talent pathway, and are completely detached from the grassroots of the sport.
“The talk about NRL players is just a distraction from the serious issues they have.”
Solly’s comments follow a series of stories suggesting Rugby Australia was set to launch a poaching raid on rugby league players with rugby union backgrounds.
Murray aside, they have been linked with the likes of Joseph Sua'ali'I, Will Penisini and Tolu Koula - Suaalii and Koula are free agents until the end of next year.
Rugby Australia could offer Koula more than double what his current deal is worth at Manly with suggestions they would be willing to throw about $900,000 to land the speedy outside back. Manly will not be able to match offer.
In a similar situation to Sua’ali’I, Koula came through the junior ranks as a fullback but his path to the No.1 jersey at the Sea Eagles is blocked by Tom Trbojevic. Manly are scrambling to lock Koula down by already offering him a two-year extension.
Interestingly, Koula and Murray are managed by the same company which former Maroons player Clinton Schifcofske runs.
Jones and Schifcofske remain close friends dating back to the early 2000s where Schifcofske was playing for the Raiders and Jones coaching the Brumbies. The two teams did some training sessions together before Jones eventually convinced Schifcofske to switch codes where the pair reunited at the Queensland Reds.
There is little doubt Jones will land a big rugby league scalp. It is just a matter of who and how many players. One rugby player who remains on the radar of NRL clubs though is ex-Storm flyer Suli Vunivalu.
KERLEY SEES THE SIGHT
American sprinter Fred Kerley, one of the fastest men on the planet, is in Sydney this week on business but he managed to squeeze in some sightseeing between training and media commitments.
When it comes to iconic Sydney destinations, there was only one that caught Kerley’s eye. That’s the Sydney Opera House.
We’ll let him explain why.
“I want to go to the Opera House because that is where they went on Finding Nemo,” Kerley said.
“Hopefully I can go see that and take a couple of pictures.”
Kerley did just that on Wednesday, posting pictures on social media with the Sydney Opera House and Sydney Harbour Bridge as his backdrop.
Dream do come true when you work hard. Sydney check off the bucket list of place to go pic.twitter.com/EPpS35SzdA
— Fred Kerley (@fkerley99) March 8, 2023
Having ticked the Opera House off his bucket list, Kerley is now focused on Saturday night and the Sydney Track Classic at the Sydney Olympic Park Athletics Centre.
Kerley will run the 400 metres - he started his career at the distance before specialising in the 100m and 200m. Australia’s fastest man Rohan Browning, Tokyo silver medallist Nicola Olyslagers, hurdler Michelle Jenneke and 3000m runner Jessica Hull will also compete in Sydney
SMITH’S A PAIGE TURNER
Paige Spiranac has a social media following measured in the millions. However, the former golf professional has revealed she is a fan herself - of Queenslander Cam Smith.
Smith will lead the Aussie charge at the Masters next month, having been cleared to play the event following his controversial switch to Greg Norman’s Saudi-backed LIV Tour.
Smith has a great record at Augusta National - he has finished in the top five on three occasions - and Spiranac believes he is poised to become the second Australian to win the tournament after Adam Scott’s victory a decade ago.
“He plays so well at Augusta so it is hard to count him out,” said Spirant, who is in Australia as an ambassador for Pointsbet.
Paige Spiranac on Cam Smith's chances at the Masters. ðŸ‘€â›³ï¸ pic.twitter.com/kMM27H7cd5
— Telegraph Sport (@telegraph_sport) March 9, 2023
“It will be interesting how he can handle the scrutiny because he did move to a different tour but I think if anyone is going to win, it think it will be Cam Smith and I will be interested to see how he goes.
“The course fits his game so well and he is so incredibly blessed with the putter. He can make anything from anywhere.
“He is also calm, cool and collected, which you do need at a major and especially at a course like Augusta where it is changing constantly and you have to stay mentally prepared and poised through all of it.
“Cam Smith can do that. He seems phased by absolutely nothing. I have always been a Cam Smith fan and I am excited to see how he is going to do in the Masters this year.”
NRL ZOO AT TSZYU FIGHT
About 100 NRL players are expected to be on hand to watch Tim Tszyu take on Tony Harrison on Sunday.
The entire Rabbitohs squad, half of Manly’s playing group and a string contingent from Penrith, Parramatta and Cronulla are likely to be in the stands.
Originally published as Sport Confidential: Daniel Tupou backs Roosters’ Dom Young signing
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