You saw him at the Nines, didn’t you?

Like a rampaging bull that had just swallowed a gallon of Powerade, Jason Taumalolo got the ball from Jake Granville on the Cowboys 30 metre line, and ran.

No, he really ran. Ran like a truck with a turbocharged Ferrari engine.

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Round 19

He brushed the Titans away with ease. One, two, swatted aside, before he took off. He bumped a third off, then a fourth, before getting the ball away with a damn-fine offload to Shane Wright to score.

Of course, it’s nothing new. We’ve seen Taumalolo do this before.

But pause for some reflection. Maybe because we are seeing it in the here and now, we don’t appreciate just how much of a game-changer Taumalolo has been for back-row play.

In fact, scrap that, he’s a game-changer for the game in general. Perhaps, we will look back in another 125 years of the game, we will see Taumalolo as the man who changed the game.

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Both as a forward, but also as a diplomat. What he’s done with Tonga is unheard of. He’s carried the ball up and now just about every other Tongan is following his lead.

But let’s return to his back-row player for second.

Historically you had grafters playing in the second-row or at lock.

Jason Taumalolo runs into the Australian defence Source: Getty Images

There were guys who could punch holes in defences, but often they lacked the pure pace that Taumalolo possesses.

Others had the speed, but not the power. Some were just grafters.

Taumalolo can do it all.

And with all that Taumalolo, at times, you feel he is barely getting out of second gear.

Speak to Billy Moore, a bloke well versed in the arts of back-row play and he concedes that Taumalolo isn’t the first forward to strike the fear of god into defences.

But he says, to do it for so long and so consistently throughout a game and in a season, Taumalolo stands alone.

Jason Taumalolo bursts through the Roosters defence Source: AAP

“I always said Gorden Tallis was the best power backrower,” said Moore. “He had that nastiness and ruthlessness defensively that Taumalolo doesn’t have.

“Gordie could bend the line, but not like Taumalolo can. With Taumalolo it’s like here I come, do something about it.

“But the best thing about Taumalolo is he can be equally as devastating in the middle or an edge. The difference is between his first or second stint, there’s very little drop-off.

“He has all the accolades already. If he has that for the rest of the career he’ll be in the Hall of Fame. To be an Immortal he just has to add that offload into his game more consistently.

“It’s not until defences say: we’ll give you your 15m, but then we’ll come wrap you up. They give him those metres, surround him and then it’s a lot easier to slow his play the ball down.

“If he can offload once he’s taken that contact and find the guys around him once he’s made those breaks, then you’re talking.”

Jason Taumalolo runs the ball during the Nines Source: Getty Images

Moore says that an increasing number of forwards are emerging that play in Taumalolo mould. David Fifita and Payne Haas are just two, and without doubt there will be more. A game-changer on the field, surely, but off it, Taumalolo’s work is equally as commendable.

What he has done with Tonga, culminating in victories over Australia and Great Britain last year makes you wonder whether we are see a revolutionary before our eyes.

The wave Taumalolo has started, in Moore’s belief, has the ability to be the catalyst for a renaissance of Test football.

“Without sounding unpatriotic it was great to see,” said Moore, a former Kangaroo himself.

“That was the greatest shot in the arm international rugby league could hope for.

“It did for the global game, what Origin did in 1980, that revolutionised Origin and what a machine it is now.

“Those Tongan results made everyone sit up and take notice. Not only the on field stuff, the fans – the colour, the pride from the fans, they upset two proud rugby league nations.

“What Taumalolo and Andrew Fifita have done they have given the international game a huge boost. We can’t let what those guys have created go to waste.”

THAT’S SO RUGBY LEAGUE

For those of you who have been struggling for a rugby league fix over the off-season, there’s a fantastic documentary about the first 25 years of the Warriors available on Kayo right now.

It’s worth three hours of anybody’s time.

Keeping The Faith, examines the highs and lows of the club’s history, with some brilliant interviews and access to the club’s movers and shakers over that period.

Most striking of all is a sliding doors moment.

Ali Lauiti'iti runs the ball for the Warriors Source: News Corp Australia

Rugby league is littered with them, but when you are building a fledgling franchise you would hope to keep hold of your best homegrown stars.

Fresh off the back of their 2002 grand final loss to the Roosters and a finals loss in 2003 to Penrith, the Warriors were in a good position.

The side, coached by Daniel Anderson, was littered with internationals – Stacey Jones, Clinton Toopi, Awen Guttenbeil and a big fella who threw the ball around like it was confetti at a wedding by the name of Ali Lauiti'iti.

Big Ali was a poster boy, a South Auckland kid who was rangy and powerful, with a tendency to offload as if he had a nervous twitch.

All smiles, chilled out, Lauiti'iti didn’t exude the air of a professional athlete.

That’s certainly how the then Warriors CEO, Mick Watson felt in 2004 viewed it when he was looking for a scapegoat.

At the same time, the whole team was struggling, but Lauiti'iti even more so.

“I don’t know if it was going though a downtime but it was hard for me to go to training,” Lauiti'iti explains after the Warriors had suffered a horrendous start to the 2004 season.

“Sometimes I was like, nah I can’t go. I couldn't go to sleep at times and the pressure built up for me.”

Ali Lauiti'iti with the ball with Gorden Tallis in hot pursuit. Source: News Corp Australia

Watson hauled Lauiti'iti in for a meeting.

“It felt like I was in the principal’s office, I had a smirk on my face and I was like f*** what’s going on, I didn't know how to take it,” Lauiti'iti said.

Watson asked him a question, why do you play football?

The forward’s response was that he did it for his family.

That didn’t sit right with Watson.

He wanted the forward to say that his sole and only motivation was to win a premiership.

With that comment, out the door Lauiti'iti went.

As Kiwi journalist and commentator, Stephen McIvor says: “For me, the one player who should never have been let go was Ali. He could and should have had a statue of him.

“He was, for me, bigger than Stacey Jones, that’s how I view Ali.”

Ali Lauiti'iti celebrates as the siren sounds as the Rhinos beat Melbourne Source: News Corp Australia

Lauiti'iti went to England. He won five premierships and two World Club Challenges.

From that point onwards, the Warriors have done zip.

Big Ali, still with the smirk on his face. The Warriors, forever scowling.

TRIVIA TEASER

It is a shame that Lachlan Coote won’t be playing for St Helens in the World Club Challenge.

Coote had a rare shot at history of joining a club of players who have won the World Club Challenge with both a team from the NRL, and another with a Super League outfit.

With that in mind, can you name the other three?

Answer’s to last week’s question are: Remi Casty (Roosters), Benjamin Garcia (Panthers) and Jerome Guisset (Raiders).

Remi Casty in action for the Roosters Source: News Limited

IN THE SIN BIN

Catalans Dragons coach Steve McNamara on Israel Folau

“We completely stand by the decision, as a club, and as an individual I stand by that as well,” said McNamara. “But having spoken to him, understanding him more, I think everyone understands the headline, not the person. Getting him on the field is the plan and we will learn more about the person as we move on.”

No, Steve, he’s a weapon, who only cares about himself, and hasn’t even apologised for what he said. Stop defending a homophobe on the basis that he might help keep you in a job.

STRAIGHT SEND OFF

Describing a young player as the ‘Next [insert celebrated player’s name here]’

There are so many ‘next JTs’ or the ‘new G.Is’.

There has only ever been one of each of those players. Sure, there are young guys who will play similarly to both of them.

But how many of them ever make it to the top, let alone match or better the feats of those they have been compared to? And what’s more, what’s the point in heaping all that pressure on them? Just let the kids play, man.

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