DAVE Taylor’s been accused of being a lazy footy player in the past, but his latest transformation needs to be seen to be believed.

Meanwhile, Wests Tigers clash at pre-season training and Greg Bird tries his hand at being a fireman.

All that and more in this week’s edition of NRL Confidential.

TIGER’S TRAINING TOUCH UP

Round 19

Sauaso Sue found himself a novel way of avoiding media duties this week courtesy of teammate Kyle Lovett.

Sue reported to Fox Sports studios with teammates for a series of marketing and promo shoots sporting a fat lip and four stitches.

The softly spoken prop declined to jump in front of the cameras after copping stray contact from Lovett the day before during a physical training session.

“He just got me in the contact session the other day, split my lip and now I’ve got four stitches in,” Sue said.

“No TV for me today.”

FIREMAN BIRD

Greg Bird and his Catalan Dragons teammates have been doing pre-season training of a different kind to get them ready for the new Super League season.

The players took part a three-day camp with Perpignan Firefighters.

Other ex-NRL players to take part were Justin Horo, Krisnan Inu, Sam Moa and Luke Burgess.

Bird has just joined the Dragons on a three-year playing contract and will head into a coaching role with the club following that.

FR | DragonsTV : Retour en images sur le camp avec les pompiers. Reportage complet sur https://t.co/BOWyNeQAls pic.twitter.com/K46Fk2KZlz — Dragons Catalans (@DragonsOfficiel) January 14, 2017

TAYLOR’S TRANSFORMATION

Dave Taylor’s currently busting his gut in the nation’s capital as he tries to revive his NRL career with the Raiders.

The former Queensland Origin player has reportedly lost 9kg so far this pre-season and he’s looking mighty good!

Tough session with this massive human @raiderscanberra A photo posted by dave taylor (@davetaylor091188) on Jan 13, 2017 at 1:50pm PST

TOWNSEND’S WARNING

Cronulla halfback Chad Townsend took to social media during the week to warn Sharks fans about fake 2016 premiers jerseys which are being sold in shops.

The number of fake signed jerseys being sold of us as 2016 @NRL premiers is very alarming. Make sure it's official guys! @RLPlayers pic.twitter.com/PVXaYQjhVF — Chad Townsend (@chadtownsend10) January 15, 2017

ROSS’S JUGGLING ACT

Newcastle winger Nathan Ross can find the tryline.

But did you know he’s pretty handy while standing on an exercise ball and juggling?

Now you do.

TATE’S NO CHANCE

Ruben Wiki is lacing up the boots again to play with the Warriors in the upcoming Auckland Nines.

That led one punter to ask former Brisbane, North Queensland and Warriors star Brent Tate if he’d also come out of retirement for the tournament.

Tate’s response was short.

No chance mate. These knees wouldn't last 5 mins. 😳😳🏃🏃 https://t.co/TUiZ1jg3FG — Brent Tate (@brenttate3) January 19, 2017

BIG RED ON ICE

While his former Wests Tigers teammates slogged it out in 40-degree temperatures this week, Keith Galloway was off to Leeds pre-season training in very different conditions.

Off to training this morning ☃️❄️ pic.twitter.com/ocpE1g0KY1 — Keith Galloway (@kgalloway85) January 13, 2017

NINES SINGLES ZONE

Auckland Nines organisers have turned matchmakers in the hope that love may flourish in the upcoming tournament.

They’ve up a ‘singles zone’ at Eden Park which takes place on February 4 and 5.

“Meet other like-minded fun loving singles in the singles only zone while enjoying the atmosphere and on-field action at the Nines,” the online advertisement read.

“Who knows, you might find your soulmate in the stands. If not, you’ll have plenty of fun looking!”

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