Sione Tuipulotu on Joseph Suaalii's ‘enemy list' after autumn bust-up

Telegraph

8 hours ago

Around 30 minutes into Australia's defeat against Scotland last November, the Wallabies golden boy Joseph Suaalii lined up centre Sione Tuipulotu for a massive tackle only to injure himself in the process. Tuipulotu made sure to give him a send-off as he left the pitch only for Suaalii to deliver a pointed warning, 'I'll see you next time'.
That next time could well be on Saturday in the first Test of the Lions series at the Suncorp Stadium. Suaalii says the prospect of playing in this Lions series was the 'biggest carrot' in his high-profile switch from rugby league where his propensity for acts of retribution was well established.
The State of Origin series is Australia's equivalent of the Super Bowl and FA Cup, pitting players who grew up in Queensland against New South Wales in a three-match series. Technically, the sport played is rugby league but it is tribal ultra-violence. The bar for being sent off is so high that Mondo Duplantis would struggle to clear it. In game one of the 2024 series, Suaalii managed that feat inside eight minutes of his debut, nearly decapitating Queensland's Reece Walsh.
In short, you do not want to be on Suaalii's enemies list, which is where Tuipulotu finds himself. Even if he was not willing to divulge the pleasantries they exchanged 'Yep, yep, yeah we did,' Suaalii said. 'You know once you do things on the footie field, you keep them on the footie field. I am ready to go and ready to play. I don't have too much to say about that.
'At the end of the day, it is a game of footie. Whatever is said on the field, stays on the field. Who knows what team they are going to pick but whoever they pick we are ready to go.'
@maulornothingshow"What the HELL was that"‼️💥😂 Sione Tuipulotu talks us through that MONSTER hit from Joseph Suaalii at Murrayfield 🏟️ 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿@scotlandteam vs @wallabies 🇦🇺 Go check the full episode with @scotlandteam Captain out now! 🔗 in bio… #sionetuipulotu #scotland #rugby #autumnnationsseries #wallabies ♬ Hip-Hop (Instrumental) - dead prez
What Suaalii does not articulate with words, he said clearly with his eyes, causing second row Will Skelton, who was sitting next to him, to start chuckling. 'Ah, that's what you want isn't it?' Skelton said. 'Our 12s going against their 12s, 13s against 13s. No matter what, it's going to be a physical battle and we're up for the challenge.'
Even Tuipulotu seems to be aware that he may have ill-advisedly poked a bear in the 21-year-old. 'I don't want to put any targets on my back,' Tuipulotu told the Kick ons and Kick offs podcast. 'I know Eoin Toolan, who is the analyst at the Wallabies, and he used to be our analyst at Melbourne. He's told me to stop talking on these podcasts about Joey, cause he says he's raring to go. I don't want to put any targets on my back from big Joey.'
Still Suaalii says that he is a changed man since picking up the sixth and quickest red card in State of Origin history. 'It is just about being neutral – not being too high or too low and not playing the game before playing it,' Suaalii said. 'I think that was my biggest lesson from that game. Just keep neutral.
'Just having that balance between having my own time, spending time with the boys, training hard and finding time for myself to relax and get away from it. That's being neutral. You're never going to be just straight neutral, you're always going to be a bit like this [up and down hand gesture], but I have my processes that I do in the week, which keeps me around neutral.'
Part of Suaalii's attempt to remain neutral extends to his idiosyncratic warm-up routine which Telegraph Sport witnessed before Australia's 21-18 victory against Fiji in Newcastle. For at least ten minutes, Suaalii stood barefoot under the posts with a pair of headphones in his ears. Then he began a juggling act with three tennis balls before his friends and family came down from the stands to hug him.
'I am a pretty weird person, I think a lot of people know that,' Suaalii said. 'I like to take in the crowd, where I am right now. I do like to connect with the ground and just be where I am right now with my feet. I don't want to look too far ahead or look too far back. It's all about being as present as I can. That's how I want to play the game of footie. I just try to practise that as much as I can off the field so once I'm on the field I am in the now and the present.
'That [the juggling] is just hand-eye, just getting my stuff going with my peripheral vision and getting all those little details that you get on the footie field because you're going to a lot of different pictures on the footie field. It is all part of my process leading in the game.'
Playing in the first Test will be the biggest occasion of Suaalii's career since the Origin game. Growing up in Penrith, a working-class suburb of Sydney, Suaalii remembers watching the 2013 series with his siblings and cousins – and that was a prime reason for him moving to union last year. 'I was nine,' Suaalii said. 'I remember watching it. In my house, all the young kids sit on the floor and I just remember being real close to the TV, watching it. It's something so special as a kid that sparks you to do something great in your life, so to be a part of this squad, it's amazing.
'That was probably the biggest carrot for myself. I've always dreamed I wanted to be a part of something so special that happens every 12 years, so that was probably the biggest thing coming across – to play for the Waratahs and play for the Wallabies. Just to be a part of the squad is something so special for myself, my family and everyone that's gotten me to this point.'