It sounds harsh because I'm not very good with words but I've always thought Topou was 'soft.' I'm of course talking about his temperament, at times he is lazy, at times he gives away the silliest of penalties and at other times he is easily baited. I don't know how to explain it, he could be obviously and easily better at everything he does.
On the flip side I think Tupou is a soft target. I think some of the attacks on him on the Roar and social media generally I find really poor. Even in his prime there were people who lined up to kick him.
Even saying he is ‘fucking lazy’ I highly suspect could only come from someone who’s never played THP. Every scrum is a massive physical exertion.
People rave about guys like Genge - but my impression was he wasn’t sighted after the first 20. I actually had to look up who the England tight head was because I can’t remember him doing anything all game (it was Stuart). Likewise Cole was a non entity when he came on the field. Other than scrums of course which are huge efforts in themselves and what all these guys are picked for.
I feel privileged to have watch Tupou in his early days with the Reds when his performances were monstrous. Playing big minutes with lots of carriers, line breaks, big shots in defence. Even then he did some silly things but he was pretty amazing. He was also a great personality. He definitely wasn’t soft IMO.
Over the last few years he has dealt with significant injury issues, the death of his dad, a falling out with his head coach, the collapse of the Rebels where he moved to link with Stiles who he is close to. He’s also had a lot of scrutiny placed on his scrummaging with opposition coaches keen to neutralise him.
He has also had to deal with becoming an older player who has lost a lot his explosiveness and has to adapt his game. He’s obviously struggling with that. I think some here also struggle with not seeing him do all those things - especially playing next to a guy like Bell.
But he is still our best scrummager and he is, hopefully, on his way to being a consistent strong presence over the ball which will really add something to our game.
I’m not saying all of the criticism is unwarranted. I’d love to see more from him myself and I admit being a big fan (which I’m sure this post makes clear) and having a soft spot for the big guy. Like I said - I feel privileged to have seen him play in his early days at the Reds.
But I do think people should be more realistic with expectations at times.