Size won’t count for everything on Sunday, with Reuben Cotter confident Australia’s smaller pack has the fitness and mobility to trouble Tonga’s tonne of hulking forwards in the middle.
Tonga bashed through New Zealand’s middle in their shock 25-24 win on the weekend, with Addin Fonua-Blake and Jason Taumalolo combining for 388m to help their country qualify for the Pacific Cup final in Sydney.
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It’s an area they’ll look to dominate again on Sunday, with Fonua-Blake (123kg), Taniela Paseka (120kg), Taumalolo (115kg), Haumole Olakau’atu (113kg) and Eliesa Katoa (110kg) just some of the forwards who dwarf their Australian counterparts, with Tonga set to unleash a pack weighing 1004kg on Sunday.
Even Tongan centre Moses Suli (109kg) weighs more than Australia’s heaviest player, with Lindsay Collins, Pat Carrigan and Isaah Yeo all 106kg, but that mattered little in their first meeting when the Kangaroos won 18-0 in Brisbane last month.
While the Tongans have the size and power to trouble the Kangaroos, the hosts have the speed and fitness to run their rivals off their feet, with Cotter – 95kg – the sort of player who can cause problems when he comes off the bench.
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“Over the past couple of weeks, the games have gone right down to the 70th minute, and I think it’ll be the same this weekend. I definitely think fitness will be a massive advantage for us. We’re all pretty fit and healthy,” he said.
“Playing in the middle, you have to be physical and come out with that intent, otherwise you’ll get bullied. We’ll come out physical and just hold on from there.
“It doesn’t scare me (that they’re bigger). I’ve had a few games in these big games against big packs, so I know what to expect. You just have to go hell for leather.
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“They’re hard to tackle. They’re big boys, and I’m not the biggest bloke in the middle. You’ve just got to throw everything at them.
“You’ve got to give them their credit because they’ve been playing some great footy. We’ll expect nothing less this weekend. It’ll be a tough game and it’ll be won through the middle, so there’ll be a big focus on our defence.”
Australia will look to tire out their opponents with quick ball movement that they nailed at Monday’s training session in Wyong where Cotter was asked about Taumalolo after his Cowboys teammate went ballistic in Auckland.
Cotter is proud of Taumalolo who made the big move in 2017 to switch his allegiance from New Zealand to Tonga that prompted other stars to honour their Pacific heritage.
“He’s tough to handle. He’s a big boy and he’s got good feet as well. We saw that in the first game when he played pretty well, and he played extremely well on the weekend. It’ll be a tough job this weekend,” he said.
“He’s a funny sort of character and he’s good for the group. I’ll try and get into him in the tackle and throw my elbows in.”
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