Anthony Tupou (born 1 March 1983) is a former professional

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...

footballer who played as a and in the 2000s and 2010s. An

Australian Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal A ...

international and

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

State of Origin A State of Origin competition is a type of sporting event between players representing their state or territory. State of Origin began in Australian rules football on 8 October 1977 between Western Australia (WA) and Victoria, at Subiaco Ov ...

representative, he played for the

Sydney Roosters The Sydney Roosters are an Australian professional Rugby League Football Club based in the Eastern Suburbs (Sydney) and parts of inner Sydney. The club competes in the National Rugby League (NRL) competition. The Roosters have won fifteen Ne ...

Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks The Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks are an Australian professional rugby league club based in Cronulla, in the Sutherland Shire, Southern Sydney, New South Wales. They compete in the National Rugby League (NRL), Australasia's premier rugby leag ...

and

Newcastle Knights The Newcastle Knights are an Australian professional rugby league club based in Newcastle, New South Wales. They compete in Australasia's premier rugby league competition, the National Rugby League (NRL) premiership. Playing in red and blue, th ...

in the

National Rugby League The National Rugby League (NRL) is an Australasian rugby league club competition which contains clubs from New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, the Australian Capital Territory and New Zealand. The NRL formed in 1998 as a joint partnership ...

, while also having a stint in the

Super League The Super League (officially known as the Betfred Super League due to sponsorship from Betfred and legally known as Super League Europe), is the top-level of the British rugby league system. At present the league consists of twelve teams, of w ...

with the Wakefield Trinity Wildcats.

Background

Tupou was born in

Newcastle, New South Wales Newcastle ( ; Awabakal: ) is a metropolitan area and the second most populated city in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It includes the Newcastle and Lake Macquarie local government areas, and is the hub of the Greater Newcastle area ...

, Australia. He attended school at

St Francis Xavier's College, Hamilton St Francis Xavier's College Hamilton is a Catholic secondary school located within the suburb of Hamilton, Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia. Founded in 1985 by the Marist Brothers as a Year 7-10 boys high school, the school is now co-educat ...

Professional career

Sydney Roosters

Tupou made his first-grade début in 2004 against the

South Sydney Rabbitohs The South Sydney Rabbitohs are a professional Australian rugby league club based in Redfern, a suburb of inner-southern Sydney, New South Wales. They participate in the National Rugby League (NRL) premiership and are one of nine existing tea ...

. In the September 2004 issue of ''

Big League ''Big League'' was the official magazine of the National Rugby League. Its predecessor, ''The Rugby League News'', was first published in 1920; in 1974 it was rebranded as ''Big League''. In 2020, due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic in ...

'' magazine, after making his début with the Roosters, Tupou claimed that growing up his favourite player to watch was Queensland legend

Mal Meninga Malcolm Norman Meninga (; born 8 July 1960) is an Australian professional rugby league coach who is the head coach of the Australian national team and a former professional rugby league footballer. Meninga is widely regarded as one of the fin ...

. He also claimed that the biggest influence on his football was his father and his club coach

Ricky Stuart Ricky John Stuart (born 7 January 1967) is an Australian professional rugby league football coach who is the head coach of the Canberra Raiders in the NRL and a former rugby league footballer who played as a in the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s. H ...

. At the end of that season he played for the Roosters from the interchange bench in their 2004 NRL grand final loss to cross-Sydney rivals, the Bulldogs. In 2005, Tupou made his representative début in the

City vs Country Origin City vs Country Origin was an annual Australian rugby league football match that took place in New South Wales between City and Country representative sides. The City side represented the Sydney metropolitan area. While technically it was Sydney ...

for the Country NSW team. At the end of the 2006 season, Tupou was selected for the Australian team, as a replacement for

Reni Maitua Reni Maitua (born 11 June 1982) is a former professional rugby league footballer. An Australian and Samoan International representative player, he previously played for the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs, with whom he won the 2004 NRL Premiers ...

. He played four matches, scoring one try. Tupou retained his Test spot in 2007 for the Anzac Test against New Zealand. Tupou made his début for

in Game 1 of the

2007 State of Origin series The 2007 State of Origin series was the 26th year that the annual best-of-three series of interstate rugby league football matches between the Queensland and New South Wales representative teams was contested entirely under 'state of origin' sel ...

. His Test début came before his Origin debut. However, he was dropped for Game 2. Anthony Tupou (10 August 2008)

On 22 April 2008, Tupou announced that he had accepted a 4-year deal with the

Cronulla Sharks The Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks are an Australian professional rugby league club based in Cronulla, in the Sutherland Shire, Southern Sydney, New South Wales. They compete in the National Rugby League (NRL), Australasia's premier rugby league ...

worth 1.5 million dollars. In August 2008, Tupou was named in the Australia training squad for the

2008 Rugby League World Cup The 2008 Rugby League World Cup was the thirteenth staging of the Rugby League World Cup since its 1954 Rugby League World Cup, inauguration in 1954, and the first since the 2000 Rugby League World Cup, 2000 tournament. The tournament was held ...

. He was named in the

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...

squad for the

, replacing

Michael Crocker Michael "Croc" Crocker (born 21 June 1980) is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 2000s and 2010s. An Australian international and Queensland State of Origin representative forward, he played his club f ...

who withdrew through injury. Although also named in the Tonga training squad for the

, Tupou played for Australia.

Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks

Tupou played for the Sharks mainly at second-row forward. Tupou was named in NSW's preliminary 40-man squad for the

2009 State of Origin series The 2009 State of Origin series was the 28th time that the annual three-game series between the Queensland and New South Wales representative rugby league football teams was played entirely under 'state of origin' selection rules. Queensland won ...

. He was selected for Country in the

City vs Country A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...

match on 8 May 2009. In 2013, Tupou played for the

Tonga national rugby league team The Tonga national rugby league team ( to, timi līki ʻakapulu fakafonua ʻa Tonga) represents Tonga in rugby league football. They are currently the second ranked team in the world. The team was formed to compete in the 1986 Pacific Cup, and ...

in their

Pacific Rugby League International The Pacific Rugby League International is a rugby league test match that has been played between two Pacific Island nations during the National Rugby League's annual representative weekend since 2013. The fixture was held at Penrith Stadium for ...

clash with fierce rivals

Samoa Samoa, officially the Independent State of Samoa; sm, Sāmoa, and until 1997 known as Western Samoa, is a Polynesian island country consisting of two main islands ( Savai'i and Upolu); two smaller, inhabited islands ( Manono and Apolima); ...

. On 22 August 2014, Tupou became one of the current Sharks players to accept reduced bans from the

Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority The Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority (ASADA) was a government statutory authority tasked to protect Australia's sporting integrity through the elimination of doping. The authority was part of the Department of Health's portfolio and was ...

for his role in the club's 2011 supplements scandal.

Wakefield Trinity Wildcats

On 2 November 2015, Tupou signed a 2-year contract with

side Wakefield Trinity Wildcats starting in 2016.

Newcastle Knights

In 2017, Tupou returned to his hometown to play for the

on a 1-year contract. He made his Knights début in round 5 of the 2017 season against his former club Cronulla. With a hip injury limiting his time at the Knights to only four games, he announced his retirement in September 2017.

References

External links

Newcastle Knights profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tupou, Anthony 1983 births Living people Australia national rugby league team players Australian people of Tongan descent Australian rugby league players Australian sportspeople in doping cases Country New South Wales Origin rugby league team players Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks players Doping cases in Australian rugby league Doping cases in rugby league New South Wales Rugby League State of Origin players Newcastle Knights players NRL All Stars players Prime Minister's XIII players Rugby league locks Rugby league players from Newcastle, New South Wales Rugby league second-rows Sydney Roosters players Tonga national rugby league team players Wakefield Trinity players Western Suburbs Rosellas players