“We still should have been better. And we need to be better against New Zealand. The boys have responded well this week at training.”
Taumalolo was a late scratching against Samoa having been given an extra week to get himself ready after undergoing knee surgery at the end of the NRL season.
The Cowboys forward has been credited with changing the face of the international game after pledging his allegiance to Tonga before the 2017 World Cup, with that decision inspiring several young Tongans to follow suit.
Taumalolo enjoys a high standing in the Tongan community, as former representative enforcer John Hopoate – now part of team Tonga – discovered during a visit to the Pacific island a fortnight ago.
“He’s close to being the king of Tonga the way he is received when he walks around,” Hopoate said. “I consider myself to be a future immortal over there, but Jase is the king.”
“Jason brings a presence, he brings leadership, and the other blokes want to follow him,” Woolf said. “Look at the impact he had last year [when Tonga pushed Australia in the final].
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“A lot of the guys in our team are 19, 20, 21-year-old men, they were 11, 12 and 13-year-olds when Jase decided to make the sacrifice he did to play for Tonga. Guys like Leka Halasima, Lehi Hopoate, they’re both 20, Isaiya Katoa and Demitric Vaimauga are 21, they looked up to Jase as young guys, and they want to follow in his footsteps and play with him.
“There’s no doubt Jase is popular – the Tongan locals always save their biggest reception for him.”
There is a huge Tongan community in Auckland, and they partied in the main streets for over 24 hours after beating Australia at Eden Park in 2019.