![\"Four-year-old](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/00c63fe80e33077d5e37efb2c4dca5917fc098a0.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n\u201cOne of the last games Joshua attended was my 300th at Belmore last year,\u201d Papalii recalls. \u201cThat day a lot of my family and friends had come into the sheds, and Joshua barged in and started verbally stimming [repetitive movements of sounds] the whole time.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Four-year-old Joshua Papalii loves the water.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe had lost and \u2018Sticky\u2019 [Stuart] was addressing the group, and he could see me trying to put my hand over Joshua\u2019s mouth. He stopped and said, \u2018Papa, let him go, he\u2019s all right\u2019. Joshua was walking around and throwing ice at everyone. But Sticky understood. That\u2019s another reason I\u2019ll always love Stick.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe helped us get Joshua to Sydney a year earlier to get tested.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy wife was the one who picked up on the signs early, and how Joshua wasn\u2019t hitting the milestones like his older sister and brother. Autism was already in my family.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen he wasn\u2019t talking at two, and that\u2019s when we noticed he would cover his eyes and ears in busy places and start to scream. My wife hasn\u2019t been to a game in over a year because it\u2019s just too hard, especially with Joshua and the chances of him running amok.\u201d<\/p>\n
Papalii recently went to a Chinese restaurant with fellow Raiders player Pasami Saulo and offered the owners a couple of hundred dollars if they could seat them in a private room to help Joshua feel comfortable and lessen the chances of a problem.<\/p>\n
![\"Josh](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/3bfbff6a547aab8c40ee9b13833366b9f574d1ca.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n
Josh Papalii celebrates scoring a try in his record-equalling 318th game for the Raiders.Credit: Getty Images<\/p>\n
Joshua has long hair \u2013 not a famous mullet like his father \u2013 and is still yet to have a haircut after all these years because of his sensory needs. Another challenge has been getting him to pose for photos.<\/p>\n
Papalii said it would have been too difficult to get Joshua to pose for a family photo for this story, and was still yet to receive a passport because he cannot stay still long enough for the required headshot.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere was talk of me going to St Helens next year, and the first thing that came to mind was, how will the kids go on the long flight, especially Joshua?\u201d Papalii says.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe still haven\u2019t been able to get him a passport because he refuses to look at the camera for the photo. We can\u2019t physically hold him down for the picture. We\u2019ll keep trying. We\u2019ll get the passport \u2026 and his hair cut.\u201d<\/p>\n
Papalii and Stuart share a close bond. The coach teared up when the prop kicked a goal in his milestone game earlier this year.<\/p>\n
Stuart has become close with the family, to the point the children refer to the coach as \u201cUncle Sticky\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve been with him more than 10 years, and he\u2019s been such a massive help to me and my family,\u201d Papalii says. \u201cWe\u2019ve had a lot of highs and lows together on the field.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen we lost the semi to Cronulla<\/a>, Sticky was sitting there by himself in Joe Tapine\u2019s locker and was sad and almost frozen. Noa spotted him, walked over, gave him a kiss on the cheek and a cuddle, then came back and joined the family.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s the impact Sticky has on our family.<\/p>\n Josh Papalii and Samoa celebrate victory over England to reach the final of the World Cup in 2022.Credit: Getty Images<\/p>\n \u201cThings can get emotional. When Joshua starts to say a word we have spent so long teaching him, it brings a tear to your eye.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m not much of a crier. I won\u2019t lie, I\u2019ll do most of my crying when I\u2019m driving by myself, and if I start to think about my wife and my kids or my parents.<\/p>\n \u201cThe only other time I cry is when I\u2019m 20 beers deep, and I\u2019m telling \u2018Taps\u2019 [Tapine] or Tom Starling how much I love them.\u201d<\/p>\n When he retires, Papalii wants to work with disadvantaged and neurodivergent children and their families. He is already an ambassador for Win The Day charity, a non-profit organisation that aims to raise awareness and help families impacted by childhood cancer. Papalii even auctioned off the jersey from his 300th game at a golf day on Thursday. He and Tapine shot six-under par and still lost the event, but his prized jersey fetched $10,000 for the charity.<\/p>\n Papalii will head into camp on Monday with Samoa for the Pacific Championships, and join a pack that features Junior Paulo, Terrell May and high-profile addition Payne Haas.<\/p>\n Papalii and Paulo piled on more than 20kgs between them when representing Samoa at the 2017 World Cup, which prompted Stuart to order the pair to start training immediately.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat about our holiday?\u201d the pair famously asked Stuart at the time, only for the coach to respond: \u201cYou blokes just had a holiday at the World Cup.\u201d<\/p>\n Papalii also played with Haas for Australia in 2019 when the Roos were stunned by Tonga<\/a> for the first time at Eden Park.<\/p>\n Loading<\/p>\n The chance to link with Haas again is one Papalii truly appreciates. Jason Taumalolo was 24 and in his prime when he defected to Tonga from New Zealand for the 2017 World Cup. Haas is 25 and the hottest prop in the game right now.<\/p>\n![\"Josh](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/d37899af884c8b150b964e30c4ef13bf9e0767ef.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n