And it would be wrong to suggest he is just a force of nature in attack. Vaai "Jason" Taumalolo (born 31 May 1993) is a professional rugby league footballer who plays as a lock for the North Queensland Cowboys in the NRL. Jason Taumalolo ran for 345 metres with the ball in hand — the most by a forward ever recorded in a single game — against the Bulldogs in March. He doesn’t miss many either with a tackle efficiency hovering in the 90-92% range. Sort and filter lists based on player name, position or round. Watch the 2020 NRL Telstra Premiership on KAYO. It's admittedly a small sample size but with two games played, Taumalolo has racked up 528 metres, averaging 73 minutes per game at a ridiculous 12.9 metres per carry (second among all players and first among forwards) with a career-high bust every 3.4 runs (ninth among forwards). With red pen put through their title hopes, the Cowboys needed something superhuman from their freakish No.13 to be any chance and he duly delivered. In 2012, he made 17 NRL appearances, all off the interchange bench, and played in the finals series. Those numbers obviously include Taumalolo's record-breaking 345-metre effort against the Bulldogs in round two but if he can maintain anything like those numbers when the season resumes, 2020 could be Taumalolo's best year yet. The Cowboys pathways prodigy arrived as a rugby league superstar with a devastatingly consistent 2016 season, playing in all 27 of his team’s NRL games and representing New Zealand in the May test and the post-season Four Nations tournament. In 2017, James Tamou departed, Ben Hannant retired and Matt Scott missed the year through injury, heaping pressure on Taumalolo to carry the pack. Andrew Johns labelled Taumalolo as a “machine” after watching him bulldoze the Bulldogs, declaring him the most dominant forward the game’s ever seen. This is also known as Online Behavioural Advertising. JT pounded the Bulldogs relentlessly in the first half racking up 165m off 16 runs, with four tackle busts and a try to his name. Favourite sports movie: Remember the Titans or Coach Carter Taumalolo has consistently upped the ante on defence - in the premiership-winning campaign of 2015 he was making 21.1 tackles per game and that figure has risen over the past five years, peaking at 29.2 last season. Taumalolo played for the Junior Kiwis in 2010, 2011 and 2012. North Queensland wrecking ball Jason Taumalolo spent five seasons finding his feet in the NRL and the next five using them to power through opponents. Having averaged just over 50 minutes per game in his career to date in the middle, Taumalolo was asked to add 10 minutes per game to that figure but he still found a way to raise his impact. The 25-year-old Tongan wrecking ball led all forwards in both running metres with 4104 in 23 games and post-contact metres with 1743 at an average of 77 per game. Dream job if you weren’t a football player: Anything that involves helping animals Price, now the Bulldogs football manager, watched on from the sideline as Taumalolo caused carnage against his club at ANZ Stadium. Taumalolo’s massive metres haul is the highest ever by a forward. His breakout year was 2014 when the back-rower upped his output to 25 NRL matches with 23 starts in the Cowboys forward pack. Jason Taumalolo moved to Townsville at the age of 13 and attended Kirwan State High School, earning a scholarship with the Cowboys and going on to represent the Queensland under-18s and Australian Schoolboys at the age of 16. Jason Taumalolo 2020 Player Profile on nrlsupercoachstats.com Scores, Averages, Minutes and PPMs. Round 1 & coronavirus fallout on The Matty Johns Podcast, Available on all leading podcast platforms. Taumalolo shaved a full minute off his run frequency in 2015, carrying once per 3m50s (56th in NRL) and gaining 11.0 metres per run (third among forwards) on the way to a premiership. His minutes increased even further to 64 in 2019. He was recently voted number one in NRL.com's 'Simply The Best' fan poll of best locks of the past 30 years and the statistics show the Tongan leader is truly a once-in-a-generation talent. He trimmed another second off his run-frequency to a career-best 3m20s per carry (13th in NRL), lifted his metres per run back up to 11.0 (third among forwards) and busted far more tackles along the way, averaging a bust every 3.8 runs (15th among forwards) to drive the Cowboys all the way to a grand final meeting with the Storm. But stats alone can't describe his impact. These no-mean feats were rewarded with his second consecutive Paul Bowman Medal for Cowboy of the Year and joint Players’ Player honours with Michael Morgan. In two games, Taumalolo has made 14% of his team's total metres and 19% of their total tackle busts. Taumalolo played more than 20 games in a season for the first time in 2014 and played at least 23 every year since until a knee injury restricted him to 18 last year. Best concert you’ve been to: Still waiting to go to my first one, Taumalolo admits he was underdone against Warriors, No Taumalolo: How to replace the irreplaceable, Green wants Cowboys to set up in Taumalolo's absence, NRL Fantasy player in focus - Jason Taumalolo, Taumalolo may miss a month, Knights fear for Green, You have skipped the navigation, tab for page content. Get your 14-day free trial & start streaming instantly >, Find out more about our policy and your choices, including how to opt-out. Winger Kyle Feldt has played his entire career alongside Taumalolo at Townsville since debuting in 2013 and says the beauty of the lock's efforts is the consistency. He has played for Tonga and New Zealand at international level. By season’s end, big Jase led allcomers in metres run for the NRL, the powerful lock running 5000m-plus from the year – the most ever by a forward in the NRL – which equated to a lung-busting 200m-plus a game. Taumlolo was back in Cowboys colours at 2018 pre-season training in mid-January. ", The final moments of the Broncos-Cowboys 2015 GF, Calf brings down Cowboy: Taumalolo out four weeks, Taumalolo admits he was underdone against Warriors, Green wants Cowboys to set up in Taumalolo's absence, You have skipped the navigation, tab for page content. Jason Taumalolo (345m) - Round 2 2. "This year especially having that little bit of time off at the start of the year he's going to be that little bit more fresher coming into the middle part of the year and the back end. Which teammate wins Cowboys Ninja Warrior: Ben Hampton The on-field heroics continued on during the Cowboys’ golden run to the 2017 grand final. Jason Taumalolo was spectacular against the Bulldogs. Find out more about our policy and your choices, including how to opt-out. Taumalolo was rewarded for his impressive year with the Dally M award for Lock of the Year, and also won his first premiership, making 178 metres and 30 tackles in the Grand Final win against the Broncos. In February 2015, Taumalolo made his first appearance in the All Stars game, featuring in the back row for the NRL All Stars in their 20-6 loss to the Indigenous All Stars. Favourite game day pump up song: Forever – Drake Upon his return to the field, Taumalolo churned out barnstorming display after barnstorming display, taking his games to new level each week as he looked to fill the void left for the balance of the season by a serious knee injury in Round 2 to veteran forward Matt Scott. "He's just a professional the way he goes about his business. -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------. Season 2013 saw him play for Tonga in the one-off Test against Samoa and at the Rugby League World Cup, as well as adding 14 more NRL matches to his total. Taumalolo’s massive metres haul is the highest ever by a forward. Taumalolo made 26 appearances for the Cowboys in 2015, 24 of which were in the starting side at lock. It’s safe to say Green will be more than happy with the historic response.