Jason Taumalolo has lauded Kristian Woolf as the real pillar of Tonga's rugby league revolution, seven years after his own defection helped revive Test football.
Jason Taumalolo has lauded Kristian Woolf as the real pillar of Tonga 's rugby league revolution, seven years after his own defection helped revive Test football.
Involved with Tonga since he became an assistant coach in 2013, Woolf is yet to decide if he will coach on or even move into a different role in the national set up.Taumalolo's decision to prioritise Tonga over New Zealand in 2017 has long been credited with changing the international game. "I had Kristian as my first under-20s coach at Cowboys. We built a connection through that," Taumalolo said."I promised him I wouldn't come back as an old player when I wasn't getting picked for New Zealand.
But those close to him stress one of the most impressive things is the way he has not changed as a coach despite Tonga now appearing to be an entirely different squad to a decade ago. "I was pretty naive at that stage. But I enjoyed the difference and when we got together in the team room the camaraderie was there straight away," Woolf said.
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