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Clinton Toopi - Source: Photosport
Clinton Toopi is poised to make a surprise National Rugby League (NRL) comeback against the club where he made his name.
The former New Zealand Warriors and Kiwis centre is vying for a backline berth alongside double international Mat Rogers when the Gold Coast Titans host the Warriors in the opening round match on Sunday next week.
Toopi, 29, inked a one-year deal with the Surfers Paradise-based club on Thursday, despite personal reservations about the state of his injury-ravaged knees - and the realisation his wife Turenga and daughters Waimania, 4, and Brianna, 3, would remain in New Zealand.
Toopi returned to New Zealand on Friday to spend quality time with the family - one of the few times he will be allowed home once the season gets under way.
Capped 21 times for the Kiwis between 2002 and 2007, Toopi's career seemed on the wane once he ended his 129-game first grade career at the Warriors and relocated to the English Super League and Leeds at the end of the 2006 season.
Injuries confined him to just 15 games before he was released in 2008 - he then returned home to briefly switch codes to play rugby for Bay of Plenty.
Toopi was named in the Steamers' Air NZ Cup squad last year but
more injury issues effectively sidelined him after the pre-season
trials.
Lifeline
Toopi was offered an NRL lifeline by the Titans in November and showed enough glimpses of class in trial matches against the Broncos, Rabbitohs and Cowboys to be offered a contract.
"Before he played a trial we knew we wanted to keep him," Titans football manager Scott Clark told NZPA.
Clark admitted signing Toopi, who made his NRL debut and the first of 119 appearances for the Warriors in 1999, was a risk given his medical history though the club says his value will also be apparent off the field.
"We've been asking him to help the younger Polynesian guys (in the club)," Clark said.
"They all sort of hang together and sometimes they don't do everything we ask them.
Clinton's been a good role model. He kicks them up the arse a few times."
"He's gained so much respect in such a short time. He rips in at training, he's never late for anything ..we can't ask for any more of him really."
Toopi finds himself in competition with one of the rookies he is tasked with mentoring for a centre spot against the Warriors - 20-year-old Wellington-born Melbourne Storm recruit Joseph Tomane.
Toopi confessed shortly after arriving at the Titans that the separation from his family might prove too hard to bear, but so far so good.
"It's something Clinton is concerned about but we're trying to work through it," Clark said.
"He won't get back (to NZ) too often, on the bye weeks perhaps, and there may be times when we've got a longer turn around and he could slip back for a day or two here and there."
Toopi returns to work on Monday.
