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Warriors winger Bill Tupou - Source: Photosport
A prolific tryscorer at under-20s level, Warriors winger Bill Tupou is looking to break his duck in the NRL on Sunday.
Tupou's year has been divided between the Junior Warriors and the club's first-grade side, for whom he made his debut against Manly in April when he came in for an injured Manu Vatuvei.
He has gone on to make eight NRL appearances and gets his chance to add to that tally against the Gold Coast in Auckland, again as an injury replacement.
This time, he will in for Kevin Locke, who picked up a hamstring complaint in the loss to South Sydney last weekend, and he will partner centre Brent Tate on the right-hand side of the field.
During 2-1/2 seasons with the Junior Warriors, Tupou, who turned 20 this month, has scored 35 tries in 45 matches.
His strike rate this year is seven from eight, including a hat-trick against the Canterbury Bulldogs.
But he has yet to get over the line in first grade.
"I just have to back up," Tupou said.
"Tatey is one of the best line-breakers in the 'comp' and I just have to follow him and make sure I'm ready for his pass."
He admitted that getting that first NRL try was something he thought about "always, all the time".
"But you just have to think about the things you have to do before scoring a try," he said.
"The try comes at the end of that."
Tupou's last NRL match was away to Penrith, when the Warriors produced a huge defensive effort to hold out for a 12-6 win, and he was rapt with his recall.
Moving between the two competitions did present challenges, given the quicker pace and more physical nature of the NRL.
But he was happy with his situation and said it was up to him to prove to coach Ivan Cleary and assistant Tony Iro that he deserved his spot.
The part of his game that he was most pleased about in terms of development this year was his defence.
"It started off a bit shifty," he said.
"But Ivan and Tony gave me pointers that I worked on, and the boys helped me out as well."
Cleary had plenty of praise for what Tupou had done with the opportunities he had been given so far.
He said Tupou had probably produced only one sub-par performance, against Wests Tigers in late May, but he wasn't the only one that night as the Warriors fell to a 6-50 defeat.
"I think he's done a great job," Cleary said.
"He's probably only had the one game against Wests Tigers where he had an off night and he wasn't Robinson Crusoe. The good thing is that he bounced straight back."
As for Tupou's lack of tries in the NRL so far, Cleary was more excited than concerned.
"We haven't discussed that, but that excites me, because a tryscorer is never too far away," he said.
"It might be this week."
