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Taumalolo’s Tongan retirement threat

JASON Taumalolo has turned up the heat on the Tongan National Rugby League, declaring he’ll retire from international football if the dramas engulfing the team aren’t resolved.

The Mate Ma’a has been in disarray after a fallout between officials and players, with Taumalolo leading a potential boycott of the team’s upcoming international fixtures.

Taumalolo and fellow NRL star Andrew Fifita are calling for TNRL chairman George Koloamatangi and secretary William Edwards to be ousted after the new interim board sacked the entire coaching staff, including head coach Kristian Woolf.

Frank Endacott has already been appointed to replace Woolf, with Tonga scheduled to field a team in the inaugural World Cup Nines tournament in Parramatta next month before Tests against Great Britain and Australia in New Zealand, but the playing group is threatening to sit out.

Taumalolo was hopeful he’d take the field for Tonga again this year, but he said he was ready to walk away if they couldn’t come to a resolution.

The New Zealand-born Taumalolo played 10 games for the Kiwis before sensationally defecting to Tonga – his parents’ country of birth – before the 2017 World Cup, which kickstarted their rise as a rugby league powerhouse.

The superstar lock could potentially switch his allegiance back to New Zealand, given Tonga is still a tier-two nation, but Taumalolo was adamant he would only play for the Mate Ma’a.

“I’m sticking solid with the red and white and if that doesn’t work out, I guess I might have to retire from international football,” he said.

Taumalolo has played under Woolf since he was coach of the Cowboys under-20s, and he said reinstating Woolf for Tonga would help get the players back on side.