Big Papa: A mullet, his face on a pair of Speedos, and above all, an entertainer

Sydney Morning Herald

6 days ago

That immortal 2020 chase earned both of them commemoration in a pair of Budgy Smuggler speedos, and still sees Fogarty, with good humour, stopped in the street as the 'the guy who Josh Papalii ankle-tapped'.
A year earlier, he gave us 'Air Papa' - a social media shot Papalii cooked up with Canberra's digital department when he realised he hadn't given New Balance any love in a while, 'and I couldn't just give them a shit photo of me or shoes or something.'
Raiders teammates, privy to Papalii's training exploits, have long marvelled at his ability to kick long-range field goals from both feet, then soar where no front-rower should, all while lagging at the back of fitness drills.
Even the off-field indiscretions Papalii spoke of this week are beyond the rugby league norm. Really, who throws a bottle of moisturiser in a fit of road rage? Who gets mugged on their very first night on tour with the Kangaroos?
Papalii's famed 2013 backflip on then-Parramatta coach Ricky Stuart to stay in Canberra saw Sticky deliver the bluntest 'f— off' to Don Furner - his best mate, but still rival CEO - when the news was relayed.
Furner was just glad Stuart didn't take a swing with the putter he was holding at the time. The combative ex-halfback ended up back at his hometown club and coaching Papalii within months in any case.
The first day Stuart walked back through the Raiders doors, he turned to Furner and told him 'Geez, I'm glad Papa flipped on that contract'. Coach and front-rower have shared the tightest of bonds since, with a few sprays just to keep things interesting.
Above the iconic haircut, highlights, stories and social media though, is one hell of a player.
Only a handful of props have played 300 or more games in rugby league's engine room.
Papalii is the most explosive of them - his match-winning, 2019 preliminary final try against Souths will live forever in the lime green annals, the most timely of so many close-range efforts where he stepped and shimmied with the skill and pace of a smaller man.
Papalii has long joked that he can't read or write. He can. He can also analyse a game like few players Canberra's coaches have seen - because he will watch each match he plays three or four times, committing to memory the most minute details and then building improvements into his game.
Through 23 Origins for Queensland, Papalii's impact among the game's elite forwards meant you could never look away.
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His role as a leader - softly spoken, as always - in Samoa's rise on the international scene endures just as profoundly.
Fittingly too, given his family - that central tenet of Polynesian culture - is the only thing that matters to him more than Canberra.
At 33 and most likely in his last season for the Raiders, Papalii's cameos from Stuart's bench simply boil the fun of a 319-game career down into 30-odd minutes each week.