Canberra’s Joe Tapine has a strange admission to make for an NRL forward: He has always hated the gym.
So much so, he spent his first six NRL seasons doing everything he could to avoid his scheduled workouts.
“I just hated weights ever since I was a kid,” Tapine told AAP.
“I tried to avoid it. I used to go in, touch the weights, pick them up and put them back.”
“I don’t enjoy it, never have. I have always been weak in the gym so I always hated it.”
That was until this year, when, as the Raiders faced a crisis in the middle, Tapine was told by coach Ricky Stuart he needed to step up. And fast.
Desperate not to add to the injury list with another shoulder problem, he was handed a program by rehab manager Ryan Clayton that catered directly to him.
“He has adapted a good weights thing for me, with all the injuries and bad shoulder injuries,” Tapine said.
“So I have actually been doing my weights this year which has been good.
“At the start of the year I didn’t even go into the gym. Now I’ve started to get better I see improvement and I actually want to do it.
“I’ve found it motivates me a bit more now that I do it. I have really enjoyed it.”
The effort has borne fruit, too, with the Kiwi forward becoming a leader on and off the field in the Raiders pack.
With up to eight middles missing at one point this year, Tapine has regularly topped 150 metres a game since the Raiders fell into a middle crisis after round nine.
He has also busted 26 tackles in the past seven weeks alone, with 10 of them coming in last week’s win over Cronulla as he scored a crucial early try.
Tapine’s form makes him a key figure against the Sydney Roosters pack in Friday night’s semi-final, which doubles as his 100th game in Raiders colours.
“I looked at my game at the start of the year and I didn’t really realise until we lost a couple of players that I needed to start doing a bit better,” he said.
“He (Stuart) pulled me and Paps aside and said we have to step up as more senior blokes in the team.
“And I just thought I had to stand up and lead the way as well.
“Stepping my training up everywhere was part of that.”
