Wests Tigers rescue Tupou's career
7:00am Wednesday 8th July 2009
By Dave Craven »
Sacked Bulls winger Tame Tupou has been given a lifeline by NRL outfit Wests Tigers.
The former Kiwi international was dismissed by Bradford in January due to long-running injury problems.
With 18 months remaining on his contract, he took the Bulls to an RFL tribunal in March but the club’s decision was upheld.
Tupou – while still struggling to fully overcome last year’s cruciate knee injury – has since been serving a six-month notice period, which was set to expire at the end of July.
He had failed to strike any sort of deal with another Super League club and until recently had still been turning up daily at the Bulls training ground for continued rehabilitation.
The former Brisbane Bronco flew back to Australia last Monday though and is now set to attempt to resurrect his career with the lowly Tigers.
Bradford today made a brief statement, saying: “Bradford Bulls has agreed to the request of Wests Tigers to release Tame Tupou’s registration with immediate effect.”
He hasn’t played since undergoing reconstructive knee surgery last June and still wasn’t deemed fit for selection during the tribunal process more than nine months later.
Today’s news ends a sorry saga for both parties.
The Bulls had high hopes for the big winger, especially when he scored ten tries in his opening 12 games after arriving from Brisbane as a replacement for Lesley Vainikolo in June 2007.
But he injured his knee while on international duty later that year with the Bulls claiming they were never told the full extent of the problem.
Tupou, 26, started the 2008 campaign but was a shadow of his former self and managed just nine matches before conceding the knee needed surgery.
http://www.thetelegraphandargus.co....s/4478671.Wests_Tigers_rescue_Tupou_s_career/
