Three-try Tupou celebrates 300th game in style as Roosters thump Eels

Saturday night was the Daniel Tupou show.

The legendary Roosters winger was playing his 300th game – just the fifth Rooster to reach the milestone as a one-club player – and stepped onto the Allianz turf to a roaring and adoring crowd that had watched him soar above opponents for the best part of 15 years.

After a quiet first half, with stand-in skipper Daly Cherry-Evans favouring his chances on the right edge with Mark Nawaqanitawase, Tupou found the spotlight with a second-half hat-trick to lead the Tricolours to a 28-12 victory against the Eels.

It was the seventh hat-trick of Tupou’s career and just one of a number of remarkable stats that were thrown around on Saturday night.

It brought Tupou’s career tally to 194 tries – 60 of which have been scored off kicks. He also holds the record for scoring in the highest number of individual games, having crossed the line in 146 matches.

He also nudges just that little bit higher on the NRL’s all-time leading try-scorers list, third behind Alex Johnston on 229 and Ken Irvine on 212.

Coach Trent Robinson said Tupou played his 300th game in the same hard-working manner he’d played all 299 before.

“All he did was get to work, do the back field work, do his defensive work. He didn’t see much of the ball, but just kept doing his job, and then when the opportunities came he finished them off,” Robinson said.

“We were saying in the sheds, there’s nothing by chance. There’s no luck in our game. You get what you deserve, and Tupe’s [Tupou] got what he deserved tonight. You know, 300 games, he played a really good game, he played a really solid game, and then he ends up with three tries.

Tupou’s 300th match had been a long time coming after he was sidelined for seven weeks with a calf injury he picked up in his side’s Magic Round loss to the Cowboys, but it was well worth the wait.

But for the first 50 minutes of the match, Tupou barely got a look-in.

In fact, it was the other winger – Nawaqanitawase – who provided the highlight reel, backing up three days after playing in a NSW State of Origin series victory, and supplying his side with the creativity and aerial ability that they’ll sorely miss when “Marky Mark” returns to rugby in 2027.

It wasn’t hard to see why Cherry-Evans kept going his way, as the 25-year-old pulled out an around-the-back flick pass to keep the ball in play just as he was going into touch – taking defenders Josh Addo-Carr, Isaiah Iongi and Ronald Volkman with him – creating the opening try for Robert Toia.

Minutes later, the Roosters were back down the Eels’ end, and Nawaqanitawase tried – and almost pulled off – the same trick play again, but the execution was just off as Toia fumbled the ball.

But the night’s main man Tupou did finally get his moment, and once the spotlight was on him it didn’t go away until he was given an early mark for his hat-trick in the 73rd minute of the match.

Milestone and victory aside, Saturday’s win was an ugly one for the Tricolours.

When Joash Papalii scored to start the second half, there was a worry they could shock the Roosters as they did Manly a week earlier, with the Tricolours fielding an understrength team with James Tedesco, Sam Walker, Reece Robson all out after Origin, and Lindsay Collins, Angus Crichton and Nat Butcher also unavailable.

But the Eels couldn’t contain the second-half comeback, as Cody Ramsey sliced his way through the middle of the field and Hugo Savala had his impact on the game, with his cross-field kick that got Tupou his double before he quickly added a third.

Parramatta coach Jason Ryles was hesitant to talk about speculation outgoing Tigers playmaker Jarome Luai would be joining the club in 2027, but said he couldn’t deny the combination of Mitchell Moses and Luai could do great things for the club.

“When elite players become available, we are always interested, and we are in a position to execute stuff,” Ryles said.

“Whether it’s this one or the next one or whoever it is, we’ll work that out as we go, but we have a really clear strategy there that we’re working towards…it’s a long-term view, and anyone who is an elite player that becomes available, that we think is going to help us going forward into the future, we are very interested.”