Tautau Moga has invented a new pre-season training drill for NRL players called ‘slap the taxi’.
The Newcaslte Knights centre developed the game during a night out in Newcastle on Boxing Day and is hoping that the drill will prove popular enough to be integrated into strength and conditioning sessions, or at least popular enough to win him The Frownlow Medal in 2019.
The Frownlow Medal is awarded to the player whose off-field demeanour epitomises the values of the modern-day footballer and draws attention to the status of footballers as role models to young Australians. It covers Australia’s four major football codes; the National Rugby League (NRL), Australian Football League (AFL), the A-League (Football) and Rugby Union’s Super Rugby competition. NRL player Shaun Kenny-Dowall won the inaugural medal in 2015 and code-swapper Karmichael Hunt was the most recent recipient.
Media reported that Moga was refused entry to a pub in Newcastle before the incident with the taxi driver, for which he has been charged with assault.
The incident has earned Moga a Frownlow nomination and has seen him become the eighth rugby league player to be charged with some form of assault since the 2018 grand final. The charge is also similar to that levelled against Wests Tigers player Michael Chee Kam, although Chee Kam allegedly scuffled with a Uber driver.
This is Moga’s second nomination for Frownlow honours. In 2016 he was nominated for throwing eggs at cars with some of his then North Queensland Cowboys teammates.
To find out more about Moga’s rivals for The Frownlow Medal in 2019, go to http://www.instagram.com/thefrownlowmedal.
Image: NuNa
The Frownlow Medal 