Rookie fullback Blake Taaffe is such a fitness freak, Souths’ conditioning team have told the youngster to ease up on his training and save his energy for the biggest game of his career.
Sydney Roosters reject Blake Taaffe is the Energizer Bunny who has been ordered to slow down by South Sydney fitness chiefs and has no fears about being peppered by the Panthers.
Taaffe will become the least experienced starting player in NRL grand final history when he runs on to Suncorp Stadium on Sunday to face Penrith in this year’s premiership decider.
In what will be just his eighth NRL game, Taaffe will be tasked with defusing Panthers halfback Nathan Cleary’s towering bombs and keeping the Rabbitohs’ defence in line from fullback.
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At 22 and deputising for suspended superstar Latrell Mitchell, Taaffe has a mountainous task ahead of him to help Souths clinch its first NRL title since 2014.
But the South Sydney junior is ready for the challenge and has proven he is not out of place in the NRL arena.
Taaffe is such a fitness freak and effort player that he has been told to tone down at training because of the extraordinary statistics he is producing in GPS data.
“I do a lot of k’s out there. I have a lot of high-speed efforts on the GPS,” Taaffe said.
“As a fullback, that’s what I’ve got to do. I’ve got to be everywhere and I do my best to do that. If I have to run 10km then so be it.
“I was having around 70 high-speed efforts in a training session. They had to bring me down and told me to save it for the game instead of training.
“I think I’m naturally fit. I come in every pre-season a bit overweight but the fitness is always there. I think it’s in my bloodline.
“I get my fast genes from my mum and the toughness and grit from my dad. He was a bit of a roughnut when he played, I’ve heard.”
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Taaffe has excellent rugby league bloodlines.
A La Perouse product, his great uncle Kevin Longbottom played more than 100 games for the Rabbitohs during the 1960s alongside South Sydney legends like John Sattler and Eric Simms.
Taaffe grew up idolising the Rabbitohs and always dreamt of playing for the club.
But he was signed by the Roosters as a junior while living on the Central Coast, much to the dismay of his family who were overjoyed when South Sydney came knocking.
“I was a diehard Souths supporter growing up,” Taaffe said.
“My family was a bit angry when I signed with the Roosters but it was a dream to play NRL and I would have played for whoever I got the chance with.
“I couldn’t get a start with them which made me want to go home. I wasn’t in their sights and they didn’t think anything of me. I couldn’t even get a crack in the under-20s team.
“I had a good chat with my dad and said I wasn’t happy, I want to go home. At the start he didn’t want me to go home, he wanted me to keep going.
“I did think that (my NRL dream was over) but I went home and found another pathway. I came back and played a couple of local first grade games for Birkdale Panthers and it came back to me that I didn’t want to be doing this, I wanted to be playing NRL.
“I ended up getting a call from a bloke named Willie Leyshon who brought me down for the rest of the year for the Bears under-20s. I played five games and was fortunate enough to get signed by Souths.
“I was very stoked and grabbed it with both hands. I haven’t looked back.”
Taaffe is now looking up — towards the sky for the bombs that will be coming his way on Sunday night.
He spilt one early in Souths’ week one win against the Panthers but hasn’t faltered since in what has been a sensational finals series for such an inexperienced player on the big stage.
“I heard that fact (least experienced grand final player) but it doesn’t mean anything unless I win. I’m not really fussed, I just want to win,” he said.
“I don’t mind catching bombs, it’s my job, I’ve got to catch them.
“If he (Cleary) does it then he does. I’m not going to sit here and tell him not to.
“I knew if I dropped any balls I had to forgive and forget about it. You can’t sit there and dwell on it because it’ll carry on throughout the game.
“The quicker I got over it, the better I was. The boys got around me and I got back to my job.”
Filling in for the mercurial Mitchell was always going to be a tough task but Taaffe has passed with flying colours so far.
The indigenous flyer doesn’t have the same presence of Mitchell but coach Wayne Bennett has no concerns about him handling the pressure in a grand final.
“There‘s no doubt about Blake’s talent,” Bennett said. “I’m not concerned about his inexperience. The key is that Blake is in a good team with a good group of men around him.
“You only have to look at Corey Allen last year when Latrell got injured and everyone said our season was finished. Corey was great for us last year in the finals and it’s the senior leaders that make the team.
“Blake is doing a wonderful job for us but he is also in a strong team with players who help him enormously.”
Originally published as NRL Grand Final 2021: Blake Taaffe ready for challenge to defuse Nathan Cleary’s aerial assault
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