Taniela Tupou bared his soul. Did he also get his mojo back?
'When he's on, he is one of the best tight head props in the world … and he's huge for the group. He creates energy for the group,' Porecki said.
'He's almost like a talisman for us. If he's on, what he creates for us as a team is gigantic. I feel like he's now finding a bit of rhythm.
'Scrummaging-wise, you know what he can bring as well. He's a confidence player. For him, putting out a really good performance on the weekend - apart from his yellow card, which I've been chipping [him] over - is good confidence for him as a player. That's what Australian rugby needs.'
Porecki, who returned from a calf injury last weekend, isn't even sure Tupou was in a slump. He believes he suffers from extraordinarily high expectations.
'There's heightened expectations on world-class players like Nela, which can be detrimental at times,' Porecki said.
'If you look at the first half of the year and what he was producing scrum-wise and dominance there, a lot of big teams around the world would literally pay their tight end just to get them scrum penalties, you know?
'But it goes back to the expectations people have on Taniela, and how he also wants to be playing peak, peak footy all the time.
'It's big for him in his own admission to speak like that [in the Herald interview] and be open like that in a world that might see that negatively. But I also think it shows that he's confident in himself, and that he knows he'll find it. The weekend was a big step in the right direction for him.'
The flipside to the joy around Tupou's try was the refusal of Kiwi referee James Doleman to reward the dominance of the NSW scrum just prior, and in several similar scrum contests over the last half-hour.
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Doleman said he was unwilling to reward Tupou 'going up and across', and NSW were denied a similar penalty in the Reds quarter, as the siren sounded and needing a try to draw level. McKellar declined to comment post-game on the contentious calls of Doleman, saying whistleblowers are a 'protected species'.
Schmidt said on Monday that Tupou was 'pretty unlucky on a couple of those scrums where he stayed down and through pretty well and didn't get reward.'
Porecki also sidestepped questions about their review of Doleman's decisions.
'You've got to paint the pictures that the referee wants. They weren't the pictures that he wanted. So we probably just have to be better to be going, 'what do you need from us to get some pay here?',' Porecki said.
'For Nela, it's like the scene from The Incredible Hulk, or from The Avengers, when you just look at him and you go 'Hulk smash'. I'm just looking at him on the field going, OK mate, you need to go.
'If he keeps his shape, and keeps his connection with whoever's on the field, especially tight five, we all know he's pretty hard to stop.'
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"Max's case has not been simple nor linear, and we've attempted to adequately keep our members and fans up to date while maintaining Max's privacy," said Saints football boss Dave Misson. "We have also been dealing with a medical situation that has often confounded the many medical experts we have consulted."About 10 days ago, as Max was closing in on a return to football, he felt a clunking in his knee - the same knee that has been causing him trouble throughout this season."This was as surprising as it was frustrating, as all indications were that Max's most recent arthroscope had addressed this issue." That meant more consultations and scans, leading to Monday's surgery. "We feel the cause of Max's issue has been pinpointed and that damage to the medial aspect of his knee, in certain situations, was impeding his movement and causing pain," Misson said. "The operation aimed to address and repair this issue. It will see Max off-legs for several months, however, will allow him to be ready for the commencement of pre-season." Meanwhile, the AFL website reported Phillipou would be out for several weeks after his plantaris tendon injury flared again before Saturday night's match. Phillipou was a late scratching when he felt sharp pain in his calf while warming up. Injuries have restricted him to only four games this season. Treloar has only played four games in 2025 after last year's All-Australian honours. The Bulldogs confirmed he has a moderate-grade calf strain and ruled him out for six weeks. St Kilda's Max King has needed more knee surgery, confirming he won't play any AFL this season. The key forward's inability to recover from his pre-season injury has been a disaster for the Saints, who are in the bottom four after Saturday night's fighting loss to Collingwood. Also on Monday, Saints young gun Mattaes Phillipou reportedly is out for several weeks. 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4 hours ago
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Veterans not done yet: Hazlewood and Lyon reject Johnson's Ashes exit remarks in The Nightly
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