'Throw the chequebook at him': Papalii's call to keep Tapine in lime green

Raiders veteran Josh Papalii has urged the club to do all they can to retain in-form forward Joseph Tapine after the Kiwi international claimed player of the year honours in Canberra on Monday night.

Papalii and Tapine were enormous for the Raiders in their upset win over Melbourne and will again be vital to the side’s chances of toppling Parramatta at CommBank Stadium in a sudden-death semi-final on Friday night.

Tapine claimed his first Mal Meninga medal this week after a barnstorming individual season in the middle alongside Papalii, who has won the prestigious award on four occasions.

The New Zealand international is off-contract at the end of the 2023 season but is free to start negotiations with rival clubs from November, prompting Papalii to call on the Raiders to act swiftly.

“I was telling Donny [Raiders CEO Don Furner] that you may as well throw the chequebook at him now,” Papalii told NRL.com.

“As someone who’s close to ‘Taps’ I was very happy for him to win player of the year. He spoke from the heart as well and it would be stupid if we lost him.

“We’ve got to try and keep players like ‘Taps’, they only come around every few years. He can cover many forward positions and is in the form that you don’t want to lose him."

Papalii said he had noticed a change in Tapine’s leadership this season as the 28-year-old became one of the more experienced players in the side when Josh Hodgson and Jarrod Croker went down with injury early in their campaign.

Tapine captained the Raiders in Round 25 for the first time in his NRL career while he made an impact for the Kiwis in their Test match against Tonga in June.

“He’s my gym partner and hasn’t changed the way he does gym or trains,” Papalii said.

“Being praised and promoted to captain in our last round against the Tigers was something he’s taken on board and very seriously.

“He’s speaking up in meetings more and voicing his opinion a bit more. He’s just having one of those seasons where he’s hard to stop and on a roll.

“Hopefully he can take that form into Friday night.”

The Raiders will go into the clash against the Eels as underdogs, having one just one of their last five matches between the two sides.

However, the Eels have a wobbly finals record in the second week, bowing out four times in the past five years.

"They'll be a big challenge up there, they really pushed Penrith in the first half and on home turf will come out firing," Papalii said.

"We'll have to start well like last week defensively and be prepared to get into a grind against them."