'Taine Carter': Warriors radar's goalkicking lessons with All Blacks legend

Alex Chapman • September 16th, 2026 4:29 pm

Taine Tuaupiki | Photo: Photosport

He's been nicknamed 'Taine Carter', but Taine Tuaupiki's keen to shut down any comparisons to the All Blacks great.

Especially after receiving some coaching from Dan Carter.

"He's the man." The Warriors fullback told Sport Nation.

“He came here a couple of weeks ago and helped me with my goal-kicking actually, and I had a little bit of a slump, so I probably didn't take in what he said."

The numbers would disagree.

Tuaupiki's ability as a goalkicker has been of enormous value to the Warriors in the latter parts of the NRL season, with 23 of his 30 successful efforts having come in the last four games.

In that quartet of matches, he's kicking at 85 percent.

Tuaupiki, who attended high school on the Gold Coast, concedes that although he was " a Chiefs man", he couldn't help but admire the iconic first-five when he was younger.

Dan Carter’s unlikely role in Warriors star’s goal-kicking rise | Sport Nation

"I think every Kiwi kid was a Dan Carter fan. Like, as much, even if you didn't like the 'Saders, you're a Dan Carter lover."

Former Kiwi Daryl Halligan, who successfully kicked 855 goals in his NRL career at 80 percent accuracy, is often used by the Warriors as a kicking consultant and is listed on the team's website as 'Goalkicking coach'.

Tuaupiki has a theory for why Carter may have been briefly used by the club though.

"He probably was seeing too many Taine Carter comments and didn't like him being disrespected with my name, so he had to come and iron that out. But nah, that was cool."

It's a nickname that teammate Wayde Egan jokes "he gave himself."

But the hooker's more serious when it comes to acknowledging Tuaupiki's contributions this campaign.

"He's been awesome. Obviously he's played for a couple of years now, and you see what he can do on the field. He can create something out of nothing.

Dan Carter | Photo: Photosport

"You see him on the weekend, he was just making line breaks, he scored our try obviously.

"But yeah, he probably is a little bit underrated. He's gone under the radar this year, but I think he's probably been one of our better players throughout the course of the year."

Tuaupiki, though, is less keen to talk about his growth, putting his success with the boot more down to "just luck".

"Just close my eyes, kick it, and just pray that it's going through the post. Honestly, I haven't kicked that many goals, so when you're going good, you're just going good, I guess.

"I just keep the same flow and when the ball hits the boot, I'm just like, please, please go through the posts.”

But while Tuaupiki’s playing down his own consistent performances, his teammates are more than happy to heap praise on him.

And while he and Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad tussle it out for the fullback spot, the pair are, as coach Andrew Webster puts it “best mates” who “make each other better.”

Andrew Webster on the Knights challenge at Eden Park | Sport Nation

Much like how Tuaupiki described Dan Carter, Nikoll-Klokstad used the same words for his teammate.

"He's the man, bro," Nicoll-Klokstad told Sport Nation.

"I think the way he keeps backing himself, the way that he keeps putting himself out there to fail, because I feel like those are the biggest lessons is when you do put yourself out there like that.

"He took a gamble to come to New Zealand, to chase his dream, chase being an NRL player and every opportunity that he's got in he's improved.

"He's improved and he's proved and I feel that's credit to his character and credit to himself."

This weekend, Tuaupiki will get the opportunity to kick goals at the fabled ground that Carter slotted many both for the All Blacks, and against the Blues, when the Warriors take the field at a sold-out Eden Park.

"It's something that when I was out there just like kicking some goals before, you don't get those Dan Carter memories at Mount Smart, but you do here for some weird reason.

"And I probably had at the Cake Tin earlier in the year but yeah to get those vibes, it's a little bit cooler."

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