Cronulla Sharks forward Toby Rudolf uses ‘love is love’ try celebration in NRL final against Cowboys

The Cronulla Sharks may have suffered heartbreak in their 32-30 NRL qualifying final loss against the North Queensland Cowboys on Saturday, but prop Toby Rudolf still has plenty of love to spare.

The Sharks forward famously responded to the Manly Sea Eagles pride jersey fiasco this season by admitting he had kissed men, had a gay uncle who was a father figure and defended the LGBTQIA+ community.

Prior to his comments, former Souths, Manly and North Queensland hardman Ian Roberts was the only player in first grade rugby league in history to admit he is LGBTQIA+. 

Rudolf had missed the last month of the NRL regular season with an MCL injury to his knee, but returned at his barnstorming best with 12 carries for 143 metres and a gut-busting 32 tackles.

The prop also opened the scoring for the Sharks, isolating the smaller Cowboys fullback Scott Drinkwater in the defensive line and beating a tackle from Tongan captain Jason Taumalolo to charge over the stripe.

He celebrated in grand fashion with his teammates before walking back to his place in the defensive line, shaping his hands into a heart symbol appearing to represent ‘love is love’ for the camera trailing him. 

Rudolf in the Cronulla surf and celebrating his try against the North Queensland Cowboys

It comes after his interview with the Sydney Morning Herald in July where he first shared the ‘love is love’ message in response to the seven players who stood down from the Manly side over the Pride jersey.

‘I was raised by quite a few gay and lesbian community members. My uncle is gay and my godmother is gay, and there’s so much love in that community.’

‘Sexuality is very fluid. I’ve been out and kissed many gay men, kissed many straight women and kissed many gay women,’ he said.

‘I’m not a one-stop shop. Love is love, and I love to share it with everyone.

‘That’s probably why I love going to the all the gay bars in Sydney as well – I love dancing with my shirt off and getting down Universal on Oxford St until 2am.’

Rudolf has become an advocate for a ground-breaking Pride Round in the NRL. He also backed his comments up in a wide-ranging interview with Fox Sports in August.

‘I wanted to throw my support behind the community that has been there my whole life,’ he said.

Rudolf posted this image with the caption: ‘Double the island, double the fun #friendship #takeabreathboys’

‘And also I am not too fussed to speak about anything about me. I’m not really scared of anything, letting people know about the things that I do.

‘The main thing is the LGBTQI+ community was sort of dragged through the mud a bit that week and I just wanted to give them a bit of a boost.’

Since his comments, Rudolf’s Instagram profile has received a handful of negative posts and a smattering of homophobic slurs, but plenty more messages of positivity.

‘You do you and spread your sunshine! You make me love NRL more you sexy Herculean free spirit,’ one fan posted.

‘Thank you for your courage and honesty and good vibes!!! Not an NRL fan but I’m a fan of you maybe I’ll just be a Sharks fan now,’ posted another.

An image posted on Rudolf’s Instagram where he comments that he misses his boys. One of the replies says: ‘Thank you to your visibility and open support of free love to everyone. Hero’.

Rudolf told Fox Sports that the ’99 per cent’ of the reception to his comments had been positive. 

‘You are always going to have a couple of negative comments, but 99 per cent of people applauded me, my bravery and stuff which I didn’t really think it was that brave, I just thought it was me just talking about my stuff,’ he said.

‘I went out to Northie’s that night after we won that golden point game and everyone there was just being really nice as well, very supportive, saying they loved what I said.

The Sharks will get a chance at NRL redemption when they face the South Sydney Rabbitohs in an elimination final at Allianz stadium this weekend.