A hard running backrow player Palu made his provincial debut in a match against a Samoan side in 2003 after which he had a stint at NRL side
St. George Illawarra Dragons before returning to Rugby Union. He played for the New South Wales Waratahs in their first trial match of pre-season 2005, against the
Crusaders, in which he was awarded the man-of-the-match award. After his good performances during the Waratahs' pre-season, he made his
Super 12 debut in week one of the
2005 season against the
Chiefs. He was then injured in the week six loss against the Crusaders which saw him out for a lot of the season. Palu sustained a shoulder injury midway through the
2006 Super 14 season, as he came off the bench in a semi-final against the
Hurricanes. Palu was then included in the
Wallabies' 2006 mid-year squad. Palu was named at number eight for the opening
Tri-Nations match against
New Zealand on 18 July 2009, after he recovered from a hand injury which forced him to miss all of Australia's matches earlier in the year. Palu suffered a knee-ligament injury against the Crusaders in April 2010, then a
hamstring injury during trials in early 2011. He spent eleven months in recovery,{{ Cite web| first = Jamie| last = Pandaram| title = Palu returns with a new hunger and outlook He returned to the Wallabies for a successful season in 2012, starting at Number 8 for the three-nil test series win against and Australia's drawn match in Brisbane against before test wins against , and on the 2012 end-of-year tour. Palu started in all three home tests against the
British and Irish Lions in 2013, with the series being won by the visitors by two matches to one. He played a further ten matches for Australia, including one at the
2015 Rugby World Cup, making his last appearance against England in June 2016 to take his total to 58 tests. The following month, Palu completed the twelfth and final season of his career with the Waratahs, which had included starting at Number 8 for the team's
Super Rugby title-winning season in 2014. He joined Japanese club
Toyota Verblitz for his last professional club contract in 2016 and 2017. ==Controversies==