Kiwi NRL Stocks Round 19
Stocks Up
Frank Pritchard - Two tries for Frank the Tank as he may hay while the sun was shining against those Parramatta Eels. Pritchard also ran for 133 metres 63 minutes of action, a healthy amount of game time for Pritchard.
Curtis Rona - He hit a lull but is back scoring tries and takes his tally to 17, level with Semi Radradra. You would expect Rona to have more try scoring opportunities that Semi over the next few weeks as well.
Melbourne Kiwis - The Storm were at their slick best against the Panthers and a lot of this had to do with the low key super-awesome Kiwis contingent in Melbourne - Jesse Bromwich, Kenny Bromwich, Tohu Harris, Kevin Proctor and Nelson Asofa Solomona. Here's the Storm's Kiwis Contingent's work...
- Kevin Proctor: 73 mins, two tries, 111 metres, five tackle busts, 28 tackles, two offloads, two line breaks.
- Tohu Harris: 80 mins, one try, played centre, 68 metres, three tackle busts, 19 tackles, one line break.
- Kenny Bromwich: 68 mins, 49 metres, one tackle bust, 29 tackles, one offload.
- Jesse Bromwich: 72 mins, 133 metres, four offloads, 26 tackles, four tackle busts, one line break assist
- Nelson Asofa-Solomona: 37 mins, 88 metres, six tackle busts, 19 tackles, one offload, one line break.
Sosaia Feki - A full game which saw Feki notch some impressive numbers - 161 metres, two offloads and two line breaks which shows how good Feki can be and he only made one tackle which is pretty chill.
Ricky Leutele -A try and 152 metres, four tackle busts, an offload, a line break and two line break assists = a fine performance and Leutele continues to emerge as a quality NRL centre.
Daniel Levi - The more we see of Levi coming off the bench, the better he looks and I don't think it will be long before he's a serious consideration to start. He played 66 minutes against the Titans while Tyler Randell, who started, only played 14 minutes which should tell you all you need to know. Or three tackle busts and 35 tackles, I like that as well.
Nathaniel Peteru - In a poor Titans performance, Peteru looks to have been a shrewd signing from the Gold Coast outfit. He only played 23 minutes but was busy with 43 metres from four carries, along with 20 tackles, an offload and a tackle bust. He's been dropped as the Titans get a few troops back, but I reckon we'll see Peteru again this season.
Roger Tuivasa-Sheck - A try, 200+ metres, seven tackle busts, this shit gets boring ... not!
Sam Moa - Name a forward like Moa, yeah go on. Moa looks at his best coming off the bench for short, sharp spells and despite not being huge, is a beast with ball in hand. In 30 minutes Moa had 109 metres off 12 carries with three offloads as well - two Warriors forwards passed 100 metres.
Siosiua Taukeiaho - Speaking of bench impact, Taukeiaho offers that in spades and his 107 metres in 41 minutes resembles the effort of Moa, except for the fact that he also had five tackle busts - the Warriors forwards (excluding Nathan Friend and Siliva Havili) had a total of five tackle busts.
Alex Glenn - Two tries, 102 metres, five tackle busts and a try assist for Glenn who has been impressive all season.
Adam Blair - Numbers don't do Blair justice as all his best work comes in the areas of the game which usually go unseen. He did however deliver a nice try assist and we were given an example as to how Blair goes about his business as he made a few crucial tackles in his 30 tackles.
Ava Seumanufagai - A try for an unsung hero for the Tigers as Seumanufagai only got 21 minutes of game time but managed 84 metres from eight carries.
Manaia Cherrington - Another kiwi Tiger to score a meat-pie, Cherrington continues to impress and I'm very intrigued to see how Cherrington fits into the Tigers set up in the long term.
Antonio Winterstein - Two tries and 166 metres for Winterstein who could find himself on the Kiwis' tour of England later this year if he keeps this form up for the Cowboys.
Ligi Sao - I'm loving this experiment which has Sao starting games at lock as he's a big unit but has great footwork and despite noise about a mass-cleanout at Manly, expect Sao to be a part of the Sea Eagles for a long time.
John Asiata - I think Paul Green is juggling the workload of Jason Taumalolo smartly, as he has done with Jonathan Thurston. Taumalolo hasn't been playing big minutes because he doesn't have to right now with the Cowboys winning games as John Asiata is doing a great job at lock when Taumalolo is off the field. Asiata had more minutes than Taumalolo against Manly and the Cowboys didn't look to miss a beat.
Stocks Down
Elijah Taylor - It was a tough night for all the Panthers, but Taylor's performance where he ran for 30 metres and missed seven tackles was well below-par.
Dean Whare - It wasn't much better for Whare who missed four tackles and could only manage 29 metres.
Agantius Paasi - Two runs for 18 metres gives you a solid average of run metres, but you need to be far more involved than that.
Benji Marshall - The Dragons are struggling and some portion of the blame has to lay with their halves who aren't offering those classy plays that they did earlier in the season. Marshall's a part of that and his five missed tackles don't help.
Shaun Johnson - Four missed tackles, three errors and 18 run metres. Johnson was effectively shut down by the Roosters, but he was also consistently on the back forward thanks to a poor performance from his forwards.
Peta Hiku - A rough comeback for Hiku, but he's shown what a class player he is so I suspect it's just a blip.
Justin Horo - Four missed tackles and it looks like Horo won't have much of a future with the Sea Eagles, bummer.