The Niche Cache's Emerging Kiwis Squad
Josh Aloiai, Wests Tigers Rookie of the Year.
Over in Australia last week, Queensland coach Kevin Walters and New South Wales coach Laurie Daley dropped their Emerging Origin Squads. These are always super duper interesting as we are graced with some insight into the minds of either state's coach and who is on their respective radars, which will ensure that I drop some knowledge on those two squads in the next few days.
We're kiwis though, so it's only right that I push those Aussie squads to the side and offer up an Emerging Kiwis Squad first. The Niche Cache will have this group for a week's training in January and while it features a few blokes who have already represented Aotearoa, the general idea is to bring together younger lads who will form the core of the Kiwis in five years time and beyond.
Leaders
Kenny Bromwich, Kodi Nikorima
The Emerging Kiwis Squad needs a few young blokes who have not only established themselves in the NRL, but who have also spent a fair bit of time in the Kiwis camp. Both are hearty kiwis who will drive the culture of the EKS camp with Bromwich in charge of the forwards, while Nikorima will take charge of the backs.
Bromwich and Nikorima have long-term futures representing Aotearoa on the horizon. Bromwich is a forward capable of playing in the middle and on the edges, playing a key role in giving Melbourne a bit of footwork and skill in which was crucial to their success this season while Nikorima was a forgotten absentee for Brisbane this year. Nikorima had been a staple off the bench, adding some x-factor to the dummy half position.
Forwards
James Fisher-Harris, Joseph Tapine, Ava Seumanufagai, Josh Aloiai, Zane Musgrove, Nelson Asofa-Solomona, Danny Levi, Manaia Cherrington, Toafofoa Sipley.
The selections of Fisher-Harris and Tapine speak for themselves; when integrated into a forward pack that has the likes of Jason Taumalolo, Martin Taupau and Sio Siua Taukeiaho, the Kiwis will be brutally powerful. But why stop there? We also have the man-mountain Nelson Asofa-Solomona doing his thing in Melbourne and he's arguably the most dynamic young forward in the NRL.
Wests Tigers forwards Ava Seumanufagai and Josh Aloiai are easily slept on as they aren't quite as block-busting as Asofa-Solomona. Seumanufagai was a beast for the Tigers this season when Aaron Woods was absent, while Aloiai quietly went about rolling through 80 minutes fairly easily out on the edge. South Sydney's Zane Musgrove can also be put in that 'easily slept on' bracket as he started and finished the season for the Rabbitohs, suffering a lengthy injury lay-off between those stints in which he was often selected to start over one of the Burgess brothers.
NZ Warriors fans should be excited about Toafofoa Sipley who looked at home in the NRL in his debut season and it will be interesting to see where Sipley fits into amongst the Warriors young forwards. I've got Sipley being better than the rest of the pack and his size/footwork has him as a similar prop to Seumanufagai.
Our hookers here are Cronulla's Manaia Cherrington and Danny Levi from Newcastle. Aotearoa has plenty of dummy halves in the NRL and with the likes of Brandon Smith looking to develop under Cameron Smith down in Melbourne and Nikorima likely to stick to his bench-utility niche, we're blessed. Cherrington and Levi are the cream of the crop right now, despite difficult years for them in 2016 and with great depth in this position, we just need to keep guys in touch with the Kiwis camp.
Backs
Joseph Manu, Taane Milne, Te Maire Martin, Zach Dockar-Clay, Patrick Herbert, Tuimoala Lolohea, David Fusitua, Ata Hingano.
Te Maire Martin and David Fusitua went on tour with the Kiwis this year, while Tuimoala Lolohea did the same last year. That's a Kiwis spine right there with Fusitua at fullback and Martin/Lolohea in the halves, so ponder the prospect of that spine and try not to get a tad excited. The Martin/Lolohea halves combo is very interesting as they are both capable of offering x-factor via their respective running games and Martin can take care of steering the ship around, allowing Lolohea to float.
Ata Hingano might have something to say about that and we should all be pretty damn excited about the emerging talents of Hingano, who will probably feature heavily down the Kiwis left edge soon enough.
I'm not sure how Zach Dockar-Clay is going to get game time at Penrith, sitting in behind Martin and Nathan Cleary in the halves, but Dockar-Clay is the sort of halfback that Aotearoa tends not to produce. Dockar-Clay formed a lethal halves combination with Martin for the Junior Kiwis and the best-case scenario could be that Dockar-Clay/Hingano rocks the No.7 jersey with Martin and Lolohea competing for the No.6 spot; Dockar-Clay can also play hooker which is probably his best chance of NRL minutes at Penrith. I just want Dockar-Clay around the squad as he'll be a cog - possibly an important one - in this Kiwis wheel at some stage.
What's important here is that we have four halves named in this EKS. Four halves who are immensely skillful and just need time to stack up consistent NRL minutes, if I were to rank these four halves right now; Martin, Lolohea, Hingano, Dockar-Clay.
Taane Milne made his NRL debut this year and quickly became a point of attacking impetus at centre for a struggling Dragons side. As a specialist centre, Milne is a valuable commodity and his ability to break tackles, or at least poke through the line and offload will ensure that the Dragons' right-edge has some funk.
Joseph Manu tasted NRL footy this year on the wing for the Roosters and was given an opportunity at centre later in the year, gifting us with a taste of the most exciting young back from Aotearoa at the moment. Manu has ruthless footwork that is similar to that of Roger Tuivasa-Sheck's and I'll be paying close attention to how Roosters coach Trent Robinson allows Manu to develop next season.
There are many young kiwi outside backs who could have been the bolter in this EKS (Jamayne Isaako, Greg Leleisiuao) and I've gone with Patrick Herbert from the Dragons. Herbert has been a star for the Dragons Under-20's team, earning himself a spot with the full-time NRL squad this summer. Herbert is very similar to Manu in that he can interchange between centre and wing fairly easily.