Robbie Farah and Michael Ennis have often been associated for their great work at dummy half, which usually had them going head to head in the battle for a New South Wales hooking spot. Two veteran Aussie hookers who are/were capable of playing 80 minutes and who were blocking the road for two of our young kiwi hookers, so as the Farah vs Jason Taylor saga played out and Ennis announced his retirement, I watched on with glee.

Things didn't quite pan out as expected though, not good or bad, just unexpected. Ennis' retirement opened up a spot at hooker for Cronulla and they initially snapped up Manaia Cherrington, a move that was rather exciting until they decided that they needed to sniff around every other hooker that was available on the market.

Cherrington had been stuck behind Farah at Wests Tigers, unable to get a look in either because Farah was starting and playing 80 minutes, or because Taylor wasn't overly keen to give Cherrington a go. Elijah Taylor was instead used, as was winger Jordan Rankin.

After waiting for his opportunity behind Farah, Cherrington was already out the door when the Farah vs Taylor saga hit a climax. Somehow, the Tigers had managed to force Farah out along with the youngster in Cherrington who was due to be Farah's successor. So what did the Tigers do? They went out and signed Christchurch's Matt McIlwrick, from Cronulla.

McIlwrick is arguably the greatest kiwi battler we currently have as he started his career with Canberra, before moving to the Roosters, then the Sharks and now the Tigers. Playing behind Ennis, McIlwrick only really got an opportunity this season when Ennis was out suspended or injured. This gave us a couple of games with McIlwrick starting at hooker and Fa'amanu Brown in the halves for Cronulla, two Christchurch lads playing together in the same NRL team huh? The same NRL team who won a Premiership, might I add.

Somehow, the paths of two young kiwi hookers crossed thanks to the moves made by two veteran Australian hookers. What's really confusing is that neither McIlwrick, nor Cherrington has made a move that is going to immediately see them enjoy relative success or bountiful opportunities. If I told you that McIlwrick and Cherrington would swap clubs, effectively replacing Farah and Ennis, it would sound pretty awesome for our young kiwi hookers right?

🏆2016 PREMIERS🏆 Been an amazing week to be a part of and celebrating with legends like these two! #upupcronulla #nrl #2016premiers #ennis @jim_jim86

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Possibly. McIlwrick could get a decent crack at the starting dummy half spot for Wests Tigers as Matt Ballin is coming back from injury, while young gun Jacob Liddle will be putting pressure on McIlwrick to perform; at the very least Liddle will be cutting into McIlwrick's minutes. Liddle appears to be the Tigers long-term replacement for Farah, yet he'll need time to settle into the NRL and will likely see bits and pieces in terms of minutes this season. There's every chance though that McIlwrick starts the season and then when Ballin's fit and healthy, the McIlwrick/Liddle combo becomes the Ballin/Liddle combo, leaving McIlwrick in NRL no man's land.

Cherrington is in a similar predicament as he's at the stage of his careerwhere he'll be looking for consistent NRL minutes to kick-start his development into a solid 80 minute hooker, yet the Sharks - like the Tigers - have three blokes competing for two spots. After signing Cherrington, the Sharks made it pretty damn clear that they still wanted another hooker to replace Ennis and they came close to snapping up Farah and Damien Cook (Rabbitohs), while they were also rumoured to be interested in James Segeyaro.

Cronulla settled for Gold Coast utility Daniel Mortimer, who is a similar player to McIlwrick in that he's done the NRL rounds and has been good enough to fit in and contribute anywhere he goes, but not good enough to demand consistent selection as a starter. As a kiwi, I want to see Cherrington start over Mortimer and I reckon Cherrington's a better all-round dummy half than Mortimer, however the experience of Mortimer could see him start with Cherrington coming off the bench.

Loving the fresh start with the boys #upupcronulla

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The spanner in the proverbial works here is the 2016 NYC Hooker of the Year Jayden Brailey. Just as the Tigers are lining up Liddle to be their long-term hooker, Brailey is cut from a similar cloth and he'll be groomed to be the Sharks hookerfor a long time to come. Like McIlwrick, Cherrington must battle with a veteran in Mortimer, while also fighting off the challenge of a young pup in Brailey.

Walking into a three-way battle for NRL minutes is a weird situation, it could be worse though. Sure, McIlwrick and Cherrington face stiff competition for minutes, there's also the possibility that the establish themselves as consistent bench hookers or even better, get plenty of minutes starting at hooker. That's a huge jump from where they've both come from in 2016 as they were both toiling away in reserve grade for much of the year.

The general theme of these summer storylines is that just like Siliva Havili, McIlwrick and Cherrington (all are hookers) have an opportunity to make a great impression over summer on the training field. Competition for places should bring out the best in them with the carrot of increased game time out in front of them and they have now got themselves into a position where it's up to them what sort of impression they make on Taylor at the Tigers and Shane Flanagan at Cronulla.

An ideal scenario for us kiwis would be that McIlwrick and Cherrington start the season as the numero uno hooker at their respective clubs, do a great job all season and ensure that there are no hangovers from the losses of Farah and Ennis. That's a long shot, at least they have the opportunity though huh?