Dylan Napa's father is from the Cook Islands, so like, he's kinda almost kiwi right?

As per NRLstats.com, Dylan Napa absolutely dined out for the Roosters against rivals South Sydney: 80 minutes, 19 runs, 144m, 5 tackle busts, 46 tackles, an offload and a try.

Those stats tell a fairly compelling yarn, most notably the fact that Napa played the whole game in the middle of the park against the Burgess brothers. Somehow, Napa got through a mountain of carries (more than Sam Burgess' 16) and tackles (only Jake Friend had more tackles for the Chooks - 56 to Napa's 46), while still maintaining plenty of impact with his carries and showcasing a rather freakish level of enthusiasm.

Those same stats fail to tell the true story of Napa's match-winning knock as the Roosters upset the Rabbitohs on Friday night. Up against a forward pack that is typically rugged, led by the Burgess bros, Napa was the best player on the park thanks to the way he went about intimidating the Rabbitohs and ensuring that no Rabbitoh would have an easy stroll up to the defensive line.

Graced with size, mobility and a slick pair of hands, Napa is/was always going to be a menace for the Rabbitohs with the footy. Napa is one of a few big Roosters forwards and he's capable of making metres with ease, however his work without the footy was what really stood out.

Napa has made a name for himself as one of the best hitters in the game over a number of seasons now, both with and without the shoulder charge, so we've come to expect Napa to have an impact on defence. The way he demoralized the Bunnies though was something else.
Napa consistently shot out of the Roosters defensive line, putting heavy shot upon heavy shot.

This has immense value both in terms of dominating the tackle, slowing the play-the-ball down and inspiring his troops. I reckon the NRL has gone up a notch this season in speed and the physical collisions, so for Napa to stand out in his physicality, to be the best player on the park thanks to that physicality, is quite some feat.

Unfortunately for Napa, he has been 'banned' from Maroons selection for 12 months after that drama up in Brisbane. It goes without saying that Napa is perfectly suited to the Origin arena and the thought of a Maroons bench with Napa and Josh Papalii coming off it, providing Queensland with a brutal yet skillful bit of funk, is scary. New South Wales fans probably won't have to worry about that, while the rest of the NRL would have certainly have noted Napa's efforts.

I look around the NRL and still think Steve Matai is the numero uno hitman. 'Hitman' to me, doesn't solely revolve around whacking blokes on defence, you've still gotta be a hitman with the footy, running it like a hitman. Matai showed last night that he's still one of the best centres in the game with 2 tries, 123m off 12 carries, 5 tackle busts, 2 offloads and a line break for Manly against the Warriors, returning to his home town and putting on a show for his whanau.

Like Napa though, Matai's best work isn't evident in his stats as he carries the footy like very few outside backs do. There's a hitman-nature about Matai's runs, where he doesn't give two hoots about his own safety and sprints into the defensive line, regardless of whether he's running into big or small blokes. I don't think Matai has ever really slipped from his lofty heights, this season under Trent Barrett he does look reinvigorated though and is forming a ruthless left edge in conjunction with Martin Taupau and Jorge Taufua.

Matai loves a shot, no doubt about that but he picks his moments - which he must as a centre. The number of times Napa burst out of the Roosters line and made very solid contact in one game was something I hadn't really seen too often before, it was nothing less than awesome.

They're two of the best hitmen, if not the two best hitmen and it's convenient that one is a forward and one's a back. It's also important to note that they are far from being one-dimensional though and offer their respective teams plenty in all facets of the game. Matai has been there, done that and continues to do it while Napa is just warming into his work and I can't wait to see these two do their thang each week from this point on.