I would have picked Vunivalu for Fiji #JustSayin.

Regular readers will be well aware of my (justified) crush on the Melbourne Storm, more specifically the Storm's ability in recruitment and development. I've explored the Storm's recruitment and their kiwi angle in doing so before, whether it was Nelson Asofa-Solomona from Wellington First XV rugby, Shem Tatupu from AFL footy, Tohu Harris from Hastings or youngsters like Tony Tumusa who the Storm snapped up from Kelston Boys High School.

Let's not close it off to just kiwi lads though as the Storm flex their recruitment muscles regularly. The nature of the beast in Melbourne is that they don't have the junior pathways that other NRL clubs have, so they need to flex their recruitment/development muscle just to roll out a competitive NRL team. Guys like Cameron Munster, Ben Hampton, Tim Glasby, Dale Finucane, Marika Koroibete, Jordan MacLean, Felise Kaufusi, Kenny Bromwich, Jesse Bromwich, Kevin Proctor, Curtis Scott etc have all joined the Storm at various stages of their young careers, even before their careers had begun and are now key figures in a Storm team who call the Cowboys, Broncos and Sharks their peers.

The Storm go alright in that regard and you can add Suliasi Vunivalu to that list of examples as to why the Storm are the best recruiters/player developers in the NRL.

It's a pathway or scenario which follows that of former Storm player Matt Duffie, who is now with the Blues in Super Rugby. In a way, Vunivalu has replaced Duffie, he's taken Duffie's vacant wing spot, albeit after a few other blokes got first-dibs, which is funky as Vunivalu joined the Storm from St Kents' First XV rugby team, like Duffie did.

Vunivalu and Duffie were both given the luxury of time and faith, they both played in the Storm's Under-20's team and were given the adequate attention to ensure that they kicked on at the NRL level. Vunivalu spent much of this season - before making his debut - in Queensland's Intrust Super Cup for Sunshine Coast Faclons, one of the Storm's feeder clubs in Queensland.

Clearly a beast in schoolboy rugby, Vunivalu would have had many people hunting him from both rugby and league. These days, NRL clubs have no issues in signing schoolboy rugby players and flipping them into NRL prospects (sooooooo many young kiwis with NRL clubs played First XV rugby), plus Vunivalu had a clear example of what was possible with the Storm in Duffie. Vunivalu saw Duffie's progression and the Storm have done a fairly similar job in developing Vunivalu, as long as Vunivalu put his best foot forward, he couldn't really go wrong.

What I find particularly is that the Storm currently have two of the finest First XV rugby players to grace Aotearoa, in their top-17. Vunivalu was a beast for St Kents, just as Nelson Asofa-Solomona was a beast for Wellington College, both are unique physical specimens that would have made them stand out like sore thumbs in schoolboy rugby.

This points to the pull of the Storm as they were able to grab two of the finest athletes in schoolboy rugby, away from Aotearoa and bring them through their development pathways.

There's enough talent in kiwi rugby that Vunivalu and Asofa-Solomona's move to Melbourne didn't really have any great impact on our kiwi rugby talent pool. You'd have to ask questions about a certain rugby league club in Auckland though, who never really appeared to be in the hunt for either player, they might not have even identified them as potential NRL guns.

Instead, it's the Storm who have a 115kg x 200cm forward coming off their bench and a 99kg x 192cm winger in their team. It's the Storm who have the hottest wing prospect on their books, it's the Storm who got in there ahead of other NRL/Super Rugby teams to sign Vunivalu.