Stocks Up

Josh Hoffman: One of the forgotten kiwis in the NRL, Hoffman is really starting to establish himself as one of the better centres after moving to the Titans. He's forming an interesting combination with Nene MacDonald and we saw just how dangerous Hoffman's footwork (left Euan Aitken grasping at Caspar) and speed can be. Against the Dragons, Hoffman had 16 carries for 164m with a try assist and 6 tackle busts.

Martin Taupau: If Manly are to make a strong run into the Finals, it will start with Taupau getting back to his barnstorming best. He's not quite there just yet and needs to churn out a few more minutes, however in the last few weeks and against the Warriors Taupau has given Manly strong go forward with his typically powerful carries. Taupau had 15 carries for 119m in 40 minutes and got 3 offloads out in horrible conditions, that skill and his speed through the middle could be exactly what Manly build their play around moving forward.

Ben Matulino: Possibly the best player on the park in Manly's win over the Warriors was Matulino and like Taupau, Matulino is the focal point of the Warriors. Matulino started on the bench as he has done for much of this season and when he gets on the park you can see things start to change for the Warriors as they are immediately injected with some punch and get a great roll on down field. Matulino had 19 carries for 164m in 58 minutes and managed a few tackle busts and Warriors fans will be hoping that Matulino's epic run of form continues as the season nears a climax.

Adam Blair: Playing 80 minutes in the middle of the field, facing off against Sam Burgess for 80 minutes can never be an easy thing and while our Kiwis side has many big boppers with speed, footwork and skill, Blair is a workhorse prop which is exactly what we need to balance out our Kiwis forward pack. In those 80 minutes, Blair had 16 carries for 131m with 31 tackles and we got a cheeky look at how the Broncos middle trio of Blair/Josh McGuire/Corey Parker could change next with year Jai Arrow replacing Parker. 

Alex Glenn: Throughout the Origin period Glenn has been Uncle Benny's Mr Fix-It and after being named to start at centre, Glenn shifted back to an edge forward spot where he does his best work. Glenn and Blair joined Sam Burgess and Andrew McCullough as the only forwards to play 80 minutes, with Glenn making 112m off 13 carries with 2 tackle busts and 22 tackles. Keep an eye on how Glenn fits into a full-strength Broncos side, hopefully he pushes Sam Thaiday to the bench.

Kiwi Storm Gang: In a tight contest against Newcastle, Melbourne once again enjoyed fantastic contributions from their Kiwi Storm Gang and without their Kiwis they would have probably been up shit's creek. Jesse Bromwich led them through the middle as he has done all season with 14 carries, 116m, 43 tackles and an offload in 80 minutes while Tohu Harris was also impressive in another 80 minute stint; 15 carries, 101m, 6 tackle busts, 37 tackles, 1 line break.

Kevin Proctor rolled through 67 minutes of action with 8 carries, 49m and 2 tackle busts. The work of Kenny Bromwich though really caught the eye as he continues to demand selection off the bench, playing big minutes and packing plenty of punch; 44mins, 14 carries, 102m, 1 tackle bust, 30 tackles.

Manu Ma'u: My love affair with Ma'u has reached greater heights as he has done a fine job at centre for a few weeks now and genuinely looks like he could spend a season playing centre in the NRL. It goes without saying that Ma'u causes damage whenever he carries the footy; 16 carries, 158m, 3 tackle busts and 2 offloads. Interestingly, Ma'u didn't miss a single tackle defending out wider and what has impressed me the most about Ma'u the centre is that his size and aggression which makes him such a handful as an edge forward, is still there at centre thanks to his mobility and how he covers ground, legit looking like a back.

Sio Siua Taukeiaho: Jared Waerea-Hargreaves wasn't too shabby through the middle for the Roosters, however he was put in the shade by a few other kiwi blokes. Taukeiaho was one of those blokes and in 48 minutes, Taukeiaho had 10 carries for 102m which when compared to Dylan Napa's 7 carries for 66m in 43 minutes shows just how efficient Taukeiaho is. 

Isaac Liu: The other bloke who put Waerea-Hargreaves in the shade was Liu and Liu was even more efficient that Taukeiaho, only playing 37 minutes and rolling through 10 carries for 112m with 4 tackle busts. Liu is an interesting player because he doesn't get the attention of the other forwards in this Roosters pack and hasn't quite enjoyed consistent game time thus far, he has however shown what he can do in the NRL numerous times. Most notably, Liu has shown that he offers a strong Roosters forward pack great value.

Fa'amanu Brown: In a funky late move, Brown got 15 minutes off the bench for Cronulla, giving James Maloney a spell on the sidelines after a busy Origin period. What's super funky about this is that it came only a matter of days after NRL rumour hounds reported that Brown was being head-hunted by English clubs. As we've seen numerous times now, Brown is an NRL half and deserves a gig but he's not going to get that with Cronulla in the near future which causes an alarm to go off in the offices of other NRL and Super League clubs. Maloney deserved a stint on the sidelines after a hectic month or two and Brown's the perfect bloke to offer Maloney that break, don't sleep on Brown making a move for more game time though.

Gerard Beale: Just as Hoffman is enjoying a career resurgence at centre for Gold Coast, Beale is also rolling through fine performances at centre for Cronulla. Beale showed that he's got no top-end speed and looked to be running on a treadmill in a break-away, which influenced his running metres, however he was still busy with 15 carries (186m), a try assist and 2 tackle busts. 

Sosaia Feki: I love the Feki! Never ever sleep on Feki, who has quickly shown Sharks coach Shane Flanagan what a gun he is on that left wing. Feki had 12 carries for 189m with 3 tackle busts, throw in a double and I'm in rugby league heaven.

We hear a lot about how dangerous Cronulla's right edge is with Jack Bird and Valentine Holmes getting plenty of love as they are the razzle-dazzle-headline-grabbers, obviously all that lovin' comes from Australia media who like to overlook the contributions of Beale and Feki down their left edge. Beale is a Kiwis international and Feki is a Tongan international who was born in Auckland, most importantly their combination down the left edge gives the Sharks a legit threat (Wade Graham on the left, Luke Lewis on the right as well) on either edge ... just don't sleep on that kiwi left edge. 

Stocks Down

Jordan Kahu: A pectoral injury will keep Kahu out of action for a few weeks and his injury-plagued season (as long as it's not a knee!) continues. Kahu could only manage 23 minutes in the centres for Brisbane against South Sydney and from a kiwi perspective, hopefully Kahu can slot back into the Broncos right before the Finals.

Dallin Watene-Zelezniak: A weird game for DWZ as he didn't quite have the same impact he usually does and this is one of those cases of a kiwi player just not reaching their own lofty heights. DWZ was still busy with 13 carries but he only had 97m and when you compare that to a rampant Josh Mansour who had 20 carries, 231m and 12 tackle busts, DWZ sits in the shade. This is a merely a blip for DWZ and it does show just how threatening Penrith could be with DWZ and Mansour doing their thang from the wing.

Shaun Kenny-Dowall: The return of Blake Ferguson pushed SKD back to the wing and the usually hyper-active SKD was missing for much of the Roosters loss to Cronulla. With only 19 touches, 7 carries and 37m, SKD just couldn't find a way to impact the game and we can consider this just another blip for one of our better kiwis as he's usually stacking up the stats. Also note that Ferguson's return pushed Joseph Manu back down to the Under-20's, so Ferguson can bugger off.