The strength of kiwi rugby league has always been crystal clear thanks to the various Junior Kiwis teams which have been named over the past five-eight years. Earlier this year, our Junior Kiwis fell victim to the Junior Kangaroos and there's absolutely no shame in that when you consider that the starting halfback for the Aussies was none other than Nathan Cleary. 

The JKangaroos have also had the likes of Curtis Scott (Melbourne), Jayden Nikorima (Roosters), JJ Felise (Wests), Coen Hess (Nth Qld), Jaydn Su'a (Brisbane), Tevita Pangai (Brisbane), Jacob Host (St George) and Connor Watson (Roosters) slide up into the NRL with Hess and Watson playing significant roles in the NRL along with Cleary.

James Fisher-Harris leads the charge for the JKiwis, although he was unable to take the field against the JKangaroos. Fisher-Harris made his NRL debut in Round 1 of this season and has gone on to play 20 games for the Panthers this season, starting his NRL playing through the middle before Penrith coach Anthony Griffin put Fisher-Harris on the right edge and since then it's been a wrap. Fisher-Harris has been a consistent presence out on that right edge and although his stats don't make for exceptional reading, he has played 80 minutes in Penrith's last four games as they chase a top-8 spot.

Only Cleary can come close to matching the contribution of Fisher-Harris in the NRL this season of players from that Junior Test, with both Cleary and Fisher-Harris settling into their work at Penrith despite their youth. Fisher-Harris has 20 NRL games at 20-years-old and kiwis across Aotearoa should be excited about his future with the Panthers and eventually with the Kiwis as well; he's big, mobile and is capable of offloading at will. The similarities between Fisher-Harris and Adam Blair are pretty damn freaky, especially when you consider that both hail from the naughty-North of Aotearoa. Blair started his NRL career on the Melbourne Storm's edge and their physical attributes are almost identical, so don't sleep on Fisher-Harris possibly playing alongside Blair in a Kiwis team at the Four Nations or the World Cup.

The NZ Warriors have promoted both Ata Hingano and Nathaniel Roache into the NRL as well, both of whom featured in the 2016 JKiwis team. Despite plenty of competition at dummy half for the Warriors, Roache has enjoyed regular NRL game time and is nicely poised to learn plenty off Issac Luke before one day taking over from Luke. Hingano has only recently got his opportunity in the NRL, which is still immensely positive as I wasn't overly optimistic that we'd see Hingano in the NRL this season with the Warriors rolling out a fairly consistent spine. The Warriors have produced two young play-makers who were good enough to represent Aotearoa at the Junior level and then make the jump up to the NRL; obviously they have a horrible culture and all.

Reimis Smith made his NRL debut this season for the Bulldogs and scored a try on debut in what was a fairly extraordinary 24 hours for Smith. Unfortunately, thanks to the weird circumstances of Smith's debut, we haven't seen him back in the NRL this season as Smith had to be whisked down from Sydney to Canberra when one of the Morris twins was a last-minute call up for New South Wales. Smith basically stepped out of the car and on to the field and we should definitely celebrated Smith's debut, however he benefited from circumstance and hasn't been seen in the NRL since.

Curtis Rona will make the move to rugby union next season and Sam Perrett will retire, yet Des Hasler has snapped up young Raiders winger Brenko Lee for next season so it'll be interesting to see if Smith can somehow squeeze his way into that backline. Two kiwi lads moving on, could open the door for a JKiwi.

Siosifa Talakai also made his NRL debut with South Sydney this season and was strong, spending time at centre and as an edge forward, scoring with his first NRL touch. Talakai played three games for the Rabbitohs this season and this game in a weird time for the Rabbitohs as they were battling poor form and injuries, gifting Talakai the opportunity for some NRL action but not when the Rabbitohs were playing their best footy. We've seen what the Bunnies can do in their late-season run and I'd be pretty damn excited to see Talakai demand selection in a full-strength Rabbitohs team as he's got serious power that would fit right in.

Neither Brandon Smith nor Esan Marsters have made their NRL debut this season but both 2016 JKiwis have seen their names flashed in exciting headlines. Waiheke junior Smith made the JKiwis via the Cowboys and was snapped up by the Storm as Melbourne eye-up a long-term successor to Cameron Smith. There's probably no better club for a young talent like Smith to be going to, than Melbourne and with Cameron Smith the smartest hooker/player in the NRL, Brandon will benefit greatly from sitting under Cameron's wing and soaking up wisdom.

Marsters was touted as one of the most exciting forwards in the Under-20s competition and had plenty of interest from a variety of NRL clubs who wanted to seal the signature of the excessively mobile and powerful edge forward. There was plenty of buzz about Marsters and the interest from other clubs, but a cheeky look around the traps suggests that Marsters will be a Tiger through until 2018. This is fabulous as there's a high chance that we will see the Tigers roll out Marsters on one edge and former JKiwi Josh Aloiai on the other edge as Chris Lawrence has been doing a solid job on the Tigers edge but will move on at some stage. 

There are a number of players not mentioned who will be names to keep a close eye on over the summer as they could genuinely emerge as fringe NRL selections with a strong off-season. Brad Abbey could join Smith in benefiting from the departures of Perrett and Rona, Patrick Herbert could demand selection in the outside backs for the Dragons as he's got a splash of x-factor that they need, Jamayne Isaako will be looking to sneak intoa variety of Brisbane's backline positions and Ken Tofilau will be eager to make the most of any opportunities that come his way in Newcastle.