Stocks Up 

Jordan Kahu: A late move to centre to replace Tom Opacic saw Kahu flex his versatility muscles and Kahu showed his class in adjusting with ease. This wasn't a regular game of footy - a late change in a big Finals game at Suncorp Stadium isn't hard to do and Kahu's shown that he can move seamlessly between centre and wing throughout his NRL career. Kahu didn't dominate with his carries, taking just 9 carries for 76m but in those 9 carries he had 2 line breaks, plus this is more about Kahu proving himself to be an asset for the Broncos at a crucial stage of the season.

Alex Glenn: If you needed yet another example of how kiwis are dominating the NRL, you need not look further than Kahu and Glenn who were up there alongside Anthony Milford as two of the best Broncos against the Titans. Glenn also flexed his versatility muscles, playing 31 minutes through the middle of the field and the aggression he showed in that stint helped the Broncos keep the big Titans forward pack under wraps. Glenn had 12 carries for 84m and made 13 tackles with a line break in there as well, with Wayne Bennett basically using Glenn as part of his prop rotation.

Agnatius Paasi: After a quiet few weeks, Paasi (like Kahu and Glenn - peep the trend) showed his versatility in moving from a middle role to filling a whole out on the edge with Zeb Taia a late withdrawal. Paasi was solid and was the only Titans forward to play 80 minutes, with 12 carries, 91m, 2 tackle busts and 2 offloads. There were a few errors in Paasi's game, however sliding to the edge with ease shows the sort of footy player Paasi is.

Joseph Tapine: Ricky Stuart gave Tapine plenty of minutes against Cronulla (45mins), safe in the knowledge that Tapine's size and footwork would ask plenty of questions of the Sharks defence around the ruck. Tapine delivered in full, with 110m off 10 carries (over 10m per-carry) along with 5 tackle busts and an offload. What I love here is that Tapine has been simmering away all season, playing well but in a restricted role off the bench and he got a boost in minutes in a massive game for the Raiders. 

Jordan Rapana: I guess when you're scoring a try and running for 149m off 11 carries, your stocks will rise ... but Rapana only had a single tackle bust. That's weird.

Jesse Bromwich: Up against the best middle trio in the NRL and defending his crown as the best prop in the game, Melbourne needed big Jesse to deliver the goods against North Queensland. Bromwich put all three of the Cowboys middle trio in the shade and kinda just laid down the challenge to any prop/lock who thinks they can kick it with the best in the game; 57 minutes, 20 carries, 182m, 7 tackle busts, 28 tackles, 1 line break. Let's all bow down to the best prop in the NRL.

Kenny Bromwich/Nelson Asofa-Solomona: The younger Bromwich bruv and Asofa-Solomona gave the Storm plenty of oomph off the bench and did so with a clinical level of efficiency. Asofa-Solomona was a late call up and only played 12 minutes, however with 2 carries he had 20m and a tackle bust. Kenny also came off the bench to play through the middle, but rolled through 42 minutes and almost averaged 10m per-carry, running for 89m off 9 carries with 2 tackle busts.

Dallin Watene-Zelezniak: 14 carries, 222m, 5 tackle busts, 2 line breaks. Those numbers speak for themselves and along with 17 carries, 257m, 6 tackle busts, 2 line breaks from Josh Mansour, Penrith's wingers were simply electric against the Bulldogs. Watene-Zelezniak has done this for a while now and responded to Mansour's jump in production, giving Penrith a threat on either flank but also, a threat on either flank that comes in-field and brings the ruckus when doing so. 

Suaia Matagi: Watene-Zelezniak's powerful running game has been a staple of Penrith's work this season, especially during their hot-streak to close out the season and Matagi's epic production in limited minutes has also been a staple. This needs to be put into context as the Bulldogs have a big, grizzly forward pack led by tackling machines in Aiden Tolman and James Graham; Matagi ran for 92m off 8 carries in just 38 minutes. Sam Kasiano played similar minutes (37mins) and had 9 carries but only ran for 76m, so big up big up Matagi the dynamo.

Sam Perrett: It's been a pleasure bro...

Stocks Down

Leivaha Pulu: My Pulu/Paasi plan was scrapped when Paasi started on the edge, but the lack of involvement from Pulu didn't quite give the Titans the power off the bench they needed. Pulu played 38 minutes which was the most of the Titans bench and second only to Jarrod Wallace's 39 minutes off the bench for Brisbane, however Pulu only had 2 carries for 15m along with an error and penalty conceded. Not ideal, but given that Pulu came to the Titans this season from reserve grade, he's blown expectations out of the water and I look forward to seeing how he develops over the summer.

Jason Taumalolo: In 49 minutes, Taumalolo only ran for 85m off 8 carries which is a pretty poor effort given that he's consistently been up around the 20 carries/200m mark this season. This is partly why the Cowboys won as the Storm nullified the impact of Taumalolo as well as Matt Scott and James Tamou, but I mean, Taumalolo still averaged over 10m per-carry with those 8 carries so it's not all that bad. 

Big shout to Taumalolo as well for winning the RLPA Player Champion award, voted on by his fellow players. This is a huge award to win and it should always trump other awards like the Daly M because it's players who vote, real recognise real ya feel me? This means that NRL players believe that Taumalolo was the best player this season, so my fellow kiwis, light one up or take a sip in honour of Taumalolo.