#KiwiNRL Encyclopedia: Finals Week One (+Bonus NRL Finals Kiwis Team)
Forget all that mate/state vs mate/state stuff, it's kiwi cuzzy vs kiwi cuzzy.
Broncos vs Titans
Broncos: Jordan Kahu, Adam Blair, Alex Glenn.
Titans: Josh Hoffman, Konrad Hurrell (Ton), Zeb Taia (CookIs), Leivaha Pulu, Agnatius Paasi (Ton).
Doc's Word: Extremely excited to see what Pulu and Paasi can offer the Titans off the bench. Pulu has been in good form since returning from reserve grade while Paasi hasn't been so influential, both could give the Titans the edge they need to dominate Brisbane's forward pack though.
Raiders vs Sharks
Raiders: Jordan Rapana (CookIs), Iosia Soliola (Sam), Joseph Tapine.
Sharks: Sosaia Feki (Ton), Gerard Beale.
Doc's Word: The Raiders have a big starting forward pack, yet when Tapine comes on, his impact is obvious. That's thanks to his footwork and athletic ability, a point of difference to the brutal running of Junior Paulo and Shannon Boyd.
Storm vs Cowboys
Storm: Jesse Bromwich, Kevin Proctor, Tohu Harris, Kenny Bromwich.
Cowboys: Antonion Winterstein (Sam), Jason Taumalolo.
Doc's Word: I can't contain my excitement about seeing the Storm's Kiwis forward pack go up against Taumalolo. Taumalolo has been so good this season that this is a fair match up even though the Storm have the numbers advantage, Jesse Bromwich might disagree though.
Panthers vs Bulldogs
Panthers: Dallin Watene-Zelezniak, Suaia Matagi, James Fisher-Harris, Sitaleki Akauola, Moses Leota (Ton).
Bulldogs: Curtis Rona, Greg Eastwood, Sam Kasiano (Sam), Raymond Faitala-Mariner (Sam).
Doc's Word: We should be treated to Eastwood lining up against Fisher-Harris and while there's a bunch of interesting kiwi battles here, Eastwood vs Fisher-Harris demands your attention if your a kiwi rugby league lover.
Here's a cheeky bonus for y'all. Yesterday we were graced with a Kiwis Train-On squad, which is nice and all but you shouldn't really care too much about Train-On squads when there's so many kiwi lads in the NRL Finals. Sure, there's blokes in that Train-On squad who are certainties to be selected for the Kiwis Four Nations campaign, there's also a gang of Kiwis who are playing Finals footy though, who will push all the Kiwis battlers aside.
So here's an NRL Finals Kiwis team, give or take some positional changes and I tried to steer clear of selecting those who have already represented Samoa or Tonga. Sam Kasiano is on the bench though as we needed another forward and he has represented Aotearoa previously.
FB: Dallin Watene-Zelezniak.
Wings: Curtis Rona, Jordan Rapana.
Centres: Alex Glenn, Gerard Beale.
Halves: Tohu Harris, Jordan Kahu (gotta do what we gotta do).
Props: Adam Blair, Jesse Bromwich.
Hooker: Kenny Bromwich.
Edge Forwards: Kevin Proctor, Greg Eastwood.
Lock: Jason Taumalolo.
Bench: Sam Kasiano, James Fisher-Harris, Joseph Tapine, Suaia Matagi.