Mention the name Josh Aloiai to a casual rugby league fan and you'll probably get a blank look in response. The 21-year-old Wests Tigers edge forward made his NRL debut last season after making the move from Parramatta Eels to the Tigers before the 2016 season, which was effectively a trial for Aloiai as he had only signed a one-year deal. Now though, the Tigers have snapped up Aloiai for two more years meaning that Aloiai did a fantastic job in that one-year trial in 2016.

Consider this the official warning of Aloiai's ability and regard that he is held in as an all-round bloke; thou shall not sleep on Aloiai no longer.

Why? Well, Aloiai happened to play in every damn game of his debut season.

That led to Aloiai being named Wests Tigers Rookie of the Year. Perhaps the reason why Aloiai is a largely unknown for kiwi league fans is that he didn't really do anything worthy of demanding attention, he merely went about his business for the Tigers and without doing the spectacular, he slotted straight into the NRL.

Playing in every game for the Tigers is impressive enough. Averaging a very handy 8.80m/per-carry, Aloiai either came off the bench to play on the edge or started games on the right edge for the Tigers where he planted the seeds for a combination with Mitchell Moses that will be must-watch #KiwiNRL viewing this year. Aloiai averaged 37.87mins/per-game and with as he shared minutes with veteran Chris Lawrence and Kyle Lovett, the Glenora Bears junior averaged more metres/per-carry than Lovett (8.10m/per-carry), who is his main rival for a starting spot.

There's great scope for Aloiai to now nail down a starting edge spot and increase his minutes dramatically. Lawrence appears to have settled in on the Tigers left edge, leaving Lovett and Aloiai to compete for minutes on the right and given that Aloiai has been re-signed while there's noise about Lovett being pushed out of the club to make salary cap space, we should assume that Aloiai will get plenty of opportunities this season. The Tigers also let Curtis Sironen leave to Manly and he's a skillful edge forward, while veteran Dene Halatau retired after filling in throughout the Tigers forward pack.

Everything seems to be pointing towards Lawrence and Aloiai playing the majority of available minutes, with any slack picked him by the highly promising Junior Kiwis edge forward Esan Marsters. The Cook Island international was hunted by a number of NRL clubs before sticking with the Tigers during the 2016 season and after dominating in the Under 20s competition, Marsters could offer depth while Lawrence and Aloiai are given the bulk of the work.

Thou shall not sleep on Aloiai not only refers to his work on the field, but off it as well. Here are a few gems from the Tigers' about the sort of lad Aloiai is (from their press release)...

“Josh is an outstanding young man who continually displays the core values of Wests Tigers - both on and off the field. He has really bought into what we are striving to achieve here and I’d like to make special mention of his commitment to our community initiatives. We are all really excited to have a player of Josh’s character commit his future to the Club”

-Tigers CEO Justin Pascoe.

“He is an absolutely superb person, first and foremost, from the way he carries himself around the place, to the way he trains and his values, we are very lucky to have him."

-Tigers coach Jason Taylor.

It's just cool that one of Aotearoa's brightest young NRL players not only does a fantastic job for his team on the field, he's also held in what can only be considered 'extremely high regard' by the big dawgs at the Tigers. There's no shortage of impressive young footy players at the Tigers and while they try their best to ensure that the likes of James Tedesco, Aaron Woods, Luke Brooks and Mitchell Moses stay at the club, at least they've snapped up Aloiai.

I've got a feeling that we won't hear a whole lot about how influential Aloiai is at the Tigers throughout this two-year deal and possibly beyond; bigger names will demand that attention. From a #KiwiNRL perspective though, there isn't a more interesting bloke in that Tigers squad and he'll be someone I keep close tabs on this season.