Every summer, the foundations of the NRL shift slightly and this year is no different as a bunch of influential players moved clubs. James Maloney's now a Panther, Matt Moylan's a Shark, Cooper Cronk is a Rooster and that now means that Mitchell Pearce is now a Knight. While Newcastle Knights will continue their steady rebuilding process over the next 18 months - I don't think they're the finished piece just yet - signing Pearce caps of a bloody impressive 2017 in terms of recruitment and re-invigorating at the Knights.

As always, I'm interested in the #KiwiNRL perspective and how signing Pearce will influence or impact Newcastle's low key group of cuzzies. Australia's media are infatuated by Pearce and routinely build him up to be greater than what he is, before cutting him down in a similar fashion while also zoning in on anything Pearce does with a weird intensity; which may have some people over-stating the impact of Pearce's signing at Newcastle.

Pearce is a good NRL half and that in itself is what every NRL half would like to be. Given that most NRL halves are average halves, being consistently good is a fantastic level to be at and it not be viewed as a negative that Pearce hasn't done anything to suggest that he's a currently a great half who lives alongside Cooper Cronk or Jonathan Thurston. Based purely on NRL footy, I'd also suggest that Pearce isn't in the bracket below Cronk and Thurston, where James Maloney,Corey Norman and Michael Morgan, thus meaning that Pearce currently has Anthony Milford, Ben Hunt and Mitchell Moses as his current peers.

That's my personal ranking system based on what half I would want to recruit if they were all available. Your opinion will differ, however we are likely to agree on Pearce not being a bloke who will dramatically change a club's fortunes but if placed in the right environment, Pearce can take a bad team up to being a consistently good team. Which is the situation that awaits Pearce at Newcastle and while a lot of noise has been made about Pearce's halves partner - likely to be Connor Watson - the other spine spots go to #KiwiNRL guns Kalyn Ponga and Danny Levi.

Ponga Update: We're still yet to get a decision from Ponga about his international future, which is probably a very wise move. Until it's official, I'll continue to have the Manawatu cuzzie in #KiwiNRL discussions.

Highlights of Young gun on the rise, Kalyn Ponga. Keep Updated -https://www.facebook.com/JBPRODUCTIONSYOUTUBE/

Ponga is about to embark on his first NRL season in which he'll be graced with consistent game time and having an experienced half steering the ship will be a major asset for Ponga. Pearce has seen many different defensive systems which will help Ponga's development as he'll be able to advise Ponga on minor details to note down about opposition defences and this can't really happen over summer as you need in-game experience. Experience will help Ponga make tweaks to his game as different defensive schemes are thrown at him, thus speeding up his progress.

If you had to pin-point one player who Ponga best compares to, I reckon it's Roger Tuivasa-Sheck and Pearce enjoyed great success playing with RTS at fullback. RTS and Ponga can both thrown the required pass, however their major strength is their running games and while many teams look to get their fullback into a position where they execute a last-pass, we can expect Ponga to be put in a position where he has a favourable match up.

RTS has developed his passing game with experience, while Ponga will look to establish his run-game first and foremost before sussing out passes in the coming seasons. This means that Ponga could get a lot of footy off Pearce further in-field, where the target is an edge forward or middle forward defending on that edge forward's inside - as opposed to targeting a centre.

This is where Danny Levi comes into the equation as his strength is also his running game, like Ponga and also like Watson. Everyone loves Levi (rightly so) because he catches the eye with his running game, exploding out of dummy half with a lightning fast first two steps, then he has the ability to weave between defenders.

We've seen that from Levi in Knights teams that have lost many games of footy, on the back of losing the battle up the guts. Now Newcastle have leveled-up in their forward pack, bringing in #KiwiNRL homies Herman Ese'ese and Slade Griffin, along with Aidan Guerra, Chris Heighington, Jacob Lillyman and the likes of the Saifiti twins and Mitch Barnett will continue to develop. That's not a Premiership winning forward pack, it's a lot better than last year though and Levi will have many more opportunities to scoot, thus speeding things up for Pearce.

All that can be simplified down to Pearce being surrounded by runners, runners with speed and footwork. Ponga, Watson and Levi ooze x-factor with their running ability and that suits Pearce nicely as his job will be to focus on sitting in the pocket, organising his troops and deploying weapons. Pearce already has a combination with Watson from the Roosters so that won't be too different for Pearce, Jake Friend and Michael Gordon are very different players to Levi and Ponga though.

Friend and Gordon offer other attributes, while much of the goodness in Levi and Ponga is based on their running ability. So while Pearce will re-unite with Watson, he'll be in a very different situation where he is surrounded by speed and footwork. If Levi continues his career arc and Ponga lives up to a slither of his potential next season, Pearce will be the conductor of the show instead of being the star and that is perfectly suited to Pearce's style of play.

We've always seen Pearce in situations where he has to be the conductor and star, much like Shaun Johnson. For Pearce to flow into this new phase of his career, a lot depends on Levi and Ponga adding the immense spark that they are capable of. Hit an ad if you enjoyed the read and like a bit of #KiwiNRL funk.

Peace and love 27.