As Konrad Hurrell pulled up with a bung hammy last week, you could not only feel pain for the toko but also the Gold Coast Titans finals hopes/hamstring being torn to shreds. Of course, the Titans are still in with a sniff along with the Warriors, Raiders and Panthers, but the importance and influence of Koni for Gold Coast is undeniable.

Konrad Hurrell has opened up about his blow up at the referee two weeks ago during the Round 15 clash with the Rabbitohs. @kinson88 #9News pic.twitter.com/bWr4rdC1AP
— Nine News Gold Coast (@9NewsGoldCoast) June 26, 2017

Now it looks as though the Titans will be without Koni for a couple more weeks, an early word suggested four weeks and when dealing with niggly hammies; it's ill-advised to come back earlier than expected. Whether it takes four weeks or three, or even two, that's too long without Koni and that pretty much tells you all you need to know about how much Gold Coast rely on Koni, even with Ash Taylor, Jarryd Hayne, Kevin Proctor, Jarrod Wallace etc battlin' away.

I mean, let's look at where Koni ranks for Gold Coast in a few key stats...

Tries: 1st equal (9) with Anthony Don - who is Koni's winger.
Runs: 3rd (232) - Wallace and Ryan James have more and they are starting props.
Run metres: 2nd (2,240) - Wallace is 1st.
Line Breaks: 1st (9).
Offloads: 3rd (14).
Tackle Busts: 1st (57).

Koni also leads the Titans with errors (24), but when you have a centre who is in the top-three of those attacking stats, that's absolutely gravy. Even Koni's missed tackle count (8th with 30) isn't that bad as there's seven blokes who have missed more tackles than Koni and this still stacks up favourably against Melbourne centre Will Chambers - who I view as the best centre in the NRL ... 2nd best behind Koni - as Chambers has missed 41 tackles this season. Chambers averages 2.93 missed tackles a game, Koni averages 1.88mt.

When looking at Koni's run metres, he may sit behind Wallace, yet Koni averages more metres/carry than Wallace. Koni averages 9.65m/carry to Wallace's 9.26m/carry and Koni also averages more metres than Paul Gallen's 9.35m/carry - not close to Jason Taumalolo's whopping 10.87m/carry though.

In all honesty; this is nothing new. Koni has been a focal point of the Titans attack ever since he strung a few games together, so taking his metres, offloads and tries out of the equation will make life extremely difficult for Gold Coast to chase a Finals spot. They were already toiling against a slight ray of sunshine, now they've got to do that sans Koni and if those stats didn't tickle your fancy, you've only got to look at the 10 minutes Koni played against Penrith before the hammy played up.

Those 10 minutes featured 3 runs for 41m (13.66m/carry!!). The first of those runs came in the opening set as Koni drifted over from his right centre position to take a hit up, angling towards the left edge. That's a hit up that will usually go to a forward as it's the first set and it's in the middle of the park, yet Koni steps up...

Peep where Koni is greeted with contact:

And peep where Koni carries that contact to:

That's pretty much 9-10m after contact which to me, is bonkers. Not only does it get Gold Coast further down field, but the Penrith defenders are literally riding Koni as he powers forward and falls on his belly. Landing on his front, Koni gets a quick play-the-ball which has a flow-on effect to the next carry as Penrith's defenders aren't able to push up with line-speed, as they were when Koni received the ball.

The ball goes left, but peep Penrith's markers as two of the tacklers have managed to lock in at marker, although their spacing is a little too close which could leave them vulnerable from a dummy half run. Let alone the fact that Corey Harawira-Naera was left in Koni's wake, leaving Penrith without their right edge forward, which is exactly where the next Gold Coast carry is directed.

Power. Koni has plenty of it and my limited scientific knowledge suggests that speed plays a part in power and the play that resulted in Koni getting injured showed that Koni isn't just a bulldozer. The last time I wrote a Koni Files, I remember highlighted how Koni beat a handful of chasers with his speed to touch down a grubber and this play is similar as Gold Coast roll through a set-play...

Ash Taylor and Kevin Proctor both lure Penrith defenders to their left, then turning Koni back on the inside where there's a big old gap:

Yes it's a big old gap and yes James Tamou could have shown better desire to work from the inside, but Koni receives the footy 5-6m before the line, giving Penrith a fair amount of time to adjust. They can't though and Tamou's left tackling Caspar because Koni's hit the boost and sliced right through the hole. You'd be a fool to think that Koni is just running over blokes, or that every run is like that first hit up where he carries defenders with him. That's one aspect of Koni's running game and the Titans are doing a great job of using in a variety of situations, best utilizing their weapon.

Such is the ability of Koni and his overall importance to Gold Coast, there could be a benefit in rushing Koni back. Should Gold Coast be able to get wins against the Tigers this weekend and upset the Broncos next week, they might give have to slide Koni back into the mix. That's unlikely though and Koni would be wise to play if super-safe and focus on the World Cup where he'll be a key figure for Tonga.

Following Koni's Gold Coast journey is closely followed by my belief in Koni as a Tongan icon. This is a huge World Cup for Aotearoa and the #KiwiNRL takeover as we finally get to see our Kiwis play in Aotearoa, we all know that there will copious support for Tonga in the two games that they will play in Aotearoa (vs Samoa and vs Aotearoa, both in Hamilton). Koni has to play at this World Cup - assuming he's all goodies - and there would be nothing better than Koni leading Tonga in front of large crowds, giving the people what they want.

Enjoy the read? Support the Niche Cache and hit an ad to make a donation, without actually donating anything. Boom, whooshka, chur, cowabunga.