When Jesse Bromwich and Kevin Proctor were scratched for the Kiwis World Cup squad, it was a bummer but I wasn't overly concerned. Replacing Proctor is rather simple with Jason Taumalolo the best No.13 in the NRL, pushing Simon Mannering out to the right edge and I suspect we'll see Tohu Harris slot straight into a vacant left edge spot.

Taumalolo and Mannering both play lock for their respective NRL clubs, yet with Mannering's wizardry, Aotearoa is well-resourced to absorb Proctor's loss. Chuck Manu Ma'u into that equation, as well as Kenny Bromwich and yeah; water off a duck's back.

On the surface Jesse Bromwich is a big loss as he was the captain and is routinely known as a top-three prop in the world, perhaps the best. Scratch slightly deeper and you'll find that Bromwich's replacement could easily come from Aotearoa's Anzac Test squad as Nelson Asofa-Solomona was named in the squad but couldn't take the field; Asofa-Solomona comes on to the bench, pushing Russell Packer or Martin Taupau to start alongside Adam Blair.

Aotearoa do have young forwards who have been given an opportunity in recent years, although what interests me about such an important World Cup is that this is not the place to rely on young forwards. This is an important World Cup given how the Kiwis have performed in the past 18 months along with the Kiwis returning to give Aotearoa some sort of connection to their team.

I do expect Asofa-Solomona to earn a bench spot if he's healthy as 10-20 minutes from him can change the direction of a game. Jason Taumalolo, Martin Taupau and skipper Adam Blair are certainties which would leave a starting spot (assuming Taupau's coming off the bench) and two other bench spots up for grabs. I wouldn't be mad with Taupau and Asofa-Solomona coming off the bench, supported by Kenny Bromwich; Bromwich can cover an edge forward spot and always impresses when playing through the middle for Melbourne with his footwork and ball-playing.

It goes without saying that Kodi Nikorima is the bench utility.

What's intriguing though the output of Jesse Bromwich in the NRL compared to Packer and Jared Waerea-Hargreaves, which could offer a splash of funk to the Kiwis forward pack. I'd love that Nikorima/Taupau/Asofa-Solomona/Bromwich bench, leaving Blair in need of a starting buddy. Considering a like-for-like selection and that Bromwich, Packer and Waerea-Hargreaves all start in similar roles for their respective clubs, a comparison is a worthy activity.

Waerea-Hargreaves leads the trio in average run metres, runs and minutes played (per-game). He also averages more missed tackles, that's offset by Waerea-Hargreaves averaging 30.38 tackles, which is notably more than Packer (27.75) and Bromwich (24.17). Also factor in that Waerea-Hargreaves is more likely to offload than the other two and is equal with Packer for tackle busts (1.06).

Then you've got Waerea-Hargreaves averaging 9.92m/carry, compared to Bromwich's 9.57m/carry and Packer's 9.61m/carry.

The first observation is that between Packer and Waerea-Hargreaves, Aotearoa won't be hindered by the loss of Bromwich based on what these three have done so far this season. Then we have Waerea-Hargreaves playing more minutes thus doing more work but also averaging more metres/carry and offloads. From that, one could make a serious case for Waerea-Hargreaves to replace Bromwich as the starting prop for Aotearoa.

Waerea-Hargreaves wasn't even selected for the Anzac Test though and hasn't really featured too much in the past few years. The choice is up to David Kidwell and if Waerea-Hargreaves finishes the season in a similar style, leading the Roosters deep into the finals, then it'd be crazy not to pick him.

Ain't nothing on Jason Taumalolo though...

Jason Taumalolo averages more run metres, minutes played, runs, offloads, tackle busts than those three and has less missed tackles than Waerea-Hargreaves and Bromwich. Taumalolo had 19 carries for 198m vs Canberra, a slight dip in his work after running for 300m off 26 carries vs Melbourne and then 222m off 23 carries vs Penrith. Taumalolo has run for 200m+ in eight of his 14 games this season and averages 207.2m/game and 10.96m/carry.

Te Maire Martin's Cowboys debut: 80 mins, 2 tries, 30 touches, 7 carries, 40m, 1 tackle bust, 13 tackles, 1 offload, 1 missed tackle. Interestingly; Martin only had 1 kick while Michael Morgan kicked 19 times.

Mitch Rein's illness gave Wellington utility Sione Katoa a chance for Penrith in their loss to the Rabbitohs. Katoa played all 80 minutes had 2 runs for 20m and missed 4 of his 41 tackles.

Another massive game for Konrad Hurrell vs Dragons: 16 carries, 110m, 1 try assist, 3 tackle busts, 2 offloads, 1 line break assist and an error. Massive, but weak compared to what he usually does as he dropped below 150m for the first time in five games and this was well below his average of 149.1m. He's averaging 9.68m/carry and there aren't too many centres offering that impact while taking 15 carries a game.

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