#KiwiNRL Round 18 Notebook
We haven't seen Jesse Bromwich play for Aotearoa for over a year, we've barely seen the older Bromwich bro play NRL footy for Melbourne Storm this season. So it's understandable, especially from a Kiwis perspective if you can't quite remember what Bromwich offers through the middle of the park and Bromwich's return from injury last weekend saw him come up against his Kiwis middle homie Martin Taupau in what was an almighty clash.
Melbourne grabbed a 14-13 win over Manly Sea Eagles in a game that featured numerous #KiwiNRL angles, but we'll start with Bromwich. Coming off the bench, Bromwich played 46 minutes and got through a mountain of work as he led the Storm in runs, metres and post-contact metres. That's fine and dandy, the mark of a hustling big bopper, but Bromwich led runs and metres for the Storm while also averaging over 10m/run.
Jesse Bromwich (Manurewa Marlins) vs Sea Eagles: 46mins, 16runs/169m, 55pcm, 1 offload, 1 tackle bust.
Taupau is kinda bonkers though and he put Bromwich to shame, along with everyone else in the NRL with 23runs/263m, 71pcm and 3 offloads in his 56mins. All that matters is who helps their team get the win though and those honours went to Bromwich, yet this type of match up is fantastic news for the Kiwis and led me down the path of pondering how we have barely been treated to the strongest possible Kiwis team for a year.
Part of that was the World Cup shambles via David Kidwell and then we had the Denver Test, which didn't allow for the full selection smorgasbord. Think of how much judgement has fallen the way of the Kiwis and then drift of into the joys of imagining a forward pack with Taupau, Jesse Bromwich and Nelson Asofa-Solomona in there, together.
Bromwich played a key role in helping the Storm win last year's Premiership and now he's back, having played just 10 games this season in a similar situation to last year; miss a chunk of games in the middle of the season, come back for the run into the Finals. This year it's all been about injury for Bromwich, so he needs to stay healthy now and if he can, he'll be influential alongside a blossoming NAS.
The return of Jesse had an impact on the usage of Kenny and Asofa-Solomona as well, both of whom probably deserve a lesser workload after grinding away for a couple of months with the Storm down on troops. Kenny played 37mins and Asofa-Solomona 41mins, with Kenny taking 6runs/50m and Asofa-Solomona 7runs/70m. They got through their usual dose of minutes (slightly less), but didn't have to do the same number of runs as they usually do as Jesse took 16 runs and Tim Glasby taking 12 runs.
Jahrome Hughes again got a last minute shift, moving from halfback to fullback with Brodie Croft coming into the halves vs Sea Eagles. I was eager to see Hughes get another run at halfback as Billy Slater's return will force Hughes into a battle with Croft and Ryley Jacks for a halves spot alongside Cameron Munster, but fullback is Hughes' best position and any chance to watch him work his magic from the back is delightful.
It wasn't an electric display from Hughes and now he's playing more footy, opposition teams will be more aware of the threat he poses. Hughes was super solid though, no errors and 15runs/138m, chuck in an offload as well.
I was surprised to see Manase Fainu lace up for Manly with the predicament that he has found himself in and it despite that, Fainu put on a show at hooker for 77mins. This was Fainu's breakout performance and our first real glimpse of his creativity around the ruck as his running game and skills, set up a Manly try. Fainu had 3 dummy half runs for 32m, as well as 3 offloads and the way he runs to the line, then gets busy offloading or passing after a scamper reminds me of Issac Luke.
How about Caleb Aekins' debut!?
Reality hit the Penrith Panthers youngsters in a 12-24 loss to Cronulla Sharks, but the display from Aekins now has me salivating over what he could dish up when playing alongside James Maloney and Nathan Cleary.
Caleb Aekins (Otaika Eagles/Hikurangi Stags) vs Sharks: 27runs/303m, 76pcm, 7 tackle busts, 1 offload, 1 line break.
Also noteworthy is Aekins' 138m kick return metres, boosting his total run metres up over 300. Defences will start to suss out his habits and A) kick to his weakness and then B) load up on his favourite step or angle he runs so don't expect such numbers every week, yet to do so in your NRL debut, is clearly a sign of a lad who can handle himself running the footy and rips in.
Penrith were solid, but a the young Panthers played into the hands of Cronulla who know exactly how to win these games, especially against opposition who aren't as well versed in such contests. Sione Katoa only had 3runs/18m out of dummy half though and that's one of the low key differences between the Panthers of recent weeks and this loss to the Sharks. Katoa aslo had an excessively slow play-the-ball speed of 5.2s - anything over 4 is kinda horrible.
Katoa has been so creative out of dummy half, wise with his scoots and it's not as though the Panthers weren't getting a roll on down field. The big boppers had good numbers, including James Fisher-Harris and Corey Harawira-Naera, yet the work of Jarome Luai in the halves best reflects how Penrith were playing on the front foot; 18runs/128m.
No half is running 18 times, with a rapid play-the-ball speed of 2.57s if their team is struggling up the guts. Who knows why Katoa didn't do what he usually does, but Penrith need him at his crafty best heading into the Finals.
Wests Tigers got an impressive win over St George Illawara Dragons, 16-20. I'm super excited to see Aekins get a run in a full-strength Panthers team and the same idea applies to the Tigers at the moment as I loved watching the #KiwiNRL Tigers crew playing with Robbie Farah at hooker and Moses Mbye at fullback; it's the same top-tier kiwi Tigers gang, with immense class in key positions.
The Tigers did so with Russell Packer and Ben Matulino playing alright, like, no where near their best and kinda average but job-doing.
Russell Packer (Foxton Rugby League) vs Dragons: 42mins, 12runs/94m.
Ben Matulino (Te Aroha Eels) vs Dragons: 40mins, 11runs/87m.
Esan Marsters on the other hand, was the beast we have come to expect him to be this season. The Tigers back five did a great job in making metres and that's why relying solely on the performances of the middle forwards can be misleading as I reckon the Tigers get a mental boost, from having Packer and Matulino starting in the middle, as opposed to a measurable performance boost. Marsters had 19runs/163m and 65pcm, as well as 2 offloads and his speed/footwork combo makes him a weapon out of dummy half; 2 dhr for 23m.
Josh Aloiai was solid in limited minutes (29mins) on an edge and Elijah Taylor is as important as Packer and Matulino in the middle, playing 57mins. The low key star of the show was Michael Chee Kam though, coming off the bench to play 54mins with 13runs/116m, 51pcm, 3 tackle busts, 2 offloads and the fastest play-the-ball of any Tigers player and only one under 3sec; 2.85s.
The balance of work for the spine is also of interest, now that Mbye and Farah are in the mix. There was no great disparity in their running numbers other than positional factors (Mbye runs the most at fullback) and their touches were all fairly similar as well. However, with kicking, Benji took on the bulk of the duties with 14 kicks, compared to 5 for Luke Brooks and 5 for Farah.
I'm interested to see how this develops as they play more footy together, my gut feel is that this is the perfect mix as Brooks can lean on Benji and Farah to organise, control the game and free up Brooks to do what he does. Brooks had 9runs/78m and Benji 5runs/26m, which along with the kicking numbers, paints a nice picture of their roles and style of play.
Finally, Poasa Fa'amausili made his NRL debut for Sydney Roosters in their 12-20 win over Gold Coast Titans. A Glenora Bears junior, Fa'amausili came off the bench to play 18mins and he was one of three Roosters debutants to score, while also getting through a decent 5runs/43m, 12pcm, 1 line break and 4 tackle busts. All of which sounds fantastic in just 18 minutes of action.
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Peace and love 27.