The #KiwiNRL glory is only getting funkier and funkier as we get a steady supply of fresh faces and the established players are moving into high-pressure footy. Round 19 saw Jordan Pereira debut for St George Illawara Dragons, yet another lad from Wellington in the NRL, two #KiwiNRL fullbacks going at each other in Brisbane Broncos vs Penrith Panthers and Wests Tigers upset South Sydney Rabbitohs via their hefty #KiwiNRL crew. 

I shall begin with Pereira, who was a late call up into the Dragons team that handed the boring Cowboys another loss. Pereira played on the wing, giving the Dragons an all #KiwiNRL wing combo with the OG Gypsy on the other wing and Pereira put up an encouraging performance that could threaten Jason Nightingale's spot, if Nightingale doesn't retire. 

Pereira had the most running metres for the Dragons and scored a try, along with the most post-contact-metres of any Dragon; 19runs/151m/56pcm, 3 tackle busts, 1 offload, 1 try.
Hailing from Wellington, Pereira went to live in Perth after school where he primarily played rugby union. A few yarns said that Pereira first picked up rugby league in Perth, but my Google research threw up some old school stuff that had Pereira playing for Upper Hutt College's league team. From Perth, Pereira linked up with Mackay Cutters and the Dragons soon came calling, offering Pereira a contract.

I love Pereira getting a crack because he is yet another Wellingtonian now in the NRL. Peep this list of players from Wellington who played in round 19 and know that you could almost field a Wellington All Stars team from this group, if you also included Joseph Tapine, Ava Seumanufagai, Sam Tagataese;

Jordan Rapana
Jordan Kahu
Danny Levi
Ben Matulino
Jordan Pereira
Nelson Asofa-Solomona
Jahrome Hughes.

Not huge numbers, still second to Auckland in terms of talent from one city but the quality is immense here. Tapine, Rapana, Kahu, Levi and Asofa-Solomona are all recent Kiwis, Matulino is a retired Kiwi and Hughes is lighting up the Storm and demanding game time for the best team in the NRL.

Rapana has been flexed all over the NRL in the last two games, since returning from injury and although it's a stretch to say that he is the best winger in the game, the work he does and impact he's had on this Canberra Raiders team at least puts him in the conversation right now.  
Round 18 vs Cowboys: 2 tries, 2 line breaks, 7 tackle busts, 68pcm, 1 offload, 173m.

Round 19 vs Sharks: 1 try, 1 line break, 7 tackle busts, 43pcm, 3 offloads, 149m (only 71mins due to sin bin).

Jamayne Isaako got his possible long-term fullback gig off to a slick start as the Broncos rolled the Panthers 50-18. No need for stats here as a blowout win doesn't offer much insight for Isaako, or Jordan Kahu who took over the kicking duties from Isaako, Kodi Nikorima and Alex Glenn. Isaako did get the W over Jarome Luai though, in a pretty weird situation that still resulted in #KiwiNRL abundance.

Luai came into fullback with Dallin Watene-Zelezniak a late scratching via injury, after Caleb Aekins had done a fine job at fullback the week before. This game can't really be used against Luai as it was a hiding, but for Luai to impress in the halves in recent weeks and then slide into fullback shows the class of the youngster. This is also a case of the Panthers having three #KiwiNRL possible fullbacks on their roster; Watene-Zelezniak's also a winger, Aekins can also play centre, Luai's a half.

Consider the #KiwiNRL fullback situation right now, with those three #KiwiNRL Panthers fullbacks, as well as Isaako getting a crack, Brad Abbey now fullback for the Raiders, Te Maire Martin playing fullback for the Cowboys, Jahrome Hughes chiming in at fullback for the Storm when Billy Slater's absent and of course, the big dawg Roger Tuivasa-Sheck.

That's eight #KiwiNRL fullbacks who are either week in, week out fullbacks or have recently played fullback. Lovely.

Te Maire Martin ain't a fullback though, that's for sure and I continue to be more and more disenfranchised with the Cowboys each week. They are super duper meh.

Hughes got a late call up to the halves for the Storm, playing in the halves on the right edge - standard bizo for Hughes when playing half. Brandon Smith unfortunately made way for Dale Finucane, while Hughes replaced Brodie Croft.

How about the Tigers getting up 22-6 over Rabbitohs? 

This wasn't just a win for Wests Tigers and a huge win at that, this was a win for Aotearoa rugby league; Tigers had seven #KiwiNRL players in their starting 13, that's the majority of their starting team and each plays their role perfectly.

It was another barn-stormer from Esan Marsters; 1 try, 16runs/144m/45pcm, 1 line break, 1 line break assist, 1 try assist, 4 tackle busts, 1 offload.

Benji Marshall played his composed, classy hand in the halves.

Ben Matulino and Russell Packer kept to their trend of not being hugely busy in the middle, but set the tone for stopping the Burgess bros; Packer only played 37mins, Matulino 38mins, it's their presence that has a magical touch to this Tigers team.

Elijah Taylor played 67mins and had the most tackles in this game with 44 tackles. Taylor also had the most passes of any Tigers forward with 9, helping shift the footy to his play-makers.

The low key most impressive dudes were Michael Chee Kam and Josh Aloiai, both of whom started on the edges and played big minutes; 66 and 65mins. Chee Kam had a line break and a try assist, along with 2 offloads, giving the Tigers a splash of x-factor on an edge, while Aloiai stuck to his script with 11runs/101m/46pcm in a typically powerful running display. 

To finish with, the arrival of Marsters has heavily boosted the Kiwis centre stocks and along with the fullback situation, this got me thinking about the positional depth for the Kiwis. This is not #KiwiNRL, so I'm only talking about the Kiwis and doesn't include those who have gone the Tonga or Samoa route and are unlikely to be back in the Kiwis mix. This is revolves around players who are genuinely in the mix, not a super deep depth chart.

Fullback

Roger Tuivasa-Sheck
Dallin Watene-Zelezniak
Jahrome Hughes
Jamayne Isaako
Peta Hiku

Wings

Jordan Rapana
Dallin Watene-Zelezniak
Ken Maumalo
Jordan Kahu
Jamayne Isaako
Gerard Beale
Peta Hiku

Centres

Esan Marsters
Dean Whare
Jordan Kahu
Gerard Beale
Joseph Manu
Peta Hiku

Halves

Shaun Johnson
Benji Marshall
Kieran Foran
Kodi Nikorima
Te Maire Martin

Middles

Jesse Bromwich
Nelson Asofa-Solomona
Martin Taupau
James Fisher-Harris
Isaac Liu
Jared Waerea-Hargreaves
Kenny Bromwich
Leeson Ah Mau
Herman Ese'ese
Elijah Taylor

Edges

Tohu Harris
Joseph Tapine
Alex Glenn
Corey Harawira-Naera
Raymond Faitala-Mariner

Hooker

Issac Luke
Slade Griffin
Danny Levi
Brandon Smith

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Peace and love 27.