Unfortunately this week's notes start off the field, with Manly Sea Eagles hooker Manase Fainu finding himself in a spot of legal bother. Fainu has been charged by police intentionally filming a sexual act and if found guilty, Fainu may be looking at having to find himself a new club once he's able to have a contract registered again.

I'm not one to report on the details of stuff outside the game, this is simply a case of Fainu being charged by police just after making his NRL debut and there's multiple implications from a footy perspective for Fainu and the Sea Eagles. Fainu doesn't have any leverage right now, other than being a talented youngster as he was in need of a new deal with Manly, a deal that was likely to have been an upgraded contract putting Fainu in Manly's top-30. 

That was if all went well for Fainu after the NRL graced Manly with an exemption to play Fainu, even though Fainu was outside the top-30 and on a development contract. Now Fainu is highly unlikely to play anymore footy this season, thus taking him out of the shop window and any new contract would have to be done by putting plenty of faith in Fainu. 

Funnily enough, Fainu is a lovely Mormon and was talking about going on his mission soon. Given the circumstances, it may be best for Fainu to go on that voyage now and suss some things out.

At the other end of the spectrum, Fainu's 2017 Junior Kiwis captain Jarome Luai was on fire for Penrith Panthers in their win over Aotearoa Warriors. Luai has played as a utility in limited opportunities this season, but with Nathan Cleary and James Maloney out on Origin duty, Luai kinda just rolled out all the tricks from his Under 20s and reserve grade highlights starting at halfback.

Luai vs Warriors: 2 tries, 6/8 kicking, 12runs/100m, 2 line breaks, 1 try assist, 11 tackle busts, 1 offload.

Luai also played a dominant role with the Panthers kicking duties as he had 7 kicks vs Tyrone May's 3 kicks. Without a super controlling half though, Penrith shared the kicking duties and the strong #KiwiNRL presence in the Panthers handled that business; Dean Whare had 2 kicks and Randwick Kingfishers/Upper Hutt Tigers junior Sione Katoa had 3 kicks out of dummy half. 

Having both already represented Samoa, watch out for Luai and May to keep building on their combination. Samoa need to suss out how they are going to stay relevant in the Tongan takeover and with two slick play-makers who have an already-established combo at the Panthers, they need to give them further opportunities at that level. 

Alternatively, Luai adds another young half to Aotearoa's depth. He'll still be behind Te Maire Martin and Kodi Nikorima for a while, but they need pressure on them and it's great to have such depth in play-making spots. First step for Luai though is more minutes with the Panthers.

Obviously in such a win, stats are going to be inflated for the Panthers, so I won't buzz on those too much. They did role out a strong #KiwiNRL crew, as they have done a lot recently; Whare (Rotorua), Katoa (Wellington), Luai (Aus), Dallin Watene-Zelezniak (Waikato), James Fisher-Harris and Corey Harawira-Naera (Northland).

The bloke that most interests me there is Whare, who is enjoying consistent game time after plenty of injuries. Whare is undoubtedly the best centre available for Aotearoa, but didn't get the nod for the Denver Test, which I reckon was due to recent injuries and the Panthers not wanting to release him just as he's stacking up minutes. A strong Panthers finish to the season will put Whare back into the spotlight, for now just know that he's still Aotearoa's #1 centre.

Despite only having four games this round, we still had four 2017 Junior Kiwis playing in the NRL; Reimis Smith, Jarome Luai, Isaiah Papali'i, Moeaki Fotuaika. 

How good is Fotuaika!?

The Gold Coast Titans middle forward started in their loss to Brisbane Broncos with Jai Arrow and Jarrod Wallace on Origin duty, rolling through 61 minutes of footy; 11runs/104m, 1 tackle bust, 1 offload.

Fotuaika's 44 post-contact metres was the highest of any Titans forward and since making his debut, he's steadily increased his workload, now peaking in a 61-minute starting performance. Forget the new recruits for Gold Coast next season, Fotuaika's development is the most exciting at the Titans for 2019 and he's not only their best prospect, he's the best middle forward youngster knocking around the NRL right now.

Selected in Tonga's squad that beat Samoa, Fotuaika will have to decide between Tonga or Aotearoa at some stage and the Tongan buzz right now has me banking on Fotuaika sticking with Tonga. Remember how Tonga rolled Samoa? Yeah, well add Fotuaika and Tevita Pangai Junior to that.

Northcote junior Alex Glenn started at hooker for the Broncos, in keeping with coach Wayne Bennett's trend of chucking forwards into hooker when Andrew McCullough is unavailable. Glenn played 80 minutes, but shifted out to the edge when centre Kotoni Staggs left the field for a concussion; Glenn played roughly 30mins at hooker.

Prior to this round, I hyped up having a #KiwiNRL half in every game. Melbourne Storm coach Craig Bellamy wasn't having none of that and brought in Brodie Croft to start at halfback, pushing Jahrome Hughes to fullback and Young Tonumaipea to the wing. Regardless, Hughes was sublime in their big win over St George Illawara Dragons and it's easy to see that fullback is his best position.

The stats here are hugely inflated by the nature of this game, but yo; 1 try, 17runs/209m, 1 line break, 2 line break assists, 1 try assist, 9 tackle busts, 1 offload. Hughes also had 2 kicks and that's an all-round fullback performance that makes it bloody exciting to be a #KiwiNRL fan looking into the Storm's future. Again, big stats from a big win but the variety in Hughes' numbers is the impressive bit.

Hughes needs to be in Melbourne's team, he's put himself in that position by taking every opportunity he gets. Where Bellamy uses him leading into the Finals is the big question that I'm most intrigued about, especially as Bellamy is already using Brandon Smith as the x-factor super funky impact guy off the bench. Smith is exceptional at that role, playing alongside Cameron Smith (80mins) as a middle forward and his ruthlessness, along with the low key talents of Kenny Bromwich allows the Storm to play Bromwich and Smith in the middle together; smaller but ruthless.

Sprinkle some Nelson Asofa-Solomona into that and yup. This was also Albert Vete's first game for Melbourne Storm and he got a handy 16mins off the bench, again with inflated running stats (6runs/75m. Vete instantly had an impact with an offload and appeared to slot seamlessly into the Storm set up, although Vete is competing with his fellow bench forwards from that game and young bucks Tui Kamikamica and Patrick Kaufusi for post-Origin spots.

Offloads could be the key for Vete.

Ofahiki Ogden (Mangere East Hawks) vs Raiders: 20mins, 8runs/86m.

Even if Tohu Harris was healthy, I'd still feel this urge to say that Joseph Tapine is the best edge forward for Aotearoa right now. The Harbour City Eagles junior had 80mins, 1 try, 11runs/108m, 1 line break, 1 line break assist, 1 try assist in Canberra's win over the Bulldogs and the consistency of his performances each week are what separates him from the pack. 

Siliva Havili (Manrewa Marlins) vs Bulldogs: 69mins (at lock!), 14runs/118m, 1 tackle bust, 2 offloads, 42 tackles.

Iosia Soliola (Ponsonby Ponies) vs Bulldogs: 45mins, 13runs/132m, 52post-contact-metres (most of Raiders forwards), 2 tackle busts.

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Peace and love 27.