Before cracking into the team lists for this weekend's second round of NRL Finals footy for the lads and the second round of Women's NRL, a few #KiwiNRL young guns slipped into the Rugby League Player's Association Dream Team at the RLPA Awards last night.

Esan Marsters was named at centre, Jamayne Isaako on the wing and Nelson Asofa-Solomona at prop. All three are young Kiwis, which perfectly reflects the state of #KiwiNRL with more youngsters coming through and the quality of those youngsters being worthy of such honours. This was the first full season of NRL footy for Marsters and Isaako, so for them to perform at such a level for the whole season is sensational.

Even for Asofa-Solomona, this was his first season starting at prop for Melbourne Storm. While this wasn't his first NRL season, Asofa-Solomona had previously come off the bench for the majority of his previous seasons and with Jordan McLean leaving to join North Queensland Cowboys, Asofa-Solomona stepped up to fill the void. Like Marsters and Isaako, Asofa-Solomona didn't just step up to consistently perform at an NRL level, they all went further to be among the best in the NRL.

Sharks vs Panthers

Sharks

Starting: Sosaia Feki.

Bench/Extended Bench: /Ava Seumanufagai.

Panthers

Starting: Dallin Watene-Zelezniak, Sione Katoa, James Fisher-Harris.

Bench/Extended Bench: Moses Leota, Corey Harawira-Naera.

Doc's Word

Coming into last weekend's Panthers vs Warriors Elimination Final, I wasn't too concerned with the classy fullback touches from Dallin Watene-Zeleziak. Although Watene-Zelezniak still isn't in that play-making fullback mixer just yet, he made some impressive steps forward last week. The bread and butter for Watene-Zelezniak is his running game and that was on display last round; 20runs/189m, 44 post contact metres, 1 line break, 7 tackle busts.

There was a try assist plus, an offload and 12 passes from 29 touches. That's the all-round fullback play that the best NRL teams have and if Watene-Zelezniak can continue this develop, which has come via consistent game time at fullback, it will only add to the Panthers attacking threat and support for Nathan Cleary and James Maloney.

Keep an eye on Sione Katoa's work out of dummy half as well. Against the Warriors, Katoa had just 3 dummy half runs for 7m and while he wasn't required to run more to help defeat the Warriors, Katoa will need to be busier vs Sharks. Cronulla have a bigger forward pack and are well drilled defensively, so a threat around the ruck will need to be established by Katoa. The Wellington product also has a nifty kicking game out of dummy half and his 3 kicks were of the longer variety, pushing the Warriors back into their own territory. Again, this matches up well against the Sharks as they love kick-pressure and will put the halves under immense pressure; Katoa could be asked to kick more and his execution in his kicks will be a major factor in how the Sharks start their sets.

Sosaia Feki is back at his best. I love it and Feki is holding it down for the Sharks #KiwiNRL gang.

Rabbitohs vs Dragons

Rabbitohs

Starting: Haters.

Bench/Extended Bench: Haters.

Dragons

Starting: Jordan Pereira, Leeson Ah Mau.

Bench/Extended Bench: Jason Nightingale.

Doc's Word

I'm still amazed at the journey of Jordan Pereira and he continues his journey this week against the Rabbitohs. The #KiwiNRL star for the Dragons though is Leeson Ah Mau, who is flourishing in a starting role and was at his best in the win over Broncos last weekend; 14runs/147m, 50 post contact metres, 1 line break, 2 tackle busts.

Ah Mau played huge minutes as well, getting through 63mins in the middle of a packed Suncorp Stadium. This was a wee bit skewed by James Graham only playing 24mins, but Ah Mau still stood up and played his role perfectly. 63mins against the Burgess bros might be a tougher task though and we've seen how important Ah Mau is to the Dragons this season, so it goes without saying that against a Bunnies team who rely heavily on their middle to speed the game up, Ah Mau's performance could dictate the game for the Dragons.

#KiwiNRL Wahine Round Two

We had the first round of NRLW last week with the Warriors defeating Roosters and Broncos defeating Dragons. There was also an NRLW Team of the Week named, which featured Honey Hireme at centre (Dragons), Hilda Mariu on a wing (Warriors), Laura Mariu in the halves (Warriors), Ngatokotoru Arakua at prop (Broncos), Onjeurlina Leiataua (Warriors) and Maitua Feterika (Broncos) on the edges with Luisa Gago at lock (Warriors). On the bench we had Krystal Rota (Warriors) in the bench dummy half spot.

Roosters vs Broncos

Roosters

Starting: Haters.

Bench/Extended Bench: Nita Maynard.

Broncos

Starting: Karley Te Kawa, Kimiora Nati, Teuila Fotu-Moala, Maitua Feterika, Rona Peters.

Bench/Extended Bench: Arakua Ngatokotoru/Lilieta Maumau.

Doc's Word

Karley Te Kawa comes into the starting team on the wing for her first game and the rest is the same as last week in their big win over the Dragons. Ngatokotoru Arakua was named in the TOTW as a starting prop, despite coming off the bench for Broncos and this was because she was an absolute monster; 12runs/113m, 2 line breaks, 5 tackle busts and a try in just 28mins.

The all #KiwiNRL wahine back row of Fotu-Moala, Feterika and Peters will start again. Feterika got a try last week and TOTW honours, the one to watch here though is Fotu-Moala who averaged 10m/run (6runs/60m), 1 line break, 2 tackle busts and 2 offloads.

Warriors vs Dragons

Warriors

Starting: All the ladies.

Bench/Extended Bench: All the lasses.

Dragons

Starting: Honey Hireme, Raecene McGregor.

Bench/Extended Bench: Teina Clark.

Doc's Word

Honey Hireme operates at a higher level than most in the NRLW and despite losing 30-4 vs Broncos, Hireme still found a way to shine. Hireme had 13runs/121m, a line break assist, 11 tackle busts and an offload, all of which came from just 14 touches of the footy. It was the most touches of the Dragons backline (not including halves), but with such a strike-weapon at centre, expect the Dragons to get Hireme much more footy against the Warriors.

Annetta Nuuausala has been ruled out for Warriors with a leg injury, after Nuuausala had a huge impact in the 15mins she played against Roosters. There has been plenty of talk about low expectations for the Warriors wahine, however their quality is evident in the fact that Kiwi Fern Crystal Tamarua comes into the team, starting at prop after not playing last week.

Onjeurlina Leiataua made a niggly last minute shift from centre to edge forward and was one of the Warriors best in round one; 13runs/113m, 4 tackle busts. Leiataua moves back to centre for this game where she may be marking Honey Hireme, which would be an almighty battle.

Hit an ad to support the #KiwiNRL Encyclopedia.

Or jump on Patreon and support the Niche Cache directly, we drop bonus stuff for the Patrons and take care of the homies.

Peace and love 27.