#KiwiNRL Finals Week Two Notebook
Two more teams have been knocked out of the 2018 NRL Finals, with both Penrith Panthers and St George Illawara Dragons relying heavily on their #KiwiNRL players in their losses over the weekend as well as throughout the season. The Panthers have the quantity and although they have seen their #KiwiNRL numbers dip in recent years, they remained one of the better #KiwiNRL teams and the Dragons didn't have the numbers, but they had plenty of funk.
Leeson Ah Mau wrapped up his time with the Dragons in career best form, earning him a new deal in Auckland as he returns to Mt Smart. Having been a steady presence in the Dragons forward pack, overshadowed by more high profile forwards, Ah Mau was a beast in 2018 as he played 25 games and flourished when Paul Vaughan suffered a season-ending injury. If we split Ah Mau's season in two; he played 40+ minutes three times prior to round 17 and after round 17, Ah Mau played 40+ minutes six times.
This included a run of five games, from round 23 to the Finals, in which Ah Mau played 41mins, 56mins, 54mins, 63mins and 48mins. Compare that to the first five games of the season; 39mins, 39mins, 40mins, 36mins, 31mins. This was the season in which Ah Mau announced himself as a high calibre middle forward, especially in 2018 where footwork and offloads are required to trouble solid defences.
The Papatoetoe Panthers/Otahuhu Leopards junior was among the best forwards for the Dragons this season, averaging 2 tackle busts/game while Tariq Sims and Tyson Frizell averaged 2.4 and 2.1. Ah Mau averaged 0.8 offloads/game, while Frizell averaged 0.9 and Jack De Belin averaged 1.2. What gives Ah Mau an advantage though is that he only averaged 40mins/game and still rolled out an epic 10.9runs/105m per game, as well as only averaging 0.2 errors/game and conceding 0.3 penalties/game.
All the Dragons notable forwards averaged over 45mins/game and conceded more penalties and errors than Ah Mau. That level of efficiency is exactly what you want from an undercover forward and Ah Mau's reliability through the middle enabled the Dragons to work their way through the Origin period and still suss out some Finals footy.
Jason Nightingale played his last game in round 24 and played four games off the bench as the Dragons tried to shuffle their team around during their lean patch. The decline of Gypsy would have been more of a bummer if it didn't directly coincide with the rise of Jordan Pereira, who emerged as another NRL youngster from Wellington.
Making his debut on the wing in round 19, Pereira was put under the pump by the Rabbitohs in the Finals as the tested his high ball abilities. While Nene Macdonald had no kicks defused, Pereira had 6 kicks defused in the loss to the Bunnies and this reflects how Pereira has settled into NRL footy as he had the most running metres of either team in his debut (vs Cowboys) with his power/footwork combo an asset through the middle.
Pereira could have been viewed as a Kiwis bolter, obviously he needs more NRL footy though and Aotearoa's has an abundance of quality wingers. Ah Mau made his Kiwis debut in the Denver Test and he should earn squad selection for the spring internationals, he'll face a tricky task getting on to the Kiwis bench though as Ah Mau will be competing with younger forwards like Penrith's James Fisher-Harris.
As good as Ah Mau has been this season, Fisher-Harris has been just as impressive but in a different way. We have enjoyed the work of the Hokianga product for a few years now and while Ah Mau is all about efficiency, Fisher-Harris' value can't really be measured as he offers energy, aggression and work rate that held the Panthers middle together.
Having played edge and middle so far in his career, former coach Anthony Griffin flirted with Fisher-Harris being an edge forward at the start of this season before starting him in the middle. Fisher-Harris went on to average 58mins/game as a middle forward, also playing 25 games this season as he established himself as a certified NRL grafter.
1,028 Likes, 11 Comments - James Fisher-Harris (@fisherhizzle) on Instagram: "Reminiscing on the week over in the states with the boys, just the beginning, New🌊 #roomie #blessed..."
Fisher-Harris should be in any Kiwis top-17 and the spring internationals will offer opportunities for Fisher-Harris to play alongside Northland OG Adam Blair. Most notably though, Fisher-Harris will form an enticing middle crew with the likes of Blair, Jesse Browmich, Martin Taupau, Nelson Asofa-Solomona and Ah Mau.
Injuries continue to hold Dean Whare back, although he did play 22 games this season but the timing of his season-ending injury was stink as it took Whare out of Finals footy and possibly the spring internationals. Corey Harawira-Naera was another to flourish with the Panthers, playing 24 games and that points to an impressive #KiwiNRL contribution to the Panthers this season as Dallin Watene-Zelezniak (20), Moses Leota (20) and Sione Katoa (20) also played 20+ games; six #KiwiNRL Panthers played 20+ games.
Caleb Aekins also made his debut and looked at ease in his first NRL outing, while we also saw glimpses of Jarome Luai's abilities in the halves. Luai captained the Junior Kiwis last year and I'm fascinated by how the Panthers will integrated Aekins and Luai into their NRL team as there isn't much room for either of them, but both should be playing more NRL footy.
The work of Katoa at dummy half caught my eye consistently this season, although 1run/3m from dummy half in the loss to Cronulla Sharks wasn't ideal. Katoa is another Wellington product who will represent Tonga again in the spring internationals and this season saw him average 54mins/game in another breakout type of season. Katoa isn't quick out of dummy half, he's a chunky unit though and his all-round dummy half play makes up for any lack of dynamic running; Katoa averaged a kick/game and also popped out the odd offload.
In the Dragons and Panthers, we have a bunch of #KiwiNRL players who established themselves as quality NRL players. Whether it was Ah Mau finally enjoying consistent opportunities, Fisher-Harris settling into a role or Katoa being gifted the starting role, all these lads have finished the season in far better positions than how they started and most will be in the Kiwis mix in a few weeks.
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Peace and love 27.