Roosters vs Raiders

Roosters

Starting: Joseph Manu, Jared Waerea-Hargreaves, Isaac Liu.

Bench/Extended Bench: Zane Tetevano, Sio Siua Taukeiaho.

View this post on Instagram

NXTGEN

A post shared by zanetetevano (@zanetetevano) on May 29, 2019 at 11:50pm PDT

View this post on Instagram

Always was a childhood dream! 💯

A post shared by Jared Waerea-Hargreaves (@jwh_755) on Jun 25, 2019 at 1:00am PDT

Raiders

Starting: Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad, Jordan Rapana, Iosia Soliola, Joseph Tapine.

Bench/Extended Bench: Bailey Simonsson/Siliva Havili.

We caught up with Joseph Tapine after the gym session today #TeIwiKiwi 🇳🇿

View this post on Instagram

A very memorable night for me and my whanau! Proud of you @tazmingray still buzzing

A post shared by Jordan Rapana (@jordoboorr) on Oct 13, 2018 at 5:18am PDT

Doc's Word

NRL Grand Final time and we have a total of 11 #KiwiNRL players named across both club's squads of 22. Of those 11 players, Bailey Simonsson is the only player who wasn't born and raised in Aotearoa, although Simonsson is also the only player who has an All Black as a father and who has represented Aotearoa Sevens rugby.

After a successful return to the field in Round 23, RoostersTV caught up with Siosiua Taukeiaho.

Isaac Liu (Otahuhu Leopards), Sio Siua Taukeiaho (Otara Scorpions), Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad (City Newton Dragons), Iosia Soliola (Marist Saints) and Siliva Havili (Manurewa Marlins) are from Auckland. Joseph Manu (Tokoroa High School), Jared Waerea-Hargreaves (Rotorua) and Zane Tetevano (Pacific Sharks) are from the Waikato region. Bailey Simonsson's connection to Aotearoa is through Bay of Plenty/Waikato as his father was born and raised in Tauranga, then representing Waikato in rugby. Jordan Rapana (Wellington) and Joseph Tapine (Harbour City Eagles) are both from Wellington; five from Auckland, four from Waikato/BOP and two from Wellington.

There are also players in either club's wider squad who haven't been named in the respective Grand Final squads, but who have helped their club get to the Grand Final. The Roosters enjoyed steady service from forwards Poasa Fa'amausili (Glenora Bears) who played 12 games this year and Sitili Tupouniua (Marist Saints) who played 16 games. Siliva Havili is unlikely to play in the GF, although he has played 22 games this season and started the season at hooker in the absence of Josh Hodgson before his nice form demanded further selection as a middle forward. The Raiders have a bunch of other #KiwiNRL lads in their reserve grade set up, most notably Ata Hingano who hasn't played NRL footy this season.

Below are the season average stats for each player via Fox Sports Lab for the #KiwiNRL players named for the GF...

Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad:

25 games, 79.6mins, 17.2 runs, 160m, 3.1 tackle busts, 0.8 offloads, 3.8 tackles/0.6 missed tackles.

9.3m/run, 6.33 tackles/miss.

Iosia Soliola:

25, 38.4mins, 10 run, 88m, 0.4tb, 0.2off, 25.2t/0.9mt.

8.8m/run, 28t/miss.

Jordan Rapana:

20 games, 74.6min, 13.1 runs, 106m, 2.6tb, 0.5off, 4.1t/1.1mt.

8.09m/run, 3.72t/miss.

Bailey Simonsson:

20 games, 67.5mins, 14.3 runs, 118m, 2.1tb, 0off, 2.6t/0.7mt.

8.25m/run, 3.71t/miss.

Joseph Tapine:

16 games, 44.8mins, 8.4 runs, 72m, 1.1tb, 0.3off, 20.4t/1mt.

8.57m/run, 20.4t/miss

Joseph Manu:

24 games, 77.9mins, 11.3 runs, 97m, 2.5tb, 1.2off, 11.9t/2.1mt.

8.58m/run, 5.66t/miss.

Isaac Liu:

23 games, 45.2mins, 9.1 runs, 87m, 0.8tb, 0off, 23.5t/0.9mt.

9.5m/run, 26.11t/miss.

I DO NOT OWN THE RIGHTS TO THIS VIDEO. Another unknown to Roosters Fans at the beginning of the 2013 season, Isaac Liu ended the year with 15 NRL matches to his name with more than 100 hit ups for over 1000 metres run and 200 tackles made, showing himself to be a future star of the Tricolours forward pack.