Monday Morning Dummy Half: Simmering Raiders
Canberra Raiders are blasting their way through the NRL Finals and after highlighting a wee bit of Joseph Tapine (among the three Aotearoa Kiwis monsters), Tapine repeated the dose along with the Raiders' kiwis, usos and tokos in knocking the Roosters out of Finals race. Here's how Tapine's NRL Finals campaign looks after wins over Cronulla Sharks and Sydney Roosters...
vs Sharks: 51mins, 1 try, 12 runs for 136m @ 11.33m/run, 54 Post Contact Metres @ 4.5pcm/run, 9 tackle busts, 1 linebreak assist, 28 tackles @ 100 percent.
vs Roosters: 49mins, 1 try, 16 runs for 172m @ 10.75m/run, 63pcm @ 3.87pcm/run, 9 tackle busts, 28 tackles @ 90.3 percent.
Those are two knockout Finals games folks and while Tapine's ability to hit a nek level in Finals game is lovely, Tapine has been building rather nicely as the season led into Finals footy. Tapine's had 2+ tackle busts in seven straight games, 50+ Post Contact Metres in seven of his last eight games, 150+ run metres in six of his last eight games and no offloads vs Roosters means that Tapine's offloading streak of 11 games in a row comes to an end.
The beauty here is in the whole Kiwi-NRL Raiders package. It's difficult to suss out Ponsonby Ponies junior Iosia Soliola's value with stats as he simply plugs any hole in the Raiders forward pack and coach Ricky Stuart knows exactly what he will get out of Soliola. Everything varies game to game for Soliola, whether that's his position in starting or coming off the bench and the minutes he gets as some games this season Soliola has played 18 minutes and other games he's played 46+ minutes.
Soliola can be put in any scenario and he will do a job, which makes Soliola the model NRL veteran and such maturity is found in Siliva Havili. The Manurewa Marlins junior started vs Roosters and that's notable because Havili had his role switched, not exactly dropped from the starting hooker role where Havili started six games at hooker with five wins after Josh Hodgson got injured.
Havili was then moved to the bench as Tom Starling got the starting hooker role and coach Stuart used Havili has a nimble, robust middle forward. Havili started on the bench last round vs Sharks and playing most of his 30mins as a middle forward, Havili offered 10 runs for 131m @ 13.1m/run, then Havili was switched back to start at hooker vs Roosters; Havili played 28mins then Starling came on to play 52mins.
22 games for Havili this season and no matter what role he is asked to do, Havili has played 20+ minutes in every game and Havili has missed just 5 tackles since round 11. That's 12 games, all of which had 10+ tackles and Havili has missed 5 tackles in those 12 games.
This is pretty nerdy but check out Havili's pass to set up Josh Papali'i's try where Tapine runs a decoy and Havili hits Papali'i on the chest through a narrow pocket behind Tapine...
Folks tend to zone in on Tonga's forward pack, overlooking the value of Havili at hooker in the international arena. Tonga don't need Havili to do a middle forward job and Havili will be their starting hooker for as long as he wants to be, while the Raiders have been ravaged with injuries throughout the year and that's led to a slight pivot in their forward pack as Havili's been given time as a nimble forward, plus Corey Harawira-Naera has been injected into the Raiders group.
Harawira-Naera is the likely candidate to replace John Bateman on the right edge next season, since joining the Raiders mid-season the Northland product has been used as an impact forward through the middle. Apart from 75mins starting on an edge when the Raiders rested a bunch of players a few weeks ago, Harawira-Naera has played less than 35 minutes in the other nine games and has provided immense efficiency in the two Finals games.
vs Sharks: 15mins, 6 runs for 63m @ 10.66m/run.
vs Roosters: 23mins, 6 runs for 66m @ 11m/run.
Chuck Harawira-Naera's 10m/run amongst Tapine, Soliola, Josh Papali'i, Dunamis Lui, Hudson Young and you've got extra juice that can twist a game in your favour as opposing middles get tired. Harawira-Naera was subbed on in the 66th minute vs Sharks, then 58th minute vs Roosters and after all the great work by some of the best middles in the league, Harawira-Naera comes on fresh to finish it off.
Jordan Rapana has started the last four games at centre and looks set to stay there after starting the two Finals games at centre, while Aotearoa Kiwis centre Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad is quietly rising to the Finals occasion. Nicoll-Klokstad has 7 linebreaks this season and 3 of them came in his first 17 games of the season, then the other 4 linebreaks have come in the last three games of the season.
1 linebreak was in round 19 vs Warriors, then Nicoll-Klokstad had 2 linebreak in Finals round one vs Sharks backed up with a linebreak vs Roosters. After minimal linebreaks, Nicoll-Klokstad has had linebreaks in both Finals games along with 36 and 38 touches of the footy and that's important because his touches varied from game to game throughout the season, now it's Finals footy and Nicoll-Klokstad is kinda guaranteed at least 35 touches.
Here are Nicoll-Klokstad's running stats in the two Finals games...
vs Sharks: 16 runs for 179m @ 11.18m/run.
vs Roosters: 22 runs for 276m @ 12.54m/run.
Remember last season when CNK was amazing as the Raiders went to the Grand Final? Well, the City Newton junior is on track or looking better this season than last season...
2019: 26 games, 11 tries, 3 try assists, 8 linebreaks, 677 touches, 175m/game.
2020: 20 games, 7 tries, 3 try assists, 7 linebreaks, 610 touches, 185m/game.
As it stands right now, Nicoll-Klokstad is matching last season's stats despite playing six games less.
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Peace and love.