Before sliding on to preview the NRL's return through our #KiwiNRL lens, we must first take a look back at some of the best statistical #KiwiNRL efforts from the first two rounds. This is obviously a small sample size alert, although there are a few trends that have been established and a bunch of blokes feature among the best of different stats to establishing their position in the #KiwiNRL top tier. I'll break these down by stat categories that I find the most important in providing information about a player.

Linebreaks

14 players have 2 line breaks so far and Kotoni Staggs leads linebreaks with 3. Parramatta Eels' Dylan Brown is one of those lads with 2 linebreaks and this is a lovely place to start as it sets up Brown's low key standing as an almighty #KiwiNRL halves prospect.

Brown is a Hikurangi Stags junior up in Whangarei and played alongside Aotearoa Warriors prospect Paul Turner and Roosters prospect Bayleigh Bentley-Hape in Northern Swords age-group rep teams.

Tackle Breaks

Brown also features in the top-10 for broken tackles, with 11 in two games (10th). Mitchell Moses isn't a factor in LBs or TBs and tends to do much of the game management duties for the Eels, which helps to lay out Brown's style as he's quickly established himself as a dynamic runner of the footy with the required play-making skills.

Slightly ahead of Brown in TBs is Papakura Sea Eagles/Otahuhu Leopards junior Jason Taumalolo who is 8th in TB with 12. I'll dive a bit deeper into Taumalolo's stats in the running metres/post-contact-metres bit, yet this is a clear example of why Taumalolo is a monster in the middle of the park; David Fifita is the only other forward in the top-10.

Try Assists

Benji Marshall (Whakatane/Wests Tigers) is tied with Mitchell Pearce for the most try assists, both have 3. As far as #KiwiNRL halves go, Shaun Johnson (Hibiscus Coast Raiders) and Jahrome Hughes (Harbour City Eagles) both have 2 try assists and from here, let your mind wander through the fact that Brown is already simmering this season with the Eels and then there's Marshall, Johnson and Hughes all in the mix as well. Marshall's got the most try assists for the Tigers, Johnson leads the Sharks, while Hughes is tied with Cameron Smith.

The funk in try assists sits with Brisbane Broncos winger Jesse Arthars (Auckland) who benefits from the small sample size, with both his try assists coming in the Broncos' first up win over North Queensland Cowboys. Keep an eye on Arthars moving forward as he was a surprise selection to start for the Broncos.

Offloads

Mt Albert Lions junior Esan Marsters leads the NRL in offloads, squeezing out 9 offloads in two games. Marsters moved up to join the Cowboys this season and along with Taumalolo, the Cowboys have two of the niftiest movers in the NRL; Marsters is 23rd in tackle breaks with 9 and that puts him 2nd behind Taumalolo for Cowboys tackle busters.

Dallin Watene-Zelezniak (Waikato) and Martin Taupau (Auckland) also feature among the best offloaders with 4 each. Five players have 4 offloads, then there is a large group with 3 offloads featuring both Bromwich bros (Manurewa Marlins), Braden Hamlin-Uele (Glenora Bears), Roger Tuivasa-Sheck (Otahuhu College) and Eliesa Katoa (Tamaki College).

Tackles

The busiest #KiwiNRL tackler is Jeremy Marshall-King (Whakatane), who crept undercover to play 80 minutes in each of the first two games at hooker for the Bulldogs. That's obviously going to jack up the tackle count and this came with reasonable efficiency as Marshall-King only averaged 4 missed tackles, while average 47.5 tackles per game.

Jared Waerea-Hargreaves (Rotorua) and Joseph Tapine (Harbour City Eagles) also feature in the top-20 tacklers; Waerea-Hargreaves averaged 38 tackles and less than 3 missed tackles for the Roosters, Tapine averaged 37.5 tackles and 5 missed for the Raiders.

Dummy Half Runs

The main #KiwiNRL joker in dummy half runs is Danny Levi (Randwick Kingfishers) and this is fairly interesting as Levi linked up with Manly Sea Eagles after falling out of favour at Newcastle Knights. Levi's playing behind an epic Sea Eagles forward pack and he started the season nicely, ranked 8th in dummy half runs with 9. Issac Luke (Hawera Hawks) also had 7 dummy half runs for the Dragons.

Run Metres/Post Contact Metres

Jason Taumalolo is 1st in run metres and PCM, while being 6th in total runs. This is important because while the volume is interesting, efficiency is where the value is and there aren't too many more efficient runners of the footy than Taumalolo. My marker is always 10m/run and Taumalolo blew that away by averaging 12.90m/run in those first two games, which comes along with 4.48pcm/run.

These are legit bonkers numbers for Taumalolo and any continuation of this throughout the season will further Taumalolo's reputation and legacy. When pondering these numbers though, there is also value in winning games of footy and it will be interesting to see how Taumalolo's running numbers relate to Cowboys wins. The presence of Marsters helps as he is 7th in PCM and 7th for total runs, offering 3.39pcm/run as well and then Marsters is also 16th in dummy half runs (6 total) which offers some funky insight; Marsters is busy out in his centre channel and at dummy half, both open space up in the middle for Taumalolo.

One thing to watch out for with Taumalolo is how busy he is in defence - are the opposition forcing Taumalolo to do a bunch of tackling? First up, Taumalolo had 15 runs vs Broncos while also making 32 tackles (88.9 percent tackle efficiency) and then against the Bulldogs Taumalolo had 26 runs while only having to make 19 tackles (82.6 percent). Of course, quality of opposition is a factor but this is something to keep tabs on as the best teams will look to limit Taumalolo's attacking efficiency via making him work defensively.

Sio Siua Taukeiaho (Otara Scoprions) doesn't rank super high in run metres and runs, however Taukeiaho is 4th in PCM. Taukeiaho averages 4.46pcm/run and that's only a smidge behind Taumalolo.

Here are some other notable run metre eaters:

7th - Dallin Watene-Zelezniak.

9th - Roger Tuivasa-Sheck.

10th - James Fisher-Harris.

12th - Esan Marsters.

13th - Jesse Bromwich.

Two to focus on here are Fisher-Harris (Whangarei Marist) and Jesse Bromwich, both of whom are in my #KiwiNRL and Aotearoa Kiwis top-17. Here are their average metres per run and PCM per run...

Fisher-Harrs: 9.63m/run and 3.15pcm/run.

Bromwich: 9.34m/run and 3.05pcm/run.

Those aren't Taumalolo kind of numbers - which should put into context Taumalolo's shenanigans - but they are very solid and reflect their standing as very good NRL forwards.

I'll put a focus on Eliesa Katoa as well, given that his first two NRL games have seen him immediately join the NRL's best and Katoa did so as an edge forward. Remember that Katoa is Tongan and I reckon Katoa will definitely opt to represent Tonga, so all these Katoa numbers not only put into context his work in relation to the Warriors but also forecasting some Tongan forward pack fantasies.

Run Metres: 34th/303m (2nd for Warriors).

PCM: 16th/112pcm (1st for Warriors).

Total Runs: 20th/34 (2nd for Warriors).

Tackle Breaks: 37th/8tb (3rd for Warriors).

Offloads: 23rd/3 (2nd for Warriors).

Katoa averaged 8.911m/run and 3.29pcm/run.

Based on much of the above, here is my #KiwiNRL All Stars of those first two games....

Fullback: Roger Tuivasa-Sheck.

Wings: Dallin Watene-Zelezniak, Bailey Simonsson.

Centres: Esan Marsters, Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad.

Halves: Benji Marshall, Dylan Brown.

Middles: Jesse Bromwich, Jared Waerea-Hargreaves, Jason Taumalolo.

Hooker: Danny Levi.

Edges: Eliesa Katoa, Joseph Tapine.

Bench: Jahrome Hughes, James Fisher-Harris, Sio Siua Taukeiaho, Martin Taupau.

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