Monday Morning Dummy Half: Daejarn Asi and Jaxson Paulo Debuts
Haere mai to the Monday Morning Dummy Half where the MMDH debut is matched by a couple #KiwiNRL debuts thanks to rather impressive efforts from Jaxson Paulo and Daejarn Asi. I'll flow through a bunch of different NRL notes from round 10 and beyond, let's start with our debutants though.
Despite falling short of a nifty comeback against Newcastle Knights (18-20), South Sydney Rabbitohs rolled out their lone #KiwiNRL player this weekend in Jaxson Paulo. Paulo hails from Auckland's North Shore where he was a Northcote Tigers junior before making the pilgrimage from Aotearoa to the wider Gold Coast area. Attending Keebra Park High School, Paulo worked his way through the Gold Coast Titans system and cracked a few Aotearoa representative teams as a Titans junior.
This started with the Taurahere camp and while it appears as though NZRL no longer runs the Taurahere thing designed to link Australian based players to kiwi roots, a bunch of players from those few years of Taurahere camps have gone on to play NRL. Taurahere cast the Aotearoa-eligible net far and wide, offering anyone with slight connections to Aotearoa to be involved and that may be why it hasn't been a long-term concept; Paulo is one who appears certain to head down the Kiwis path, also eligible for Samoa.
After two years in the Taurahere camps, Paulo was named in the Aotearoa Under 18 team in 2017 alongside Hayze Perham, Mawene Hiroti and Peter Hola who have all played NRL. Also in that team and part of wider NRL squads right now; Mathew Timoko (Raiders), Paul Turner (Warriors), Jordan Riki (Broncos), Darius Farmer (Titans), Tyler Slade (Warriors), Joseph Taipari (Eels), Phillip Makatoa (Warriors), Steven Marsters (Rabbitohs).
The Rabbitohs recruited Paulo to Redfern mid-season last year and while they let Mawene Hiroti leave to Cronulla Sharks, they also picked up Steven Marsters over the summer from St George Illawara Dragons. That's some #KiwiNRL young outside back musical chairs and Paulo must have made a slick impression on coach Wayne Bennett as Paulo was only on a development contract for 2020, with 'development' players able to play NRL after June 30th in a normal season - changed to the NRL’s resumption date after the restart.
Hence, Paulo made his debut and he rolled out a steady 18 runs for 165m @ 9.16m/run, along with 71 post-contact-metres which was second highest for any Rabbitohs player in this game. Those PCM averaged out to 3.94pcm per run (anything around 4pcm per run is notable) and twice Paulo showcased his natural baller abilities down the left wing as he received the footy and in a tight spot, squeezed out a grubber. The second of those grubbers saw Paulo grab a try assist:
North Queensland Cowboys gave Daejarn Asi a debut as well, playing in the halves alongside Jake Clifford; mainly sticking to the Cowboys left edge. Asi didn’t come through any NZRL pipelines after moving from Christchurch where he was an Aranui Eagles junior and like Paulo, Asi appears to have moved to Gold Coast where he started at Keebra Park before moving to Brisbane Grammar School where he played 1st 15.
Asi only played three games of Intrust Super Cup (Qld reserve grade) last year with Townsville Blackhawks, as he was primarily in their Hasting Deering Colts squad (under 20s). Asi moved into the Cowboys set up on a train and trial deal, playing reserve grade this year in round one as a centre and then he was promoted from his development deal to NRL debut after that June 30th marker.
We'll have to wait and catch Asi's eligibility vibe (also Samoan) as he was named in Queensland's Emerging Origin squad over the summer, alongside the likes of Tanah Boyd (Titans), Xavier Coates (Broncos), Tino Fa'asuamaleaui (Storm), Fanitesi Niu (Broncos) and Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow (Cowboys). The rapid progression through the ranks is a clear indicator of high quality talent as Asi is 19-years-old now, having graduated from Under 20s to reserve grade last year.
And that talent was evident as the Cowboys gave Penrith Panthers a decent nudge, losing 10-22. Asi scored a delightful try, bouncing in-field and shooting through a cannon to score:
Take that rapid progression and sprinkle in the fact that Asi was playing in the halves on his NRL debut, having mainly operated as an outside back prior to 2020. Playing all 80mins, Asi had 7 runs for 56m and 3 tackle busts, along with a fair effort in the defensive line with 18 tackles @ 85.7 percent. Clifford did most of the kicking with 12 kicks, Asi chimed in with 9 kicks though and their touches of the footy were split 39 for Clifford, 34 for Asi.
The Cowboys have dished out two #KiwiNRL debuts this year: Asi and Connelly Lemuelu (Papatoetoe Rugby - also former Keebra Park student). Emry Pere (Taniwharau, Huntly) is lurking as a middle forward, Peter Hola (Marist Saints, Auckland) has been in and out, while there are lads like Northland’s Wiremu Greig and Griffin Neame (Greymouth) who are in the wider Cowboys group also.
Asi was playing against Jarome Luai and Luai is a former Junior Kiwis captain, who has more recently played for Samoa. Asi's got Queensland trying to lure him into their set up and while there are the near-certain Kiwis contenders such as Shaun Johnson, Benji Marshall, Jahrome Hughes and Dylan Brown, chucking the likes of Luai and Asi adds a fair bit of funk to the mix as far as play-making depth goes.
As stated, both Paulo and Asi started this year on development contracts and their respective coaches graced them with an opportunity.
The Panthers did the same for Charlie Staines last week, the Sharks have done that with Siosifa Talakai and the Raiders have done that with Kai O'Donnell.
Meanwhile Aotearoa Warriors are sniffing around for loan players despite having their group of young players who may benefit from NRL minutes as their season drifts off into oblivion. The Warriors have Tom Ale, Rocco Berry, Israel Ogden, Selesitino Ravuataumada, Tyler Slade and Paul Turner as their development contracts, all of whom I'd rather see play than random loan players.
James Fisher-Harris has played all 10 games this season, playing 50+ mins in every game. That workload and great efficiency has Fisher-Harris among the best in a bunch of stat-categories...
Post Contact Metres: 3rd.
All Runs: 4th.
Run Metres: 3rd.
Offloads: 14th.
Decoy Runs: 1st.
Tackles: 17th.
The mind boggles as you think about where the Warriors sit as a footy club and Shaun Johnson's journey in Cronulla. Johnson grabbed 2 try assists vs Warriors, good enough for him to hold onto 1st in try assists and Johnson's best haul for a season is 18 try assists - he's blown that apart.
That has come at the expense of tries for himself as he only has a single try all season and his two seasons at the Sharks are his lowest as far as tries go, yet his goal-kicking percentage is the second highest per season it's even been and his average run metres per game is the highest of his 10 seasons.
Another notable Shark is Braden Hamlin-Uele, who was destructive vs Warriors:
46mins, 1 try, 10 runs for 135m @ 13.5m/run, 47pcm @ 4.7pcm/run, 3 tb, 1 offload.
And that's why I'm hyped to see the Kiwis assemble their forward pack around Jared Waerea-Hargreaves, Jesse Bromwich and Fisher-Harris. Check out these round 10 efforts from some younger #KiwiNRL forwards to go with Hamlin-Uele, specifically those who have been in Kiwis squads or are on the fringe right now...
Josh Aloiai vs Broncos:
55mins, 17 runs for 212m @ 12.47m/run, 90pcm @ 5.29pcm/run, 2 tb, 25 tackles @ 92.6%.
Marata Niukore vs Sea Eagles:
38mins, 17 runs for 174m @ 10.23m/run, 87pcm @ 5.11pcm/run, 24 tackles @ 96%.
Nelson Asofa-Solomona vs Titans:
40mins, 2 tries, 16 runs for 157m @ 9.81m/run, 61pcm @ 3.81pcm/run, 9 tb, 2 offloads, 15 tackles @ 88.2%.
Isaac Liu vs Raiders:
43mins, 11 runs for 104m @ 9.18m/run, 28pcm @ 2.54pcm/run, 29 tackles @ 100%.
Joseph Tapine vs Roosters:
54mins, 19 runs for 167m @ 8.78m/run, 44pcm @ 2.31pcm/run, 1 try assist, 2 offloads, 23 tackles @ 95.8%.
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