Cameron Smith and Josh Hodgson are known as the best hookers in the NRL, not explosive nor overly dynamic but perhaps the craftiest workers around the ruck. These two are so influential for Melbourne Storm and Canberra Raiders respectively, that Waiheke Rams junior Brandon Smith and Manurewa Marlins junior Siliva Havili were both forced into middle forwards duties. Well, that can easily be twisted a different way as Smith and Havili commanded top-17 selection despite each having 80-minute hookers ahead of them, that's our first sign of how impressive Smith and Havili are as ballers.

Something's changed of late though, with Smith and Hodgson both out injured. Cameron's only missed two games so far, allowing Brandon to start those game and we jump up to the nek level at the Raiders where Hodgson's out for the season and Havili has started the last five games. Conveniently, Hodgson's suffered his injury against the Storm and while the Storm are flexing with their depth throughout the season, now 12-2, things are more up and down for the Raiders; Havili's 4-1 since starting though.

In moving from a middle forward role, to playing dummy half, Havili's running stats have decreased and that also points to the nuggety Havili doing a great job as a middle forward.

Tackle Breaks

First nine games: 9. Last five games: 2.

Offloads

First nine games: 7. Last five games: 0.

30+ Post Contact Metres

First nine games: 6 games. Last five games: 0 games.

The best stat though is Havili's tackling, which went from missing 14 tackles in the first nine games via not missing a tackle in five of those games, to missing just a single tackle in his last five games. While Hodgson's the conductor who had 4 try assists, 2 forced droppies and a bunch of kicking metres, Hodgson also missed tackles in every game that he played prior to getting injured; Hodgson missed 52 tackles, averaging 5.77 missed tackles per game.

Hodgson does have extra playing minutes to bump up his missed tackle count, yet Havili's missed a total of 15 tackles and averages 1.07mt per game. The key thing is that this has coincided with the Raiders winning games and while there are numerous other factors at play here, Havili's playing his role in the Raiders improvements.

Keep an eye on Havili moving forward as his playing time suggests that he may be settling into the role with greater consistency as he played 48mins vs Roosters, then 36 and 33mins vs Rabbitohs and Cowboys before 47mins vs Panthers and 46mins vs Broncos. If Havili's playing 45+ minutes regularly and the Raiders move their way into the top-four, then Havili's stocks increase heavily.

Also: Tonga now have Siliva Havili starting for Raiders and Sione Katoa starting/getting more footy with Bulldogs.

Brandon Smith played 67mins vs Bulldogs, then 63mins vs Roosters and has actually started both games against the Roosters this season as he started the round eight golden point banger, with Cameron playing in the halves. After Brandon missed 1+ tackles in every game prior to Cameron's injury, Brandon has back to back games of no missed tackles as the starting hooker.

Chuck in Brandon's first try assist of the season vs Bulldogs, then his highest kicking metres and offloads (4) in the win over Roosters on the weekend and it's lovely that like Havili, young Smith is thriving in this role. For Aotearoa Kiwis, Smith is the best dummy half option and while I was low key fizzing to see him casually slide into a starting hooker role for Aotearoa after playing an NRL season as a middle forward, the Waiheke Ram is getting good reps in as a starting hooker.

Who backed up Smith at hooker for the Kiwis last year? Well, Kodi Nikorima started a game there but it tended to be Harbour City Eagles junior Jahrome Hughes coming off the bench as a utility and Hughes is doing a fantastic job in the halves for Melbourne Storm. First peep this Aotearoa Kiwis halves depth: Shaun Johnson, Benji Marshall, Dylan Brown, Jahrome Hughes, Kodi Nikorima, Chanel Harris-Tavita, Jarome Luai (eligibility choice pending).

Like Brandon Smith, it's niggly to pin-point Hughes' influence as the Storm's system makes them a top-tier NRL club and this is most evident in the fact that without Cameron Smith, Cameron Munster and/or Ryan Papenhuyzen, the Storm still win. Hughes is now third in try assists for the whole NRL, one behind Luai and a whopping nine behind SJ6.

A low key thing with Hughes has been his involvement over the past few weeks. In his first nine games, Hughes had four games with 40+ touches and one of those games was 52 touches, while his last three games have seen Hughes register 53 touches, 43 and 62. With 62 touches of the footy, Hughes didn't jack up running metres, instead he showed off his class with 7 tackle busts, 2 linebreaks and 492 kicking metres which were season highs, while a cheeky try assist and a try was thrown in.

Hughes is 11-1 this season, starting all 12 of his games at halfback. The Wellingtonian has 5 tries and 11 try assists. Chur the bro.

There's even more starting/bench stuff!?

Glenora Bears junior Braden Hamlin-Uele came off the bench for Cronulla Sharks in their first five games. The Sharks went 1-4 during that stretch.

Hamlin-Uele then moved to starting role for the next nine games and the Sharks are 7-2.

Since starting, Hamlin-Uele has 4 tries via 4 linebreaks, 8 offloads and has played 40+ minutes in seven of those games.

Also keep an eye on Mangere East Hawks junior Ofahiki Ogden, even though his move to starting middle forward for the Bulldogs hasn't changed their fortunes. After coming off the bench for six games, Ogden has started the last two and played 49mins vs Storm, then 45mins vs Tigers with his best game of the season last night: 45mins, 16 runs for 155m @ 9.68m/run, 2 tb.

Christian Tuipulotu and Jordan Riki made their debuts, with Tuipulotu sneaking into his debut from the extended bench. St Paul’s College/Ellerslie Eagles junior Tuipulotu had a rugged game on the wing for the Roosters in their loss to Storm, but he scored a try and this was interesting because Tuipulotu was mainly an edge forward/centre while a junior in the Warriors system, then he transitioned to wing and showcased the calibre of finishing required by NRL wingers.

I'd also refrain from going too deep into Riki's debut, which came as they were torched by the Raiders - Raiders exploded via Joseph Tapine and Corey Harawira-Naera coming off the bench and tearing the Broncos forward pack apart. However, Riki did grab 25mins on the left edge and as Riki can play middle or edge, I'll keep an eye on this moving forward.

Riki's massive and mobile, so he could be an interesting edge option. That package and a high work-rate also suits the middle though and I won't be surprised if Riki is eased in with limited minutes on an edge before playing through the middle. Then again, given how mediocre the Broncos middle is, Riki could change that around.

Tuipulotu and Riki were in the 2017 National Secondary Schools Team together, joined in the NRL by Hayze Perham and Starford To’a. Also notable here is Sione Moala who cracked this team and was still eligible for SG Ball (under 18) this year and that means he may have been year 10ish in 2017 (??) and Tukimihia Simpkins is part of the Cowboys system #YounginAlert.

I thought a bit deeper about Aotearoa Kiwis edge forward stocks and there's genuine depth here, to go with the genuine depth in every position:

Kenny Bromwich, Tohu Harris, Kevin Proctor, Raymond Faitala-Mariner, Briton Nikora, Sitili Tupouniua (likely to rep Tonga), Eliesa Katoa (also likely to rep Tonga).

Edge forwards dabbling in middle: Corey Harawira-Naera, Siosifa Talakai, Marata Niukore.

The Grubber

Shaun Johnson has 20 try assists, his previous best was 18 (2011, 2016). That's the most try assists per season for Johnson in the fewest games played.

Corey Harawira-Naera vs Broncos: 35mins, 12 runs for 173m @ 14.41m/run, 2 linebreaks, 4tb, 1 offload.

Joseph Tapine vs Broncos: 48mins, 15 runs for 175m @ 11.66m/run, 1tb, 3 offloads.

Josh Aloiai vs Bulldogs: 66mins, 18 runs for 209m @ 11.61m/run, 3 tb, 1 offload, 36 tackles @ 100 percent!

James Fisher-Harris sliding into the 'Best Middle Forward Mix'...

50+ mins in all 14 games.

150+ running metres in all 14 games.

50+ PCM in 12 games.

Tackling @ 91.7 percent.

Peta Hiku's 2020 season, split roughly by not having whanau around vs having whanau around...

First 6 games: 3 tries, 1 try assist, 6 tackle busts, 0 offloads, 24 missed tackles.

Last 6 games: 3 tries, 4 try assists, 13 tb, 11 offloads, 17mt.

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Peace and love.