Monday Morning Dummy Half: Steven Marsters and Paul Turner Debut
Having touched on #KiwiNRL debutants every week with the Monday Morning Dummy Half, it's all about the #KiwiNRL debutants after round 15 as Steven Marsters and Paul Turner added themselves to hefty list of 2020 #KiwiNRL debutants. Marsters grabbed his debut playing right centre for South Sydney Rabbitohs in their big win over Manly Sea Eagles, while Turner scored two no tries in the halves for Aotearoa Warriors in their win over Canterbury Bulldogs. Let's start with full class of 2020, which is still likely to get a few more youngins from Aotearoa chucked in the mix with five more rounds of footy to go this season...
Steven Marsters - Auckland - Rabbitohs.
Paul Turner - Northland - Warriors.
Christian Tuipulotu - Auckland - Roosters.
Jordan Riki - Christchurch - Broncos.
Emry Pere - Waikato - Cowboys.
Connelly Lemuelu - Auckland - Cowboys.
Jaxson Paulo - Auckland - Rabbitohs.
Daejarn Asi - Christchurch - Cowboys.
Asu Kepaoa - Auckland - Tigers.
Eliesa Katoa - Auckland/Tonga - Warriors.
Jackson Ferris - Manawatu - Sharks.
Like many of these lads, Marsters and Turner have been on the radar since I started going deep into #KiwiNRL matters. Last week I highlighted the different routes these prospects have taken to get to the NRL, or into NRL systems with two of the most decorated prospects from Aotearoa of the past five years in Christian Tuipulotu and Jordan Riki making their debuts. Tuipulotu and Riki cracked all sorts of Aotearoa NZRL rep teams coming through the age-group ranks, winning a long list of awards before joining their Australian clubs.
That differs to the likes of Lemuelu and Asi, who didn't feature in NZRL rep teams having moved to Australia early in their high school years. Marsters and Turner are more on par with Tuipulotu and Riki though as they have been high quality prospects at every level of their development; these two were part of the Aotearoa Under 18 team in 2017 that also featured Hayze Perham, Mawene Hiroti, Jordan Riki and Peter Hola who have all played NRL.
Slide back to 2016 when Marsters and Turner were part of that year's Taurahere set up established by NZRL. I mention the Taurahere initiative a fair bit when discussing these youngsters and it's a weird ol' thin that doesn't appear to be in action now, after it was sparked in 2014 to connect Aotearoa-eligible players in Australia to NZRL and Aotearoa. This involved a camp, games between Queensland and New South Wales based players, then games against Aotearoa rep teams.
Weird, because the net was cast far and wide. Anyone with a slither of connection to Aotearoa was invited and many of the players involved had no further involvement with NZRL. This did appear to impact the NZRL development pipelines though and NZRL have done a great job in laying out various Aotearoa representative teams, as well as high performance camps. Plus, the National Secondary Schools Tournament went through a massive growth phase to bolster development pipelines and checking the NSS tournament teams is mandatory for kiwi league fans.
(Last year's NSST was scratched due to the measles out-break, now with Covid dramas it's up in the air again. That's a bummer).
For reference, the 2014 Taurahere group featured James Fisher-Harris after he'd been recruited by Penrith Panthers, Poasa Fa'amausili and Joseph Manu ditto with Roosters, Jamayne Isaako ditto with Sharks, and Siosifa Talakai who was with the Rabbitohs.
Marsters and Turner were together in the 2016 NSW Taurahere team as well as Jackson Ferris; Marsters got himself into the Dragons system, Ferris was recruited by Sharks and Turner, along with brother Lee were aligned with Rabbitohs (Lee played a few games for Tweed Heads Seagulls in the Queensland reserve grade competition last year). The Queensland Taurahere team featured Jesse Arthars now with Broncos and Jaxson Paulo who was with Gold Coast Titans before being scooped up by the Bunnies last year.
Marsters and Turner were both named in the 2016 Taurahere Merit Team, along with Arthars, Ferris and Eels forward Oregon Kaufusi - who stuck with the NSW rep system. Marsters was then named at fullback for the 2017 Junior Kiwis and on the wing for the 2018 Junior Kiwis, forming an enticing #KiwiNRL prospect duo with Patrick Herbert (2016, 2017 Junior Kiwi) with the Dragons. The Dragons had Herbert and Marsters on their roster, then Herbert returned to Auckland to link with the Warriors and Marsters was then picked up by the Rabbitohs for 2020.
The Rabbitohs funk is rather intriguing here given that Paulo moved from Titans to Rabbitohs mid-2019, while Marsters was signed mid-2019 but didn't make the move until the end of last season. For whatever reason, the Rabbitohs let Mawene Hiroti (another Taurahere/Junior Kiwi graduate) move to Sharks for 2020 and picked up Paulo and Marsters. That's rather pin-point recruitment for the Bunnies and I'm not sure how or why, but they specifically recruited two #KiwiNRL prospects who had yet to make a genuine push for NRL footy.
Suddenly, Paulo and Marsters are the Rabbitohs right centre/wing combination. Paulo now played six consecutive games since his debut on the wing and Marsters scored a try in his debut.
In the wash up, Marsters told a yarn about coach Wayne Bennett questioning his professionalism as Marsters battled the dark arts to start 2020 and Bennett kept Marsters on track. Steven is cousins with Esan Marsters, they often refer to each other as brothers and I don't want to speculate on these matters, but it's worth noting that Esan hasn't featured for the Cowboys since round 10 after playing every game prior.
Turner started up in Whangarei and my favourite #KiwiNRL nugget is that Turner and Eels half Dylan Brown played together for Northern Swords Under 15s (must have been 2015). Turner grabbed MVP honours for that national tournament, while he and Brown were named in the tournament team and from there, it seems that Turner went to join the Rabbitohs system and Brown joined the Eels. Turner soon slid back to Aotearoa, joining the Warriors.
Cracking various NZRL rep teams, Turner's moved through the Warriors ranks with Turner and Marsters both playing the first and only round of Canterbury Cup (NSW reserve grade) earlier this year. Turner finally got an NRL crack yesterday and most notably, Turner was playing as a left-sided half and on his outside was Rotorua's Hayze Perham.
Perham and Turner have been playing together for a while now, having been named in the Aotearoa Under 18 Residents in 2017 (as well as Chanel Harris-Tavita, Starford To'a, Asu Kepaoa and Jordan Riki) and then Aotearoa Under 18 in 2018. Turner then grabbed Under 19 Junior Kiwis honours last year, a team that featured To'a, Kepaoa, Tuipulotu and Riki.
I'm eager to see how Marsters develops and as the Rabbitohs have plenty of outside back depth, Marsters' game time will depend on injuries etc. The centre position is far more funky in 2020 with the rule changes as the quicker tempo, allows more space and centres feel as though they are having a greater impact. The 2020 centre needs agility, skill and play-making funk as they now get footy with options available and I believe they require immense natural footy instincts to pounce on more time and space. Marsters could thrive in that role, so now it's wait and see.
Turner showed off some lovely footwork, not in a Roger Tuivasa-Sheck style where the best stepper in either code puts on a whack and it doesn't even look that damaging - meanwhile the defender's clutching at Caspar. Turner looked more agile, smaller steps that help him change direction without loading up and every time he bounced in-field (left to right), he made defenders miss.
Marsters had a grubber to force a repeat set (centre skills) and missed a bunch of tackles (6) which didn't impact the result.
Turner jacked up 7 tackle busts and made 20 tackles @ 95.2 percent.
Kodi Nikorima was a dominant force for the Warriors, in terms of steady half duties and also attacking spark. Nikorima had 65 touches, allowing Turner to ease into the action with 34 touches, while Nikorima also had 12 kicks to Turner's 3 kicks.
To finish, I've whipped up a list of Junior Kiwis who graduated to the NRL since 2015...
2015
Jamayne Isaako, Taane Milne, Jospeh Manu, Te Maire Martin, Nelson Asofa-Solomona, Sione Katoa, James Fisher-Harris, Marata Niukore, Jazz Tevaga, Danny Levi, Braden Hamlin-Uele, Toafofoa Sipley, Renouf To'omaga.
2016
Brad Abbey, Patrickt Herbert, Reimis Smith, Jamayne Isaako, Ata Hingano, Poasa Fa'amausili, Brandon Smith, Marata Niukore, Esan Marsters, Tom Amone, Siosifa Talakai, Nathaniel Roache, Isaiah Papali'i.
2017
Steven Marsters, Reimis Smith, Patrick Herbert, Chanel Harris-Tavita, Jarome Luai, Emry Pere, Erin Clark, Briton Nikora, Siosifa Talakai, Isaiah Papali'i, Manase Fainu, Moeaki Fotuaika, Sitili Tupouniua.
2018
Hayze Perham, Steven Marsters, Morgan Harper, Jackson Ferries, Mawene Hiroti, Chanel Harris-Tavita, Emry Pere, Isaiah Papali'i, Joseph Vuna, Peter Hola, Jordan Riki.
2019 (Under 19)
Starford To'a, Asu Kepaoa, Paul Turner, Christian Tuipulotu, Jordan Riki.
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Peace and love.