Among all the kerfuffle of 2020, a young lad from Ngaruawahia in the Waikato made a very quiet shift from the Bulldogs to Sea Eagles. Morgan Harper was recruited by the Bulldogs and came through their system after making waves in Aotearoa at various levels and as the Bulldogs continue to be an example of how not to run a footy club with endless dramas of those in charge, Harper was granted a mid-season shift to Manly.

After playing for Aotearoa Under 18s in 2016, went over to the Bulldogs and earned selection in the 2018 Junior Kiwis at centre. That 2018 Junior Kiwis team also featured Hayze Perham, Steven Marsters, Jackson Ferris, Mawene Hiroti, Chanel Harris-Tavita, Emry Pere, Isaiah Papali'i, Peter Hola and Jordan Riki who have all played NRL footy. Flow back a bit further and there's an Aotearoa Maori Under 17 team from 2015 that had Steven Marsters at fullback, Ferris on the wing, Perham and Harper in the halves.

With a bunch of backline injuries, Harper made his first appearance for the Sea Eagles last week vs Tigers and then backed it up with Friday night's game against his former club. Harper scored 2 tries vs Tigers, then a try against the Bulldogs with 6 tackle busts in both games and I continue to be intrigued about the value of skillful, slick centres with how footy is played in 2020. I've mentioned this a bunch of times and it seems as though centres have far more time and space to work with this season, so having centres with play-making abilities is crucial to attacking footy.

Ponder Peta Hiku and his work with the footy, or how Jordan Rapana's slid into centre with ease. I've also seen Steven Marsters settle in quickly via his skill-set for the Rabbitohs, the Warriors have found a spot for Hayze Perham at left centre, Ferris had a quick impact for the Sharks as did Matthew Timoko for Raiders and the Cowboys gave Connelly Lemuelu plenty of footy while Esan Marsters was chillin'. Whether it's Joseph Manu at the top or young kiwis emerging, these centres are all able to express their skills and contribute.

In his two, Harper's had more touches that fellow Manly centre Brad Parker. This started with Harper taking 17 touches to Parker's 7 vs Tigers, then Harper had 16 touches vs Parker's 11 vs Bulldogs. That's Harper staying busy and he appears eager for work, jacking up 45 Post Contact Metres vs Tigers, then 81pcm vs Bulldogs and in both games, Harper had the most PCM of Manly's backs; Harper was the only back with 20+ PCM vs Tigers and 60+ PCM vs Bulldogs.

Not that Harper is overly big. Listed at 180cm and 95kg, Harper is more about agility and balance. This present a variety of questions as to how coach Des Hasler view Harper moving forward as Manly have Tom Trbojevic and Dylan Walker out injured, which has a flow-on impact elsewhere. Manly have found a couple halves prospects to partner Daly Cherry-Evans in Cade Cust and Josh Schuster, which will clutter matters at centre as Walker was Cherry-Evans' halves partner and he'll need a spot.

Harper is joined by Tevita Funa and Albert Hopoate as young outside backs, with Funa and Hopoate likely to bolster Tonga's backline depth. Harper's already had a great start to his time with Manly and a full off-season with the Sea Eagles could put Harper in line to take over from Steve Matai as Manly's Kiwi-NRL centre.

I keep thinking about how deep the centre position is for Aotearoa Kiwis, then I remember that most of the positions are fairly deep for Aotearoa right now. The work of James Fisher-Harris has been immense in 2020 and while I believe that Jesse Bromwich and Jared Waerea-Hargreaves are the big donnies of Kiwis footy, both in terms of performances and leadership/culture, there is plenty of support for them led by Fisher-Harris.

The Panthers enjoyed a 20-2 win over Eels and somehow, Northland's Fisher-Harris played 77 minutes in the middle with 25 runs for 249m @ 9.96m/run and 44 tackles @ 93.6 percent. Those are very normal Fisher-Harris stats and remember that he has been doing this for the best team in the NRL this season. Here are Fisher-Harris' overall stats/rankings...

All Runs - 2nd.

Run Metres - 4th.

Metres Per Run - 9.24.

Post Contact Metres - 4th.

PCM Per Run - 3.43.

Along with Fisher-Harris emerging as a genuine top-five NRL middle forward, is a group of young-ish forwards who have settled into their careers. Nelson Asofa-Solomona is right there with Fisher-Harris and the thought of them in the same Kiwis forward pack is freaky, with Asofa-Solomona rolling out a typically brutal 57mins for the Storm in their win over the Cowboys with 15 runs for 140m @ 9.33m/run, 7 tackle busts, 2 offloads and 24 tackles @ 92.3 percent.

Melbourne Storm always shift their players around, so I'm not going to celebrate this too much but Asofa-Solomona has started the last three games in the middle and given that Storm their own unique middle trio of Bromwich, Asofa-Solomona and Tino Fa'asuamaleaui. In this three game stretch, Asofa-Solomona has played 60mins, 29mins and 57mins, after playing less than 50mins in the 13 games prior.

Joseph Tapine is another who has been on the scene for a few years now and like Asofa-Solomona with the Storm, Tapine is also jiggled around the Raiders forward pack by coach Ricky Stuart - even Fisher-Harris has plugged various holes with Panthers until finding a home this season. Tapine has played edge this season, then seven games off the bench mid-season and has now played four games starting.

In a win over Dragons this round, Tapine played 48mins in the middle with 16 runs for 161m @ 10.06m/run, 2 tackle busts, 2 offloads and 16 tackles @ 100 percent. This is Tapine's first season averaging over 100m per game (121), while Asofa-Solomona and Fisher-Harris are in their second seasons of 100+ running metres; Asofa-Solomona took a slight dip from 122m last year to 117m this year while Fisher-Harris went from 132m last year to 191m this year.

Along with those three, I've got Braden Hamlin-Uele, Josh Aloiai, Jazz Tevaga and Marata Niukore as the following pack. Hamlin-Uele, Aloiai and Tevaga are all starting for their respective teams and Aloiai has started every game this season at prop for the Tigers while Hamlin-Uele has played all 18 games, starting 12. Tevaga has become the heart and soul of the Warriors forward pack, while Niukore's development is aligned with the rest in coming off the bench for the Eels.

Can't forget about Corey Harawira-Naera who has bounced back from some woes to make the most of a shift to the Raiders. Since making the move, Harawira-Naera has played six games off the bench through the middle and looks to be in a far better situation with the Raiders than he was at the Bulldogs.

All of which got me thinking about a young Aotearoa Kiwis forward pack, where I've left out the likes of Moeaki Fotuaika (perhaps the best of them all) and Sitili Tuponiua who I believe will keep playing for Tonga.

Middles: James Fisher-Harris, Nelson Asofa-Solomona, Joseph Tapine.

Edges: Briton Nikora, Marata Niukore.

Hooker: Brandon Smith.

Bench: Jazz Tevaga, Braden Hamlin-Uele, Josh Aloiai, Corey Harawira-Naera.

Also interesting here is where these lads are from...

Northland: James Fisher-Harris, Corey Harawira-Naera.

Auckland: Brandon Smith (Waiheke Island), Jazz Tevaga (/Christchurch), Marata Niukore, Braden Hamlin-Uele, Josh Aloiai.

Tauranga: Briton Nikora.

Wellington: Nelson Asofa-Solomona, Joseph Tapine.

If you're wondering about the South Island, NRL clubs have already picked up plenty of South Island forward talent and the next wave is for that to emerge. The 2019 Under 19 Junior Kiwis had Griffin Neame from Greymouth and he's with the Cowboys, plus Christchurch's Jordan Riki who has already grabbed a couple games for the Broncos.

Hit an ad to support the Niche Cache, or jump on Patreon and help the whanau out.

Peace and love.