Rabbitohs vs Bulldogs

Rabbitohs

Steven Marsters, Jaxson Paulo.

Bulldogs

Dallin Watene-Zelezniak, Reimis Smith, Jeremy Marshall-King, Raymond Faitala-Mariner, Renouf To'omaga, Sione Katoa.

Doc's Word

Jaxson Paulo is back on the wing for Rabbitohs and with Steven Marsters playing four games in a row since making his debut, I'm intrigued to see how involved Paulo and Marsters will be in the Rabbitohs' Finals run. Paulo's inclusion depends on Dane Gagai, who is suspended for this game and with Latrell Mitchell out absent, things have fallen in favour of the young Kiwi-NRL Rabbitohs duo.

Marsters could line up against Reimis Smith in a battle of the Kiwi-NRL centres and that's the type of battle that sums up Aotearoa's centre depth. Smith has slid between centre and wing this season as there has been zero consistency in Bulldogs selection and after Smith showed rather silky signs in 2018 and 2019, he's hit a minor plateau and just one of his 12 games this season. Perhaps Marsters may flex all over Smith and signal a shift in the premier young Kiwi-NRL talent.

Cowboys vs Panthers

Cowboys

Esan Marsters, Daejarn Asi, Jason Taumalolo, Peter Hola.

Panthers

Jarome Luai, Moses Leota, James Fisher-Harris, Dean Whare.

Doc's Word

Speaking of Kiwi-NRL centres, remember Dean Whare? The veteran Panthers centre has played eight games this season and the Panthers have had no issues in absorbing the loss of Whare as Stephen Crichton has established himself as a quality centre and Brent Naden's doing a swell job on the other edge. Whare is now named on an extended bench and I'm wondering where he ranks in the Panthers depth chart; does coach Ivan Cleary view Whare as a starter or someone who will be the perfect bloke to call up and plug a hole?

Daejarn Asi came off the bench for Cowboys in last week's loss to Storm and after playing his first three games in the halves, Asi got a second-half stint at centre. Starting the season at centre for Townsville Blackhawks, Asi may add to this whopping Kiwi-NRL centre depth and he's shown the wide-range of skills to play in the halves as well. This week Asi is named on the bench again, while Esan Marsters has now played two games after a mid-season absence; 161m, 2 offloads and 1 tackle bust vs Dragons, then 179m with 3 offloads and 3 tackle busts vs Storm.

Eels vs Broncos

Eels

Haze Dunster

Broncos

Issac Luke, Alex Glenn, Jesse Arthars.

Doc's Word

Not much doing here funk wise as Dylan Brown and Marata Niukore are both missing for Eels and the Broncos have already wrapped up their weird 2020 season. Northland's Brown got injured in round 16 vs Rabbitohs and that came after the Eels enjoyed a 14-0 win over Storm, then the Eels put up zero points with Brown playing 55mins vs Rabbitohs and since then the Eels did enough to beat NZ Warriors 24-18 before going down to Panthers 20-2. From my Kiwi-NRL bias, I really want to outline how the Eels' season depends far more on Brown than many would think and while scoring 0 vs Rabbitohs, then 2 vs Panthers could reinforce my Kiwi-NRL bias, it's not a super tight case.

Perhaps some tackling stats may help the case a wee bit. Brown was tackling at 90.9 percent this season and that's crazy for a bloke in his second season, while Mitchell Moses is tackling at 81.8 percent and Brown's replacement Jai Field is tackling at 83.4 percent.

Again, with my Kiwi-NRL bias in pocket, run metres may impact how the Eels go about their attacking structures. Brown averaged 114 metres per game this season (to go with that tackling), while Moses averages 60m and Field averages 74.34m. Ponder the style of footy required in 2020 and I reckon Brown's direct style of play was an over-looked weapon that at the very least helped set up the Eels for their shifts.

Sea Eagles vs Titans

Sea Eagles

Morgan Harper, Danny Levi, Martin Taupau, Taniela Paseka.

Titans

Moeaki Fotuaika, Kevin Proctor, Sam Lisone, Darius Farmer.

Doc's Word

Two games for Sea Eagles and Waikato's Morgan Harper has 3 tries, 4 linebreaks and 12 tackle busts. An aspect of Harper's game to watch is his defence, which will undoubtedly benefit from a full off-season under coach Des Hasler. Harper missed 3 tackles in both games for Sea Eagles and those were against Tigers and Bulldogs, two teams who aren't unleashing ruthless shape out wide. Now Harper faces Gold Coast Titans and it's a similar challenge that will hopefully see Harper do his standard business in attack and finish 2020 with signs of defensive efficiency.

Storm vs Tigers

Storm

Jahrome Hughes, Jesse Bromwich, Kenny Bromwich, Nelson Asofa-Solomona, Brandon Smtih.

Tigers

Asu Kepaoa, Benji Marshall, Josh Aloiai, Zane Musgrove, Russell Packer, Michael Chee-Kam.

Doc's Word

It's been a bummer to see Jahrome Hughes drop down the try assist rankings as he hasn't registered a try assist in his last three games - not that it matters to Melbourne Storm as they have scored 30 points, 22 points and 36 points in those games. Hughes did score a try last week vs Cowboys though and made 2 linebreaks, making me wonder how Hughes will step up in the finals alongside Cameron Smith, Cameron Munster and Ryan Papenhuyzen.

Brandon Smith is lurking on an extended bench for Storm and that's low key exciting, plus Nelson Asofa-Solomona has scored a try in each of his last two games to go with five straight games with 3+ tackle busts.

Roosters vs Sharks

Roosters

Joseph Manu, Jared Waerea-Hargreaves, Sitili Tupouniua, Isaac Liu, Sonny Bill Williams, Poasa Fa'amausili.

Sharks

Shaun Johnson, Braden Hamlin-Uele, Briton Nikora, Siosifa Talakai, Bryson Goodwin.

Doc's Word

The best Aotearoa Kiwis centre is Joseph Manu and he's been graced with another opportunity to play fullback, having played there in round 7 vs Dragons with 1 try assist, 1 linebreak, 6 tackle busts and 310 running metres. Another aspect of the Roosters play are offloads and with Sonny Bill Williams playing 33mins in last round's win vs Knights, he was able to get out 3 offloads as the Roosters combined for 20 offloads.

The Roosters are 4th in offloads across the NRL and that's built on offloading throughout the season, without Williams. Williams was then responsible for just 3/20 offloads and there is massive scope here for Williams and the Roosters to add a fresh wrinkle to their attack with even more offloads. Williams also had 6 passes vs Knights and his ability to shift the footy in the middle of the field, adds to what the Roosters can offer in attack.

Raiders vs Warriors

Raiders

Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad, Jordan Rapana, Siliva Havili, Joseph Tapine, Matthew Timoko, Iosia Soliola.

Warriors

All but Adam Keighran, Karl Lawton, Lachlan Burr, Jack Murchie, Wayde Egan, Josh Curran.

Doc's Word

All about the 13th Kiwi-NRL debut of 2020 here as the Warriors have named Tom Ale on their bench. Ale has a rather funky back-story as he started to emerge with Mount Roskill Grammar in 2014, then made a shift to Wesley College where he had an immediate 1st 15 impact with HS Top 200 naming Ale in their 2013-2020 Wesley College All Stars.

HS Top 200 also had Ale ranked 28th in their 2015 Year 11 Top 60 and Ale appears to have spent two years at Wesley College before moving to Rotorua Boys High School where he played alongside Warriors comrades Hayze Perham and Selestino Ravutaumada in both league and union.

RBHS League:

2017 NZ Secondary Schools Player of the Tournament. 2017 NZSS Tournament Team - along with Perham, Starfora To'a, Christian Tuipulotu and Jordan Riki who have all played NRL. As well as Ravutaumada (RBHS connection).

RBHS Union:

2017 Chiefs Under 18 Squad - along with Perham, Ravutaumada, Quinn Tupaea (Super Rugby), Tupou Va'ai (Super Rugby/All Blacks).

Then in 2018, Ale was with the Warriors and played in the 2018 Junior Kiwis as a middle forward. Ale was joined by Perham, Steven Marsters, Morgan Harper, Jackson Ferris, Mawene Hiroti, Chanel Harris-Tavita, Emry Pere, Isaiah Papali'i, Peter Hola and Jordan Riki who have since played NRL.

In the only game of Canterbury Cup earlier this year, Ale played 64mins as an edge forward with 13 runs for 162m @ 12.64m/run and he was the only Warriors forward to not miss a tackle in that game. Now, he's the 13th Kiwi-NRL debutant of 2020.

Knights vs Dragons

Knights

Starford To'a, Herman Ese'ese, Mason Lino.

Dragons

Jordan Pereira.

Doc's Word

Starford To'a has quietly racked up six games in a row for Newcastle Knights on the wing, with 4 tries, 4 linebreaks, 12 tackle busts. Unfortunately, Mason Lino doesn't appear to have snapped up his opportunity in the starting side as he has been dropped for Tex Hoy and probably won't feature in the Knights Finals run.

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Peace and love.