In 2015, Melbourne Storm announced that they would establish a Queensland base on the Sunshine Coast where they would have an academy and churn out teams to compete in Queensland competitions. At the time, this didn't draw much attention and the Storm flipped their reserve grade situation from being aligned with Cronulla Sharks along with a presence in Queensland through Easts Tigers, to going all in on Queensland being their second home.

In 2020, that move has reaped all sorts of rewards as the Sunshine Coast seed blossomed into the Storm re-locating to Queensland as the pandemic swept over Victoria. Obviously the Storm didn't plan on their Sunshine Coast base being used as it is now, although the foresight to step outside the box of standard reserve grade set ups and broaden the Storm's horizon has worked out rather well.

The Storm continue to pay respect to Victoria and any interview etc that zones in on the Storm's Sunshine Coast hub, comes with the Storm players and coaches always showing love to Victoria. That's simply how the Storm operate and they have dealt with the mayhem of 2020 as good as anyone else in the sports landscape, moving their full operation and whanau to the Sunshine Coast where the Storm have built a 16-3 record this season.

As expected, there has been hefty Kiwi-NRL contributions on offer from the Storm's Kiwi-NRL crew throughout the season. With the season all but wrapped up and all eyes on Finals footy, the Storm smoked Wests Tigers 50-22 and this saw Jahrome Hughes, Jesse Bromwich, Kenny Bromwich, Nelson Asofa-Solomona and Brandon Smith to take the field together after a niggly month or two in which we haven't seen the whole gang together - Albert Vete's presence would make it extra funky.

All the chat has been about Cameron Smith, or Tigers hooker Harry Grant and all season long I've pondered how crazy it would be for Brandon Smith to flip between being a middle forward for the Storm and starting hooker for Aotearoa Kiwis. I doubt we'll get any Kiwis footy this year, don't let that dampen your Bran buzz though and I've consistently highlighted that Brandon Smith is the best Aotearoa Kiwis hooker by quite some margin; don't let the Cam Smith/Grant buzz cover over how good the Waiheke Ram is.

Bran returned to footy after last playing in round 15 vs Eels and in his first game back, he got through 46mins with 13 runs for 99m @ 7.61m/run and 24 tackles @ 92.3 percent. Far from Smith's dynamic best with the footy, however his workload in a return from injury was rather typical and ahead of the Finals, the prospect of the Storm rolling out Smith, Nelson Asofa-Solomona, Tino Fa'asuamaleaui and even Tui Kamikamica is brutal.

Fa'asumaleaui continues to amaze me; the kid has played all 19 games this season, averaging 132m per game and tackling at 89.4 percent efficiency as a 20-year-old.

I'll keep my Kiwi-NRL goggles on though because Asofa-Solomona rolled through 19 runs for 193m @ 10.15m/run in 54mins and generally dominated the Tigers middle forwards. Big running numbers against a bottom-eight team is alright, what I'm most interested in are the minutes and this was Asofa-Solomona's third 50+ minute outing in his last four games.

In the 13 games prior, Asofa-Solomona didn't log more than 50mins with a 49min effort in round 13 the most game time the Wellingtonian got. Now it appears as though coach Craig Bellamy is building Asofa-Solomona up ahead of the Finals and there is a similar building process happening with Jesse Bromwich that has me eager to see how these two combine as the season hits a climax.

Bromwich started with three 50+ minute games and then his next seven games were all less than 50mins before playing five games of 50+ minutes. That finished with 49mins vs Tigers and while Bromwich is averaging 116m per game this season which is his lowest since 2012, the Storm have more than enough grunt for Bromwich to pick his moments. I still believe that Bromwich and Jared Waerea-Hargreaves are the starting Aotearoa Kiwis middle-duo as they've played at a high level for so long and this belief always has me fizzing to see how Bromwich hits a nek level moving into Finals footy.

What are key indicators for Jesse Bromwich's nek level? Efficient production. That's 10 runs for 100m, for Bromwich though he's capable of 14 runs for 140m or in that vicinity. Bromwich is also tackling at 94.6 percent efficiency and the Storm are 15th in missed tackles, tied with the Rabbitohs for conceding the fewest missed tackles in the NRL.

Kenny Bromwich has played 18 games this season on the Storm's left edge and while it can be hard to pin-point and highlight the work of older brother Jesse, Kenny doesn't jack up big stats but instead gives the Storm consistency. The Kenny Bromwich/Felise Kaufusi edge forward pair plays 80mins and they are equally capable of hitting a hole, as they are distributing the footy to outside men. For Kenny, he has Justin Olam and Josh Addo-Carr to work with so Kenny doesn't need to go above or beyond his role and his value is more in providing opportunities. Here’s Kenny being a target on the left edge where he has Olam running short with Nicho Hynes out the back and it’s Kenny who has to make the decision, sell the short ball and hit Hynes in motion…

There are 3 try assists and 4 linebreaks for Kenny this season, to go with a regular dose of tackle busts and offloads. Don't forget that it's Cameron Munster who plays inside Kenny on the Storm's left edge and having someone like Kenny to bounce off Munster, play direct and/or do some distribution himself every game is an asset - as it is on the right where it's Jahrome Hughes and Kaufusi.

The Storm have the Bromwich bros from Manurewa Marlins, along with a Wellington duo of Asofa-Solomona and Hughes; Hughes grabbed 2 more try assists vs Tigers and has 13 for the season and that's the same as Kalyn Ponga and smidge behind Cameron Smith's 15 try assists. Mid-season, Hughes had five games in a row with a try assist and as some of those have come from slick kicking, I'm intrigued by Hughes' development as a kicker considering he entered the NRL more as a fullback.

Hughes averaged 63.39 kicking metres in 2018, then 51.67m in 2019. This exploded up to 168.98 kicking metres in 2020 as Hughes settled into a halfback role and this has coincided with Munster's average kicking metres dropping from 194.88 in 2019 to 171.19m this season. Smith's kicking metres increased from 118.29 last season to 131.40 this season, yet 131m is still a lot lower than what Smith did in nearly every season prior to 2019 - it's also well less than Hughes' average this season.

Kicking metres goes up, while Hughes' average running metres decreased from 100+ metres to 77m per game this season. Understandable right?

How Hughes has transformed from a lively, skillful fullback to a halfback in a top-tier team is pretty damn impressive. This also points to the Storm staying nimble and having options as the emergence of Ryan Papenhuyzen bumped Hughes out of the fullback spot and Hughes had to step up in the halves, giving the Storm a spine that is as funky as their middle forward rotation. This is a Storm outfit that has somehow rolled out a team that looks as talented as any of their Finals teams in recent years and given that we've seen how slick their operation is in moving to Sunshine Coast, this should come as no surprise.

Hold up, what else could the Storm offer from a Kiwi-NRL perspective?

Albert Vete has played six games for the Storm this season, doing a solid job off the bench when called upon. If required, Vete would offer 20mins of hard running, efficient tackling in the Finals.

The Storm also have Kelma Tuilagi and Judda Turahui, neither of whom has played this season but could add to the Kiwi-NRL Storm funk moving forward. Nor did Tuilagi or Turahui played in the first/only game of Intrust Super Cup for either Easts Tigers or Sunshine Coast Falcons, yet Glenora Bears junior Tuilagi did play 11 games in 2018 and 14 games in 2019 for Easts Tigers.

Tuilagi was named in the 2017 Aotearoa Under 18 alongside Hayze Perham, Mawene Hiroti, Matthew Timoko, Jaxson Paulo, Paul Turner, Jordan Riki, Peter Hola and Steven Marsters.

Then Tuilagi was named in the 2018 Junior Kiwis alongside Perham, Marsters, Morgan Harper, Jackson Ferris, Hiroti, Chanel Harris-Tavita, Emry Pere, Tom Ale, Isaiah Papali'i, Peter Hola and Jordan Riki.

Turahui is from Taranaki and played 1st 15 rugby for Kings College before moving over to the Storm prior to last summer's training. With no reserve grade this year, Turahui will likely be developed through either the Tigers or Falcons up in Queensland next year and while Tuilagi is likely to start his NRL journey through the middle, Turahui could be a forward but has the mobility to develop at centre.

Hit an ad to support the Niche Cache, or jump on Patreon as that’s the best way to support the homies.

Peace and love.