Having highlighted the connections between Melbourne Storm and Aotearoa's All Blacks to wrap up 2020, it's only right that the Monday Morning Dummy Half sparks up 2020 with a fresh #KiwiNRL Storm angle. Along the same lines, I'll lay out some funky #KiwiNRL matters for Wests Tigers who are building an enticing connection for Aotearoa.

Combining quality and quantity, Melbourne Storm consistently sit on top of the #KiwiNRL power rankings. To maintain such a perch and to consistently finish near the top of whatever competition a team is playing in, some type of reinvention is required and especially when dealing with factors such as a salary cap or rule changes. The Storm have a proven record of tweaking their roster and perhaps more importantly, adjusting their playing style for each season to lead the way as opposed to catching up.

Last year, this had a #KiwiNRL twist as one of the funkier Storm ploys under coach Craig Bellamy was a bench that featured Waiheke Rams' Brandon Smith and Upper Hutt Tigers' Nelson Asofa-Solomona, as well as Tino Fa'asuamaleaui. Mobility, size, power and general footy funk. Chuck in all the other bits and bobs like Cameron Munster, Ryan Paphenhuyzen or the steady forwards like Jesse Bromwich and Christian Welch ... let alone Cameron Smith and yeah.

What new #KiwiNRL twist will the Storm serve up for 2021?

Apart from intrigue as to how the established lads perform or are deployed this season, the Storm have added Reimis Smith from the Bulldogs and Taranaki's Judda Turahui is still lurking beneath the radar. Despite being born and raised in Sydney, Reimis Smith is a two-time Junior Kiwis rep (2016/17) and while we've seen various players represent Junior Kiwis before moving on to rep a different nation, Smith feels like he's sticking to the Aotearoa route; bolstered by the mana of his father and former Kiwi Tyran Smith.

For the Bulldogs #KiwiNRL vibes, they have let Smith and Morgan Harper leave in the space of six months. The Bulldogs recruited Harper from Ngaruawahia in the Waikato, with Smith and Harper both moving through the Bulldogs ranks before making their debuts and looking fairly settled in the NRL at centre or on the wing. Harper played in the 2018 Junior Kiwis at centre and made a mid-season shift from Bulldogs to Manly Sea Eagles last year, starting four consecutive games at centre with 3 tries and 4 linebreaks.

Harper played more games for Manly in one season than he did across two seasons for the Doggies. This is a enticing yarn to keep tabs on over the season as the Bulldogs let their #KiwiNRL prospects leave, bringing in more expensive recruits as well as a new coach in Trent Barrett and from my Aotearoa perspective; I reckon both Smith and Harper are in far better positions now, plus they are likely to out-perform the Doggies.

Back to Smith, who is now the example of the Storm wing policy. The Storm have always had good wingers and these wingers tend to provide great value, then when they want to cash in elsewhere, the Storm let them move on. Matt Duffie provided great value before moving back to Auckland rugby, Suliasi Vunivalu offered great value before moving on to Australia rugby. The Storm now have Isaac Lumelume as their 'big Fijian' prototype and Smith who will cover centre and wing.

Smith is the ideal Storm signing. Athletic talent, footy instincts and any bad habits picked up at the Bulldogs will be ironed out by the Storm. Having flashed 'oh shit' moments in his 49 games, Smith will be eager to nail a position in the Storm backline and take his career forward like many other Storm recruits have done. Like Duffie and Vunivalu, the Storm have another prospect from their Aotearoa 1st 15 pipeline waiting in Turahui.

From Taranaki, Turahui ended up at Kings College for 1st 15 rugby and was then shipped across to the Storm ahead of last season. There was a sighting of Turahui in the Nines tournament, then Turahui didn't play in the brief reserve grade window before all non-NRL footy shut down and Turahui spent the year preparing the NRL team for their Championship win.

Turahui doesn't appear to be in the Storm's top-30 and is likely to take up a development contract spot which will open him up to play in the second half of the season. Having been a #8 in 1st 15 rugby, who knows what position Turahui will take up at this level of footy as his size/mobility combo could see him play out on an edge or that same package could be beneficial in the middle.

The Storm keep on re-freshing their roster and that usually involves a high quality youngster from Aotearoa. Smith fits into one Storm recipe as he will look to hit a nek level at the Storm, while Turahui fits into another Storm recipe of the best recruitment and development from Aotearoa. Having said that, there is little footage or NRL insights to gauge Turahui and while his journey suggests that he is a talented prospect, this is more about intrigue as to how the season pans out for Turahui.

Turahui is a young Maori prospect from Taranaki, Tukimihia Simpkins is a young Maori prospect from Rotorua who was recently lured about from Townsville by Wests Tigers. Simpkins was recruited by North Queensland Cowboys while at Rotorua Boys High School and during his schooling, Simpkins made regular trips to Townsville for training camps. Playing 1st 15 rugby for RBHS, Simpkins also made the 2017 and 2018 National Secondary Schools Tournament Team for rugby league.

In 2017, Simpkins was joined by his RBHS homies Hayze Perham and Tom Ale as well as Starford To'a, Christian Tuipulotu and Jordan Riki who have all made #KiwiNRL debuts.

In 2018, Simpkins was again joined by Tuipulotu. Also, the low key Graham-Taufa twins (Moala and Lani) who are in the Roosters system.

Simpkins then linked up with the Cowboys full time and played one game of Hastings-Deering Colts (Queensland Under 20s) for Townsville Blackhwaks in 2020 before the shutdown playing as a middle forward. That game also saw Greymouth's Griffin Neame starting as an edge forward and #KiwiNRL folk should know that while Simpkins is leaving Townsville, the Cowboys have decent cluster of young lads from Aotearoa in their system.

I'll break that down in the coming weeks. Hard and fast though: Peter Hola (Auckland), Connelly Lemuelu (Auckland), Esan Marsters (Auckland), Daejarn Asi (Christchurch), Emry Pere (Waikato), Griffin Neame (Greymouth), Wiremu Greig (Northland).

Under Aotearoa Kiwis coach Michael Maguire, we have another club building out their Aotearoa flavour. Simpkins is a decent chance of a debut this season, plus the Tigers signed Glenora Bears junior Kelma Tuilagi from Melbourne Storm - Tuilagi played Aoteaora Under 18s in 2017 and then Junior Kiwis in 2018 while at the Storm.

Last year, Asu Kepaoa joined the Tigers from Sydney Roosters and he's got a similar pedigree. Kepaoa was an Under 19 Junior Kiwi in 2019 (along with To'a, Neame, Tuipulotu, Riki and Paul Turner) and like with most Aotearoa Roosters recruits; the Roosters had Kepaoa in their system for a while. Then Kepaoa was set free for an NRL opportunity with the Tigers and under Maguire, it seems as though the Tigers are snaring these young #KiwiNRL prospects who are ready to debut but were stuck in line at other clubs - specifically the clubs that had recruited them from Aotearoa.

There was buzz a few weeks ago about a trio of #KiwiNRL prospects being signed by the Tigers; Jarney Proctor-Harwood, Tamehana Paruru and Tray Lolesio. These three all played in the Aotearoa Schools vs Clubs Under 18 game late last year and from that game, Otara Scorpions junior Lolesio was the major stand out with his hearty carries. First, this is another example of Maguire getting plenty of juice from his Aotearoa Kiwis role.

This is also an example of how little is known, let alone reported about the plethora of teenagers signed from Aotearoa by Australian clubs. Every Australian club signs kiwi teenagers and while these three Tigers recruits may become factors in the NRL, there is nothing unique about this situation and no reason to highlight above anything else. Respect to these lads in these example, it's more a case of there being so many #KiwiNRL youngsters that it's weird to isolate these three.

As a window into how this works, 'The Mole' reported those Tigers signings and also reported that the Roosters have signed Beniah Ioelu - Aotearoa Under 16s and Under 15s Tournament Team in 2019. All of these players are managed by the same Aotearoa agent Dixon McIver and as soon as he had posted these signings for his clients, 'The Mole' started to report these signings.

That's how this stuff works and honkidory. Don't think that these are above and beyond special though, no matter how they are reported. They are merely small drips in a big ol' pond full of #KiwiNRL prospects.

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Peace and love.