Sydney Roosters have two of their veteran kaumatua battling concussion, one retired and the other is taking time away from the game. The Chooks have the lost their starting halfback and promoted the hottest prospect of recent memory in Sam Walker, all while their Kiwi-NRL forwards maintain Roosters excellence in their leadership and mahi. None of the Roosters backline wizardry is possible without at least parity through the middle and in Jared Waerea-Hargreaves, Isaac Liu and Siosiua Taukieaho, the Roosters are laying a hearty platform for their play-makers.

The Roosters are 4-1 to start this season, scoring 30+ points in three games and falling just short of that mark in defeating Cronulla Sharks 26-18 on the weekend. 26 points and no forward scored a try, all the flash was done by the backline and this Walker chap strolled around to score a try to go with his 3 try assists. The veteran forwards set this all up...

Isaac Liu: 58mins, 16 runs for 151m @ 9.43m/run, 2 tackle busts, 33 tackles @ 91.7%.

Siosiau Taukeiaho: 54mins, 16 runs for 147m @ 9.18m/run, 1 tb, 33 tackles @ 94.3%.

Jared Waerea-Hargreaves: 44mins, 21 runs for 219m @ 10.42m/run, 26 tackles @ 100%.

The stars have aligned for these lads to elevate their leadership of the Roosters and while there are other key figures that make the Roosters a lethal footy team, we're talking about three Kiwi-NRL Roosters who are embedded in Roosters history. Rotorua's Waerea-Hargreaves is an easy place to start as he played his first Roosters game in 2010, meaning that this is his 11th season as a Rooster.

Don't sleep on Waerea-Hargreaves just because he is coming off the bench this season. Waerea-Hargreaves has started all five games off the bench and that may seem like a demotion for a veteran big-bopper who is adjusting to the new rules and quicker tempo. 11 seasons as a Rooster and this is the first year in which Waerea-Hargreaves is averaging over 150m per game.

11 seasons and Waerea-Haregreaves has averaged 140+ metres per game just twice. In 2019, Waerea-Hargreaves averaged 141m and this season he has exploded to average 156m per game.

Otahuhu Leopards junior Liu has snuck in nine seasons as a Rooster.

No forward quite hits the under-appreciated mark like Liu and Waerea-Hargreaves' move back to the bench has seen Liu start all five games this season. This has resulted in Liu also averaging the most metres per game this season of his career. Liu averages 119m per game and having played whatever role the Roosters needed in the previous eight seasons, this is the second season in a row with Liu averaging 100+ metres per game.

Last season Liu averaged 106m per game, now it's taken another jump up to 119m. In a bit of a mind-scrambler, Liu and Waerea-Hargreaves have swapped role only to both be doing the best work of their respective careers.

That's another kicking licence revoked... sorry Isaac Liu 😅#NRLSharksRoosters pic.twitter.com/FIrfXsudGT
— NRL (@NRL) April 17, 2019

Otara Scorpions junior Taukeiaho is in his sixth season as a Rooster, having transitioned from a centre as a NZ Warriors junior to being one of the best middle forwards in the NRL. Last season, Taukeiaho averaged 160m per game and that's the high mark of his career which has dropped down to 136m per game this season; Waerea-Hargreaves and Liu step up a bit to ease Taukeiaho's load.

Genuine question: would you rather have Taukeiaho or Taumalolo?

Taukeiaho has been a low key leader for Tonga and is as influential for Tonga as anyone else. Waerea-Hargreaves had only played three games for Aotearoa Kiwis between 2012-2017 and since Michael Maguire's arrival as Kiwis coach, Waerea-Hargreaves played nine games in two years (2018 and 2019, no Kiwis games last year). Liu has played five games for Aotearoa under Maguire and appears to have established himself on the Kiwis path after playing a couple games for Samoa earlier in his career.

All three are hearty Kiwi-NRL leaders who are now in charge of leading the Roosters. These blokes make it that little bit easier for Marist Saints junior Sitili Tupouniua to come through the Roosters and he has quietly settled into NRL footy with 16 games in 2019, 20 games in 2020 and playing all five games this season.

Quick note on Gold Coast Titans who are one of my low key favourite teams to watch. First thing here is that Erin Clark has played all five games off the bench and spends a lot of his time at hooker, when Mitch Rein is off the field. Five games, a try, a try assist, 3 offloads and tackling @ 95.4 percent efficiency.

This is notable because there is a lack of Aotearoa Kiwis hooking depth. Brandon Smith is the starting Kiwis hooker, while Jahrome Hughes and Kodi Nikorima have dabbled in this role. Clark is getting steady reps in with the Titans and he has already played for Samoa, so he will be a factor for either Samoa or Aotearoa when international footy swings around.

Then we have Sam Lisone. Lisone has come off the bench in all five games, playing 33mins or less in all his appearances. In each of his first three games, Lisone averaged 10m/run and this efficiency is exactly what the Titans need around their more high profile forwards. Titans coach Justin Holbrook loves to shift the footy and across the Titans team, there are examples of Holbrook playing to the strengths of his lads.

Lisone has 2 linebreak assists this season and we are seeing coach Holbrook get deeper into Lisone's passing game - which we saw signs of at NZ Warriors. This started slow as Lisone only threw 1 pass vs Warriors, followed by 1 pass vs Broncos. In round three, Lisone threw 4 passes vs Cowboys followed by 4 passes vs Raiders and 3 passes vs Knights. For context, Moeaki Fotuaika also came off the bench vs Knights and didn't throw a pass as that's not his role.

Here are some easy examples of Lisone's passing that led to points. First a short ball to Jarrod Wallace to get through the line…