Back in 2012, Whangarei Intermediate won the first Rugby League Nines tournament played at the AIMS Games with Dylan Brown, Paul Turner and Wiremu Greig in their team. Having made a early-season move south from North Queensland Cowboys to Parramatta Eels, Greig graced us with the first Kiwi-NRL debut of 2021 and despite not playing alongside Brown for the Eels just yet, the Northland NRL crew is steadily growing.

James Fisher-Harris leads this group as one of the premier middle forwards in the NRL and this weekend also saw Caleb Aekins make his first appearance for Canberra Raiders having left Penrith Panthers over the summer. Corey Harawira-Naera is yet to play this season for the Raiders but can't be far off earning selection and this gives us six Kiwi-NRL players from Northland currently in the NRL.

Greig only got 13mins off the bench and had 5 runs for 53m @ 10.6m/run, 1 tackle bust to go with 10 tackles @ 100 percent. In his first game of reserve grade for the Eels last week, Greig showcased a similar level of efficiency with 11 runs for 102m @ 9.27m/run and 27 tackles @ 90 percent from 46mins. Greig's size stands out in the NRL and he's a mobile unit as well who could provide great value in an impact role off the bench among a hefty Eels forward pack.

Why Greig left the Cowboys is a strange one, other than the Cowboys routinely letting their impressive Kiwi-NRL recruitment out of Aotearoa fall away. In the space of a few weeks Greig has gone from struggling to crack the top-17 of a struggling Cowboys outfit to finding a groove with a top-tier Eels team. The prospect of Greig joining this Eels forward pack is enticing given how Isaiah Papali'i has developed under coach Brad Arthur.

I've mentioned Papali'i and Marata Niukore plenty in these Kiwi-NRL updates. Papali'i played 80mins as an edge forward vs Canberra Raiders with 2 tries, 17 runs for 156m @ 9.17m/run, 2 linebreaks, 5 tackle busts, 1 offload and 36 tackles @ 94.7 percent.

Papali'i has swapped between playing through the middle for the first two rounds, then four games as an edge forward. This was his second game playing 80mins and he has scored a try, made a linebreak and had 4+ tackle busts in each of his last three games. These last three games have also seen Papali'i make over 35 tackles in each game, missing just 3 tackles.

Now averaging 146m per game, Papali'i has blown away his four seasons with NZ Warriors where he never averaged over 80m per game. As Papali'i is fairly versatile, should the Eels want Ryan Matterson back starting on an edge, Papali'i is likely to drop back down to the bench and the Kiwi-NRL best case scenario is that Papali'i and Greig form a bench combo.

Niukore continues to impress at centre, having played as a middle and edge forward in his first three seasons as an Eel. Against the Raiders, Niukore had 12 runs for 141m @ 11.75m/run, 4 tackle busts and 11 tackles @ 100 percent.

Papali'i has already played for Aotearoa Kiwis and should come back into the frame, while Kiwis coach Michael Maguire must surely be eager to get Mangere East Hawks junior Niukore into the mix. Chuck in Dylan Brown and the Eels could have three Kiwis pushing for top-17 honours, while the development stuff evident in these three makes for an enticing few weeks ahead for Greig and then Nate Roache - who is stacking up NSW Cup minutes.

Another pushing for Aotearoa Kiwis selection is Manly Sea Eagles forward Josh Aloiai. Against the Titans, Aloiai played 50mins with 21 runs for 191m @ 9.09m/run and 17 tackles @ 100 percent which is a season best but in keeping with Aloiai's work since leaving Wests Tigers for Manly. Aloiai now has four games in a row with over 150m running the footy and after Aloiai put up his best season for the Tigers last year averaging 136m, that's gone up to 153m per game with Manly.

Manly lost their first four games and have won their last two. The last two games have seen Aloiai start in the middle, swapping with Martin Taupau who has come off the bench in the last two games. This is a wee bit interesting as it points to a changing of flow with Aotearoa Kiwis and Kiwi-NRL matters as the younger wave is starting to take over - still got the kaumatua in Benji Marshall, Jesse Bromwich and Jared Waerea-Hargreaves though.

Young Aotearoa Kiwis Forward Pack

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

Edges: Briton Nikora, Marata Niukore.

Hooker: Brandon Smith.

Bench: Braden Hamlin-Uele, Isaiah Papali'i, Jordan Riki, Josh Aloiai.

Peace and love.