Monday Morning Dummy Half: Aotearoa Kiwis Centres
As the Kiwi-NRL stocks grow the centre position is enjoying a rejuvenation and while Joseph Manu still sits on his perch as the best Aotearoa Kiwis centre in the NRL, two former Bulldogs have leap-frogged recent Aotearoa Kiwis centres. Morgan Harper left the Doggies mid-season last year and that resulted in Harper scoring 3 tries for Manly Sea Eagles in the four games he played after moving, while Reimis Smith made the wise move from Bulldogs to Melbourne Storm and he's settled into a starting centre role at the best Kiwi-NRL club right now.
These three form my upper-echelon. When exploring Aotearoa Kiwis business, we need to factor in coach Michael Maguire's vibe to gain a realistic selection picture and since Maguire stepped in as Kiwis coach, he rolled with his Wests Tigers centre Esan Marsters for Aotearoa and Marsters has since left Tigers and struggled for NRL game time. Now Marsters has joined the Gold Coast Titans mid-season where Titans recruitment manager and long time NZRL coaching figure Ezra Howe is leading a Kiwi-NRL recruitment drive.
Along with Marsters struggling for opportunity, Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad has been out injured for Canberra Raiders. The last Aotearoa Kiwis footy stretch was in 2019 and Nicoll-Klokstad's form warranted selection but with Roger Tuivasa-Sheck at fullback, Nicoll-Klokstad played centre for Aotearoa and the Kiwis were pretty good.
Those two were the last centres to play alongside Manu. Dean Whare has moved to the Super League and he's no longer in the frame, while Peta Hiku is steadily battling injury with NZ Warriors. Moving forward, I'll be keeping an eye on how Marsters develops with the Titans and whether Hiku can make a genuine play for Kiwis selection. Until then, these lads have been surpassed.
Harper is from Ngaruawahia, Waikato and was recruited out of Aotearoa by Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs. Coming up through the Bulldogs junior pathways, Harper made his debut in 2019 and in two years he played two games for the Doggies before making the move to Manly. Harper started in reserve grade and didn't play NRL until round 5. In the five games since, Harper has 3 linebreaks, 2 try assists, a try and 5 offloads.
Reimis Smith is an interesting Kiwi-NRL eligibility case as he seems to have laid out his Aotearoa Kiwis intentions with two years of Junior Kiwis footy (2016/17) even though Smith was born and raised in Sydney. Of course, Reimis' dad is former Aotearoa Kiwi Tyran Smith (now player manager) and this is a similar scenario to Raiders wing Bailey Simonsson who was also born and raised in Australia but his dad Paul played for the All Blacks before moving to Australia. Simonsson has played All Blacks Sevens already and featured in Aotearoa Kiwis squads in 2019.
Alongside Smith in the 2017 Junior Kiwis were captain Jarome Luai and Moeaki Fotuaika - both of whom are now in New South Wales and Queensland Origin squads. All of which is really confusing.
Regardless, both Harper and Smith have flourished since leaving Bulldogs. The Bulldogs opted to spend money bringing in the likes of Dallin Watene-Zelezniak and Nick Cotric, while Harper and Smith both left Bulldogs on what must have been fairly cheap deals as neither was established at the NRL level.
All three of these upper-echelon centres play right centre for the respective clubs and Manu is going to have first dibs on that right edge spot. Harper and Smith are capable footy players who are in great systems, so they should be able to slide over to the left. Dive a bit deeper into this pool of centres and Marata Niukore is playing right centre for Parramatta Eels, while NZ Warriors have Rocco Berry on the right and Adam Pompey on the left.
Niukore's form at centre deserves a mention, although his best role for Aotearoa Kiwis would be a bench gig where he can do middle forward duties and cover edge forward/centre if required. The Mangere East Hawks junior has put up a compelling case for Aotearoa Kiwis squad selection and with the three upper-echelon lads, Niukore is the perfect bloke to have in a Rugby League World Cup squad.
Berry and Pompey are a bit further behind and forecast forward as talented centre prospects. That NZ Warriors have two hearty kiwi centres is pretty cool and both come from 1st 15 backgrounds via St Pat's Silverstream in Wellington for Berry and Wesley College for Pompey.
A couple Kiwi-NRL deep cuts are Matthew Timoko with Canberra Raiders, Christian Tuipulotu with Manly Sea Eagles, Simi Sasagi with Newcastle Knights and Viliami Vailea coming through NZ Warriors. Timoko and Tuipulotu made their NRL debuts last year and will play NRL footy again this year as opportunities open up, while Sasagi has been on the Knights exteneded bench a few times this year and Vailea is playing centre for Redcliffe Dolphins.
Peace and love.