Kiwi-NRL Spotlight: Josh Aloiai Finds The Nek Level
Manly Sea Eagles are 3-2 to start this season and while Aussies tripped over the absence of Tom Trbojevic, the return of Josh Aloiai (Glenora) has been a crucial Kiwi-NRL wrinkle. The Niche Cache has covered a funky Kiwi-NRL crew in depth with this yarn last year, while Friday's email dispatch touched on some current Sea Eagles Kiwi-NRL vibes. Here's what Aloiai has done in his first two games of the season, both of which were wins...
vs Raiders: 45mins, 19 runs - 195m @ 10.26m/run, 2 tb, 14 tackles @ 87.5%.
vs Knights: 43mins, 19 runs - 152m @ 8m/run, 2 tb, 18 tackles @ 90%.
In both games Aloiai had the most run metres of all Sea Eagles forwards. Aloiai is averaging 174m/game this season and that's an impressive leap up from his 124m/game average last season. Meanwhile Martin Taupau is averaging 110m/game and this is the first season in which Taupau is averaging less than 120m/game since 2015 - when Taupau was with Tigers.
Aloiai used to be with Tigers, hold that thought. For Kiwi-NRL context around Aloiai's mahi this season, we can take a geeze at James Fisher-Harris and Isaiah Papali'i. Fisher-Harris had a career-high 179m/game in 2020 and has slid down a bit as Panthers tinker with their footy, while Papali'i won awards via 150m/game last season and he is now averaging 170m/game this season. That's the realm Aloiai currently chills in.
Aotearoa Kiwis selection looms for Aloiai as his Kiwi-NRL mahi is on par with the best Aotearoa forwards. Aloiai would be a fantastic squad selection, pushing for bench minutes in a possible Aotearoa forward pack; Jesse Bromwich, Jared Waerea-Hargreaves, James Fisher-Harris, Nelson Asofa-Solomona, Joseph Tapine, Kevin Proctor, Kenny Bromwich, Isaiah Papali'i, Braden Hamlin-Uele, Isaac Liu, Briton Nikora, Corey Harawira-Naera.
Aloiai deserves to be in that mix and this may be the best collection of Aotearoa Kiwis forwards ever. The first layer of curiosity is how all of those lads listed above have represented Aotearoa before, tasting international calibre footy. Aloiai is in a similar zone to Marata Niukore, Dylan Brown and the endless list of Kiwi-NRL centres who have Aotearoa potential but don't have Kiwis experience.
That flows into how Aotearoa Kiwis coach Michael Maguire views Aloiai, considering Aloiai forced his way out of Tigers in tricky fashion with Maguire as Tigers coach. Aloiai may opt to add to his tally of games for Samoa because of some differences with Maguire, although Maguire will be eager to build his best possible Kiwis World Cup squad and that should include Aloiai.
Aloiai has shown lovely value in two games this season, which is in alignment with how his career has developed at Sea Eagles. How Aloiai performs for Sea Eagles will be fun to track as he adds more oomph around Jake Trbojevic's top-tier hard mahi and Taupau's declining explosiveness. Aloiai adds mobility and power to the Sea Eagles forward pack, not only providing what other forwards don't do but laying a better platform for Sea Eagles play-making.
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