Kiwi-NRLWahine Grand Final Preview
Aotearoa wahine rugby league will be on display in the NRLWahine Grand Final on Sunday, with Dragons and Roosters featuring a variety of Kiwi-NRL wahine. Dragons were the only team to match Broncos during the season with Page McGregor and Madison Bartlett likely to combine on their left edge again. Roosters have three Kiwi-NRL wahine in their starting team with Leianne Tufuga on the wing, Raecene McGregor at halfback and Mya Hill-Moana at prop.
The mix of wahine playing in this GF tells the Kiwi-NRL story nicely. Raecene and Page McGregor are sisters who will line up opposite each other as Raecene plays on the right edge for Roosters, while Page is left centre for Dragons. Both were born in Australia and both have dabbled in representing Australia in other sports, but Raecene is now a Kiwi Ferns veteran while Page appears likely to follow her older sister into Aotearoa rugby league.
Kiwi-NRL eligibility is weird. The McGregor sisters provide one case, while Tiana Raftstrand-Smith and Destiny Brill were both named in the Queensland Maroons squad this week despite being born and raised in Aotearoa. No need to chase, Aotearoa deals with those who want to represent Aotearoa.
Raecene is a key player to watch for Roosters. Having played plenty of NRLW games, won a championship with Broncos and pstacked up a bunch of games for Aotearoa, Raecene is one of the classiest wahine halves in the world. Obviously Aussie media don't celebrate kiwis like that and Raecene instead slides under the radar. Take the funk further because Raecene didn't even have an NRLW gig when she laced up for Maori All Stars earlier this season.
Now Raecene has a try assist in three consecutive games, including the semi-final upset over Broncos which was also her best mahi of the campaign. Raecene had a linebreak, 3 tackle busts, 2 offloads and 96 running metres against Broncos - all of which are season highs. Raecene also had 1 missed tackle which is a season best.
It's Page who has more try assists though, one ahead of Raecene. Page is tied for 2nd with 4 try assists this season which flows into Kiwi Ferns winger Bartlett leading NRLWahine with 5 tries. Page had a quiet outing against Roosters prior to the semi-final and this may be due to Raecene's wisdom, alternatively Page could be fizzing to win this battle.
The battle is a battle of an edge. Both Kiwi-NRL wahine for Dragons play down their left edge, while winger Leianne Tufuga has impressed on the right wing outside McCregor for Roosters. This is Tufuga's first taste of NRLWahine footy having come up through Howick College/Botany Downs Secondary College to play rugby union with Marist and Auckland wahine. Tufuga is also coming off her best performance in the semi-final upset. Tufuga scored a try, also racking up her most Post Contact Metres and run metres of the season.
The McGregor sisters have come up through Australia's sporting systems, then opting for Aotearoa. Bartlett came up through Aotearoa grassroots wahine rugby league to be a Kiwi Ferns winger and one of the best NRLWahine wingers. Tufuga climbed through the rugby union ranks to command opportunities at higher levels. All of these wahine have waltzed different paths to get to this NRLWahine GF and young prop Mya Hill-Moana offers another wrinkle.
Hill-Moana quickly graduated from age-group league in Aotearoa to footy in Sydney. Now the Waikato junior is named to start in a GF and is playing her best footy after missing the first round, then two games settling into NRLWahine. Hill-Moana had less than 30 PCM and 60m in her first two games, as well as 3 missed tackles in each game.
Hill-Moana now has three consecutive games with 40+ PCM, 70+ metres and a total of 3 missed tackles. One of those games was the semi-final and she is now primed to lead the Roosters forwards through the middle.
This NRLWahine GF features players from a variety of Kiwi-NRL backgrounds and comes after a season in which every team had Aotearoa flavour, despite all the pandemic niggle. Roosters upset Broncos thanks to key performances from their Kiwi-NRL trio and the Dragons Kiwi-NRL duo is also the best outside back combo in the competition. All of which could be nicely packaged on an edge for this NRLWahine GF.
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