Brisbane Broncos were upset by Tigers this weekend and while that ruined the vibe a wee bit, Marist Saints junior Deine Mariner looked far too comfortable in his Kiwi-NRL debut. Enlighted folks will know the Mariner yarn as The Niche Cache has been tracking his progress since leaving Aotearoa to join the Broncos system. Given his ascension from footy in Auckland with Marist/Akarana to dominating with Tweed Heads/Palm Beach Currumbin High School and then stepping up to play against blokes with Wynnum earlier this year, no one should be surprised with Mariner's mahi.

The major nugget from Mariner's debut was how quickly he settled into NRL footy. Mariner didn't do anything spectacular and this was a niggly encounter for Broncos, so that might take some of the polish off Mariner's performance. Don't overlook how Mariner was able to get through the same mahi from Wynnum in Queensland Cup at the NRL level though and if that's a baseline marker of what he can do at this level, there will likely be some funky highlights on the way.

Mariner had 13 runs for 133m @ 10.23m/run with 3 tackle busts and 11 tackles @ 84.62 percent efficiency. Averaging 10m/run in a debut is impressive and Mariner looked at ease with NRL physicality, running aggressively into the Tigers defence. Mariner had 51 post contact metres and while that's more than Kotoni Staggs (32pcm from 10 runs), Mariner had more runs than Staggs. Better comparisons are found in Broncos middle forwards Thomas Flegler and Patrick Carrigan...

Mariner: 51pcm from 13 runs @ 3.92pcm/run.

Flegler: 52pcm from 14 runs @ 3.71pcm/run.

Carrigan: 53pcm from 13 runs @ 4.07pcm/run.

They play different roles and run into different defenders, so this comparison is merely to highlight how settled Mariner appeared in his debut. Mariner will have better attacking opportunities to showcase his speed and footwork, yet his debut saw him display NRL-level physicality. This is amplified by Mariner churning out similar stats in his NRL debut to what he's done with Wynnum...

Wynnum (7 games)

4.85 tackle busts/game | 12.14 touches/game | 86.3% tackling | 143m/game.

Broncos Debut

3 tackle busts | 14 touches | 84.62% tackling | 133m.

Mariner has similar upside to Selwyn Cobbo and with more NRL footy, Mariner will tap into that potential. Mariner will need to sustain this baseline of mahi to command more footy for Broncos with fundamentals like effort, communication and general 'do your job' antics leading to more NRL footy. Broncos are chasing finals footy and I'm curious about what role Mariner can play as they enter the climax of the season.

This was also a lovely moment for Marist Saints as Mariner was joined by fellow Marist junior Delouise Hoeter in the Broncos backline. Mariner also lined up against fellow Aucklanders Starford To'a (Mt Wellington) and Asu Kepaoa (Sacred Heart College), meaning that three of the four centres in this game are from Auckland.

This game also featured two Hornby juniors from Christchurch with Jordan Riki and Fa'amanu Brown starting this game. Chuck in Ken Maumalo (Papatoetoe), Kelma Tuilagi (Glenora), Zane Musgrove (Mangere East) and Austin Dias (Taniwharau) for 10 of 34 players in this game who played junior footy in Aotearoa.

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Peace and love.