2022 NRLWahine Round Wha Preview
Roosters and Knights lead NRLWahine after three games with Kiwi Ferns halfback Raecene McGregor doubling down as the best play-maker in the world. Roosters sit first thanks to points difference and this continues their recent dominance as they chase back to back championships, while Knights have emerged as a surprise contender.
These two teams will play against each other on Sunday and Knights will be without Autumn-Rain Stephens-Daly who is out injured. Kiana Takairangi is named on the wing and Roosters have their trio of NRLWahine once again as McGregor is joined by Leianne Tufuga on the wing and Mya Hill-Moana at prop.
McGregor is first for try assists this season with eight, while the next best players have just three try assists. McGregor is also second for kick metres as she dictates Roosters footy and she is averaging 122 running metres per game, which is the most average run metres of all halves. All of that is coming as McGregor chases her fourth consecutive NRLWahine championship.
McGregor has shown development in this fabulous streak of winning as well. In her first three seasons McGregor averaged less than 100 kicking metres, before hitting 128 kicking metres last season and 229m this season. McGregor averaged less than 60 running metres in each of her first four seasons and while 56m last season was her best, McGregor has blown that away with 122m this season. McGregor has already grabbed the most try assists of her career this season and is on track to have her most forced drop-outs as well.
Forget the Aussie fluff, Raecene McGregor is the best half in the world and given her winning record there is also a cased to be made that she is the best player in the world.
Knights continue to impress without their Kiwi-NRL wahine and when Stephens-Daly is bagging tries that's all good. Against a rampant Roosters outfit with Kiwi Ferns mana, this game is all about Roosters as well as appreciating some wahine sporting excellence as two former Knights players are lining up in the Farah Palmer Cup final.
Katelyn Vaha'akolo and Charntay Poko played for Knights earlier this year, then they both popped up playing local league and union. Vaha'akolo is named on the wing for Auckland and they face Canterbury with Poko starting in the midfield.
Broncos have been a bit underwhelming this season which has resulted in Kiwi Ferns Amy Turner and Nita Maynard dropping out of the team. Broncos face Page McGregor's Dragons and at least veteran wahine Lavinia Gould has benefitted from Maynard's absence at hooker, plus Annetta Nu'uausala plays her first game for Broncos starting at prop.
Nu'uausala played for Knights last season and won their best player award, before joining Broncos for this campaign. Adding Nu'uausala into a forward pack with Amber Hall should help Broncos and this will be a crucial fixture as Broncos sit fourth (1-2) with Dragons a spot ahead of them (2-1).
Dragons have McGregor as their only Kiwi-NRL wahine although she remains one of the funkier players in the competition for kiwis to enjoy. McGregor has three tries in three games at centre and despite her size, McGregor averages 98m while tackling at 91 percent.
The first game of the round is Titans vs Eels and unfortunately the battle of Aotearoa fullbacks in Apii Nicholls and Gayle Broughton is also a battle of the losing teams. Neither Eels or Titans have had a win this season which is a bummer, especially for Titans who have Madison Bartlett, Kimiora Breayley-Nati and Georgia Hale named again this round.
Here's how Nicholls and Broughton compare...
Apii Nicholls: 9 tackle busts, 1 offload, 99m/game, 70.6% tackling.
Gayle Broughton: 1 try, 1 try assist, 14 tackle busts, 2 offloads, 115m/game, 52.9% tackling.
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