Kiwi-NRL Spotlight: Fullback Check In With Hayze Perham
Patience is a virtue and Hayze Perham's Kiwi-NRL journey serves as a guide for footy youngsters, as well as anyone else waiting for their abundance to come around. Perham was in the Kiwi-NRL Spotlight last year as he plugged a hole on the wing for Eels and while this was a tricky role for the Pikiao junior, he received the Eels Kiwi-NRL development boost before moving to Bulldogs.
Hearty Kiwi-NRL folk know all about Perham's talent, so when new coach Cameron Ciraldo named Perham as the Bulldogs fullback it came as a lovely surprise. Prior to joining Bulldogs, Perham wasn't graced with a consistent role that made the most of his ability. He played nearly all backline positions coming through the Warriors system and then snapped up opportunities with Eels where ever he could get them.
Perham's brief stint in the Panthers junior system as a teenager was nothing more than a funky note prior to his move to Bulldogs. Now this is the foundation of a fabulous yarn as Ciraldo knew of Perham from their time at Panthers and Phil Gould also had his mits all over the Panthers system, now he's involved in the Bulldogs system.
The Bulldogs tentacles already felt like divine intervention from Papatuanuku and Ranginui, then Perham was named to start at fullback for Aotearoa Maori ... in Rotorua. During the haka James Fisher-Harris, Jordan Rapana, Joseph Tapine and Corey Harawira-Naera emerged as leaders, Leo Thompson commanded the middle. Rotorua's Tukimihia Simpkins and Jordan Riki laid out their mana. At the front was Perham on his home turf.
While Bulldogs lost their first game to Sea Eagles, Perham showed his running ability and handled the extra running required at fullback. Perham made a couple tackles, had 4 kicks defused along with 16 runs - 165m @ 10.31m/run.
Bulldogs bounced back last weekend with a win against Storm and Perham again offered nifty running, support play and steady mahi in defensive fullback duties. Perham had 16 runs - 192m @ 12m/run which was boosted by this linebreak...
That is a nice example of Perham's running style as he bounces sideways and bursts away with speed. Perham also had 7 tackle busts against Storm, an offload and while he missed a few tackles, Perham again offered safety at fullback with 3 kicks defused.
As Perham settles into his combinations with Matt Burton and Kyle Flanagan, he could flex with his passing and distribution. Perham played league and union at Rotorua Boys High School, with his union mahi offering a slick passing skillset in both directions. Perham's spent time at fullback in league as well with experience in counting numbers, finding space and executing the right play.
After two games, Perham has 160+ metres in both games and averages 178m per game. Perham doesn't have any dummy half runs to start the season and his linebreak came from a Reed Mahoney pass, which could be something funky to track. Perhaps coach Ciraldo is putting Perham in favoured positions where he can scout the defensive line and pounce on space.
Bulldogs are fourth for offloads as well, one of four teams with 20+ offloads so far. If Bulldogs maintain their offloading, Perham is the perfect bloke to have loitering around the ruck with his herky-jerky running and passing ability. Coach Ciraldo has shown tremendous faith and trust in Perham to start the season, with plenty of scope for development in this role.
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Peace and love.