Tangaroa College caught a trendy wave with a 1st 15 doco series recently but the Otara high school has been brewing as a force in Auckland footy for a long time and Connelly Lemuelu is a shining example. Back in 2014 this yarn was published detailing the rise of Tangaroa College's 1st 15 team and coach Martin Ash made special mention of "a talented young first-five Connelly Leaoa-Lemuelu".

Lemuelu would soon depart for Keebra Park High School in Australia as one of many TC students who have been scouted for different opportunities. The Papatoetoe rugby junior had already made an impact in Auckland's 1st 15 scene and like many youngsters from Aotearoa, Lemuelu's talent was parlayed into success in Queensland.

Keebra Park has a long history of recruiting youngsters from Aotearoa and brewing NRL talent. The 2016 KBHS team was rather bonkers considering that Payne Haas and David Fifita were in the forward pack, along with Thomas Mikaele who was just as big and mobile as Haas and Fifita. Tanah Boyd was the halfback and this nugget highlights two other TC lads Oscar Tui and Kelepi Vui who also shifted to KBHS.

As the KBHS fullback, Lemuelu kicked the winning field goal in their Queensland final against Coombabah High School. This put KBHS in the national final against Sydney's Westfield Sports High School and while KBHS lost that final, Lemuelu features heavily in these highlights. Lemuelu's highlights are just as impressive as Haas and Fifita's...

The KBHS link saw Lemuelu move to Tigers and he settled into the fringe-NRL grind, hunting opportunities. Lemuelu would leave Tigers for Bulldogs, then he shifted north to Cowboys were he stayed for three years during the pandemic era. Shifting between different teams, after shifting countries is a bit niggly but Lemuelu's talent has been on show at every juncture to ensure that someone else would be ready to pounce.

During this period, Lemuelu mainly played centre but also dabbled in halves mahi. This led to more edge forward game time at Cowboys and when Wayne Bennett was ready to pounce, Lemuelu took up an opportunitiy at Dolphins. Lemuelu came off the bench in the first two games and has since started five games in a row, all of which have seen him play edge forward (named at prop for round three, but played edge).

After winning their first three games, Dolphins have lost three of their last four and Dolphins have lost three of the five games which Lemuelu has started. That's obviously not because of Lemuelu's presence as Dolphins have been without a bunch of their best players, specifically a consistent halves combo.

Lemuelu is at his best as a hole-runner and he has ample skill for an edge forward. This is similar to Jamayne Isaako as the Christchurch product was a play-maker in 1st 15 rugby before playing in the halves and fullback during his rise through the Aussie ranks. Lemuelu was a first-five at TC, then he was a fullback at KBHS and his journey through multiple backline positions with different teams has result in an edge forward groove.

Last year Lemuelu played four games and he has already stacked up seven games this season. With one linebreak in each of his first three seasons of NRL at Cowboys, Lemuelu already has three linebreaks this year. Lemuelu has leaped up from 67m/game last year to 81m/game this season while hovering around 10m/run with tackle busts and offloads in most games.

Dolphins are one of the worst tackling teams in the NRL (2nd mid-way during round seven but likely to stay top-five) and this is evident in Lemuelu's stats. During this run of three losses in four games, Lemuelu has missed at least three tackles in every game. He's not the worst Dolphins tackler though and more reps in this role, ideally building defensive chemistry will lead to improvement.

Inspiration is easy to find in the Lemuelu journey. Folks can crack their dreams from any high school. Aotearoa sporting excellence is on display as low key jokers like Lemuelu can impact winning at the best rugby league factories in Australia. Lemuelu also had to stay positive while shifting between NRL teams as he waits for the right opportunity, which appears to be right here and now with Dolphins.

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