Kiwi-NRL Spotlight: Wiremu Greig Blossoms For Eels
After watching the likes of Dylan Brown and Isaiah Papali'i enjoy different development boosts with Parramatta Eels, Northland's Wiremu Greig can now be added to this group. The rise of Greig within the Eels system offers intrigue as to how others like Jirah Momoisea can progress as Greig was thrown in the Eels hangi, slowly cooking until the right opportunity appeared.
Fortunately for Otangarei junior Greig, he has a hearty connection with Brown. This slides back to at least 2012 when they played in the Whangarei Intermediate Nines team alongside Paul Turner, which won the AIMS Games. Greig featured in the Northern Swords Under 17 team back in 2015 while Brown and Turner combined in the U15 team that year. As Brown left Northland to enter the Eels system, Greig continued to impress with Northern Swords and in the Whangarei Boys High School 1st 15.
Then Greig was snapped up by North Queensland Cowboys where he progressed through their system, from Under 18 Mal Meninga Cup through to Queensland Cup. Greig played in the same Townsville Under 20s Hastings Deering Colts team as Griffin Neame, as well as Daejarn Asi who is now with Eels and Gisborne's Keanu Wainohu-Kemp who is now with Knights.
Despite the way Brown thrived as soon as he entered the Eels system (won lots, debuted at 18-years-old), Eels predominantly snap up Kiwi-NRL talent from other teams. Greig left Cowboys to join Eels and Asi joined Eels from Warriors, as did Papali'i. Momoisea left Knights for Eels and Ofahiki Ogden left Bulldogs to join Eels. A fresh wrinkle this year is Te Hurinui Twidle who won the Mal Meninga Cup competition with Souths Logan last year and started at fullback for Eels in their SG Ball victory over the weekend.
Assessing talent at Eels can be tricky even though there is a blatant development boost on offer. Greig played two games in 2021, grabbing 13 and 16 minutes off the bench before he snared one game last season with 16mins off the bench. This season started with Greig getting limited minutes off the bench again, playing 16mins or less in three of the first four games. Greig wasn't used in round two despite being named on the bench.
Greig was then named to start in consecutive games, playing 33mins vs Roosters and 19mins vs Tigers. For the next game against Bulldogs, Greig dipped back to the bench and got 18mins before an unfortunate injury to Reagan Campbell-Gillard in the loss to Broncos opened the the door for Greig. This sparked some of Greig's best footy...
vs Broncos: 31mins, 10 runs - 105m @ 10.5m/run, 2 tb, 14 tackles @ 82%
vs Knights: 44mins, 13 runs - 134m @ 10.3m/run, 1 tb, 34 tackles @ 92%
Against Knights, Greig played the most minutes of his career with the most tackles and run-metres. This encounter also delivered a funky Kiwi-NRL match up as Hawke's Bay junior Leo Thompson was starting prop for Knights and in 48mins, Thompson had 10 runs - 74m @ 7.4m/run with 25 tackles @ 86%.
Thompson has settled into a starting role with Knights and like his team, he struggled to serve up his best mahi against Eels. Greig on the other hand was more effective than Junior Paulo (13 runs - 91m @ 7m/run, 20 tackles @ 83%) as he flashed his talent. The promotion of Greig also opens up more bench spots for the likes of New Plymouth's Makahesi Makatoa and Mangere East junior Ogden, both of whom ran rampant against Knights.
Greig now has an opportunity to build his workload up, becoming more comfortable with consistent 30+ minute performances. This will serve him and Eels well as they hunt finals footy, absorbing the loss of Campbell-Gillard without much fuss. There is no shortage of young monsters on offer to Aotearoa Kiwis coach Michael Maguire as well and steady mahi from Greig in a winning Eels outfit will put him in the wider squad mixer as well.
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