Kiwi-NRL Spotlight: Tohu Harris Celebration
One of the pleasures in tracking NZ Warriors this season has been hearty troopers enjoying wins and playing their best footy. Tamatea's Tohu Harris is the epitome of this vibe as his impeccable mahi in the middle of the Warriors forward pack has been combined with winning and Harris now enters NRL Finals as one of the most influential players in the competition.
Harris has played 20 games for just the second season of his time with NZ Warriors. This is notable because Harris played 25+ games in each of his first four seasons as he emerged with Melbourne Storm. This dipped down to 14 games in 2017 when Harris started at edge forward in the Storm's Grand Final victory over Cowboys.
During his time with Storm, Harris played nearly every position and this included Tests for Aotearoa Kiwis in the halves. Being recruited by Storm and then swiftly rising through their system is a fabulous indicator of talent, which is reinforced by this natural baller delivering Storm-calibre performances in whatever position he was asked to play.
Regardless of what position he was playing for Storm, Harris averaged 100+ metres in all five of his seasons in Melbourne. That's significant as Harris entered the NRL averaging 100+ metres and he managed to maintain that consistency in different roles. Harris had at least five linebreaks in three seasons with the Storm and he never missed more than 50 tackles during five seasons with Storm.
This is the first season in which Harris has missed 50+ tackles. Reed Mahoney leads the NRL for missed tackles with 131 this season and in his 11th season, Harris has hit 50+ missed tackles for the first time. This isn't a blowout either as Harris has missed 51 tackles and it's hard to complain about this tackling marker when Harris is having his best season with Warriors.
Throughout his six seasons with Warriors, Harris has sustained a high level of footy. 2018 was his first season for Warriors and his best campaign for winning prior to this year, then the pandemic hit and Harris has spoken clearly about the impact of being based in Australia. Somehow Harris churned out 173m/game and 845 tackles in 2020, both of which are career-highs.
Warriors weren't winning though and while Harris tried valiantly along with his comrades, 2021 and 2022 seasons were incredibly niggly. Australian teams didn't battle the same adversity as Warriors and by the time crowds were allowed to attend NRL games, every Aussie team had a home advantage that Warriors could only envy. Harris toiled along though and maintained his 100m per game average, playing 15 games in both campaigns.
Being back in Aotearoa has seen Harris flourish. In a winning team, Harris is averaging 136m/game and this is second only to his 2020 season while also chiming in with four linebreaks which is the most of his Warriors career. Harris is second to Addin Fonua-Blake for average post contact metres and run metres per game in the Warriors forward pack, also leading Warriors for the average tackles per game on 38.5.
Under coach Andrew Webster, Harris' passing is the funkiest aspect of his footy this season. This is notable given that Harris always pokes through the defensive line with late footwork or simple oomph and smothers runners in defence. Harris is a fantastic middle forward based purely from his running and tackling, yet Harris has a passing quiver that as good as any of the trendy Aussies.
Harris can disguise his short ball by faking out the back and he disguised his pass out the back by faking the short ball. As a middle forward, Harris passes right and left with ease while covering enough distance with his passes to put his homies in space. The Harris package is evident in him grabbing four try assists prior to round 20 and this flipped to three tries in the six rounds since.
Defenders don't know where Harris will pass and if they lean too far in one direction, Harris can flex his running game. All of which comes with Harris doing most of the tackling for Warriors as well as playing 80 minutes most games. These are the rewards one enjoys after years of gritty mahi as Harris led his team through the pandemic and the humble Hawke's Bay hero is now back in finals footy.
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Peace and love.