New Zealand Kiwis and Kiwi Ferns play against Australia in Christchurch on Sunday, with both teams coming off wins over the Aussies in their last outings. This game day is already sold out and for anyone who has been chillin' out in Aotearoa's estuaries, Christchurch leads the South Island's love for rugby league.

NZ Warriors hosted a game against Raiders in Christchurch earlier this year in front of 17,000 folks and almost 14,000 people showed up for a NZ Warriors vs Tigers pre-season trial. This comes after St Thomas of Canterbury claimed their second NZRL National Secondary Schools championship in a row, establishing them as the best rugby league school in Aotearoa.

There are NRLWahine from the South Island rising through rugby league ranks, however there is no player from the South Island in the Kiwi Ferns team named to line up against Australia. Jamayne Isaako is one of the best rugby league products from Christchurch as the Aranui junior was snapped up by Sharks as a youngster and he was one of first players of our Kiwi-NRL era to be recruited by an Australian NRL team straight out of Christchurch.

Jordan Riki was one of the most high profile recruits from Christchurch. The Hornby junior finished his schooling at STOC where he cracked all sorts of NZRL representative teams and won a bunch of awards, before moving to Broncos once he finished school. The domination of STOC in schoolboy footy is a fresh example of rugby league's growth in Aotearoa, but Riki was a key figure in sparking this wave as one of the most decorated players coming out of STOC over the past decade.

Riki is named on the bench and the versatility of Isaiah Papali'i could see him shift to the middle, opening an edge spot up for Riki. Scott Sorenson from the illustrious Sorenson whanau was battling injury late in the NRL season and didn't play any finals footy before his 70 minutes in the Panthers' Grand Final win, so Sorenson could make way for Riki at some point as well.

Griffin Neame came off the bench for NZ Kiwis last year and he is named as starting prop vs Australia. The Suburbs Rugby League junior from Greymouth has spent most of his NRL career coming off the bench but he was able to start seven games in a row at prop this year for Cowboys. Like Riki, Neame was a decorated NZRL junior who made representative teams from the West Coast and was recruited by Cowboys from his mahi with West Coast/South Island Scorpions.

Greymouth was once a rugby league powerhouse and Neame is showing that the West Coast region is trending in a positive direction. Phoenix Crossland didn't play junior footy in Aotearoa as he moved to Australia after being born in Wellington, however Crossland has a hearty connection to West Coast rugby league that bolsters the region's modern mana.

Kodi Nikorima has links back to Christchurch as well, apparently playing for four different clubs in Christchurch (Burnham, Hornby, Halswell, Linwood). This captures the status of rugby league in the South Island as two NZ Kiwis veterans in Isaako and Nikorima started their journeys in Christchurch, along with Riki and Neame who were recruited from their mahi around the Canterbury region in recent years.

Of the seven debutants named across NZ Kiwis and Kiwi Ferns, only two are from Auckland and Crossland is the only one who didn't play junior footy in Aotearoa. Keano Kini is a Northcote junior and Naufahu Whyte is a Bay Roskill junior. Will Warbrick is from Kawerau and played junior footy for Ngongotaha, with incredible whanau history that can never be overlooked so go do some research when you can about the Warbrick whanau.

Gayle Broughton is named in the halves for NZ Kiwi Ferns and Alexis Tauaneai is named on the bench to make their debuts. Broughton is a Hawera junior who just finished her third NRLW season and Tauaneai is a Wainuiomata junior from Wellington, with both showing how wahine rugby league is booming for Aotearoa.

There is a steady flow of rugby union wahine moving to NRLW and Broughton was one of the first wave of Black Ferns Sevens to switch to NRLW. Broughton started as a fullback for Eels in NRLW and she then switched to the halves while at Broncos, now forming an NZ Kiwi Ferns combo alongside former Black Ferns Sevens comrade Tyla King.

Tauaneai played rugby union and earned a call up to Wellington in the Farah Palmer Cup as a youngster, while also playing rugby league with Wainuiomata. This led to NRLW recruitment with Dragons and debuted as an 18-year-old, consistently churning out big minutes and leading Dragons in a bunch of stats as a 19-year-old this year.

NZ Kiwi Ferns don't have any South Island wahine but there is still a strong regional flavour that is only going to increase in the coming years. Tauaeani is the only player from Wellington, while Tiana Davison joins Broughton in representing Taranaki. Davison made her NZ Kiwi Ferns debut last year and she hails from Waitara as a Cliffton rugby union junior.

Ash Quinlan is from the Taupo area and Angelina Teakaraanga-Katoa is from Auckland before they moved to Australia as NZ Kiwi Ferns continue to be well served by wahine who grew up in Australia. Shanice Parker, Brianna Clark, Brooke Anderson and Najvada George are other Aussie based players named for this game. George has hearty NZ Kiwi Ferns mana as her aunty Selena Edmonds was one of the first wahine to represent Aotearoa.

NZ Kiwi Ferns who grew up in Auckland named vs Australia

• Apii Nicholls: Manurewa/Papakura/Auckland

• Leianne Tufuga: Otara/Auckland

• Mele Hufanga: Mangere/Auckland

• Abigail Roache: Howick/Richmond/Auckland

• Tyla King: New Lynn/Auckland

• Amber Hall: Richmond/Auckland

• Annessa Biddle: Otara/Auckland

• Georgia Hale: Richmond/Auckland

• Otesa Pule: Otara/Brisbane (18th wahine)

Along with lads explored above, here are the grassroots links in the NZ Kiwis team vs Australia...

• Matthew Timoko: Otahuhu/Ellerslie/Auckland

• Peta Hiku: Manurewa/Auckland

• Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad: City Newton/Auckland

• Shaun Johnson: Hibiscus Coast/Auckland

• James Fisher-Harris: Whangarei Marist/Kohukohu/Northland

• Isaiah Papali'i: Te Atatu/Auckland

• Joseph Tapine: Harbour City/Wellington

• Marata Niukore: Mangere East/Auckland

Here are some NRL/NRLW stats that you may find useful...

Kicking Metres per Game in 2024

• Shaun Johnson: 476.47km

• Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad: 4.68km

• Phoenix Crossland: 40.62km

• Kodi Nikorima: 52.52km

• Tyla King: 30.5km

• Gayle Broughton: 49.49km

2024 NRLW Most Tackle Breaks

• Mele Hufanga: 62 (2nd)

• Amber Hall: 50 (6th)

• Annessa Biddle: 49 (7th)

2024 NRLW Most Offloads

• Amber Hall: 23 (1st)

• Alexis Tauaneai: 19 (3rd)

• Najvada George: 16 (5th)

2024 NRLW Most Tackles

• Georgia Hale: 408 (1st) @ 96.9%

• Brooke Anderson: 339 (3rd) @ 91.1%

2024 NRLW Most Post Contact Metres

• Annessa Biddle: 850 (1st)

• Alexis Tauaneai: 705 (4th)

Alexis Tauaneai First Two NRLW Seasons (18/19yrs)

• 2023: 7 games, 148m/game, 11 offloads, 213 tackles @ 95.95%

• 2024: 9 games, 169m/game, 3 tries, 19 offloads, 300 tackles @ 92.59%

Annessa Biddle First Two NRLW Seasons (at centre)

• 2023: 8 games, 170m/game, 2 tries, 2 try assists, 7 linebreaks, 93.9% tackling

• 2024: 11 games, 164/game, 4 tries, 2 try assists, 4 linebreaks, 93.49% tackling

Keano Kini First Two NRL Seasons

• 2023: 6 games, 104m/game 1 linebreak, 65.22% tackling

• 2024: 16 games, 212m/game, 6 tries, 7 try assists, 10 linebreaks, 68.18% tackling

Griffin Neame Last Two NRL Seasons

• 2023: 17 games, 112m/game, 1 offload, 88.09% tackling

• 2024: 26 games, 109m/game, 5 offloads, 91.61% tackling

Joseph Tapine Last Three NRL Seasons

• 2022: 25 games, 165m/game, 77 tackle breaks, 47 offloads, 95.18% tackling

• 2023: 24 games, 155m/game, 59 tackle breaks, 30 offloads, 93.79% tackling

• 2024: 24 games, 166m/game, 52 tackle breaks, 28 offloads, 94.38% tackling

Matthew Timoko Metres per Game

• 2022: 109m

• 2023: 158m

• 2024: 159m

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