All four teams in the NRL/NRLW Grand Finals have at least two players from or representing Aotearoa and that delivers lots of enticing wrinkles relating to New Zealand rugby league. This follows on from last weekend when there were at least two players from/representing Aotearoa in all eight teams who played NRL/NRLW finals, as well as the four teams who played NSW Cup and Jersey Flegg Grand Finals.

Melbourne Storm take on Penrith Panthers in the NRL GF which is a battle between the two best organisations of the past decade and for Storm, they are the best NRL organisation of the last two decades with strong links to Aotearoa throughout. The current wave of the Kiwi-NRL Storm looks exactly like the previous swells. Unfortunately, Nelson Asofa-Solomona won't be playing but he played 19 games this season and for the past few seasons Asofa-Solomona has been joined by Wellington homie Jahrome Hughes as top-tier Storm lads from Aotearoa. Asofa-Solomona is now part of the Storm foundations...

Since 2016, Asofa-Solomona has played 15+ games in nine consecutive seasons. At least two tries, 40+ tackle breaks and 15+ offloads in eight consecutive seasons. Over 60 percent winning in nine of his 10 NRL seasons, over 50 percent in all 10.

Hughes spent the first half of his career competing for fullback game time and now he's a Dally M winner at halfback, hopefully giving Aotearoa an elite halfback for a few more years. Hughes is averaging 115m/game which is lower than his early mahi at fullback, but it's the highest since 2018 and his 351.48 kicking metres per game is the highest of his career as well as his first year over 300 kicking metres per game.

26 try assists is a career-high for Hughes as well and that includes just one in two finals games this year. Hughes does have three tries, three linebreaks, 13 tackle breaks and 814 kicking metres (434/380) in wins over Sharks then Roosters though.

Will Warbrick continues to shine...

2023: 25 games, 17 tries, 1 try assist, 20 linebreaks, 131m/game, 76.07% tackling
2024: 23 games, 15 tries, 3 try assists, 16 linebreaks, 162m/game, 79.7% tackling

Alec MacDonald is a sneaky contender for NZ Kiwis selection, unlike Warbrick who is almost certain to debut this year. Born in Auckland before moving to Queensland, MacDonald is all about the grizzly middle forward mahi that Storm love and his speed is valuable around the ruck area amongst bigger bodies.

In two finals games this season, MacDonald has made 33 tackles @ 100% and had 14 runs - 143m @ 10.2m/run. That's ideal stuff for a bench forward and he's had a glorious ascension over the past three seasons...

2022: 12 games, 50% winnings, 33.5mins/game
2023: 12 games, 67% winning, 33.8mins/game
2024: 21 games, 76% winning, 35.6mins/game

Jack Howarth is named at centre and along with Joe Chan who is on the Storm's extended bench, they played for NZ-A last year. Both offer value to NZ Kiwis with Howarth being a fabulous centre option, however we are operating from a 'believe it when we see it' perspective because Howarth is a fairly hearty Queenslander.

Also in this bracket is Casey McLean for Panthers who has links to Aotearoa but until we see it, we'll chill on in. Scott Sorensen has represented NZ Kiwis and he's settled on the extended bench for the finals campaign, but he could still feature in the upcoming NZ Kiwis squad.

That leaves James Fisher-Harris and Moses Leota, who are chasing their fourth GF win as the starting prop combo. The proof is in the pudding when it comes to any discussion about the best prop combo in the world and yet, they have both had notable drops in their running mahi this year.

Fisher-Harris had his first year over 130m/game in 2019 and he followed it up with four more years over 130m/game, before dipping to 127m/game this year. Leota had his first year over 100m/game in 2020 and stayed there for three more seasons, now averaging 93m/game.

That doesn't mean they have been less impactful though. Panthers won their finals games by a combined tally of 56-16 with the two props hitting their averages; Fisher Harris had 121/123m, Leota had 115/86m. Without the footy, Fisher-Harris and Leota combined for 87 tackles with three missed tackles in this finals campaign.

The NRLW GF is between Sydney Roosters and Cronulla Sharks. Every NRLWahine named in the GF squads has played for NZ Kiwi Ferns. The Roosters crew is all forwards with Otesa Pule and Tiana Davison in the middle, Amber Hall at edge forward and Mya Hill-Moana on the extended bench. Davison and Hall have freakish winning threads...

Davison didn't play in the 2022 NRLW GF but she was part of the Newcastle Knights squad who won won the Premiership that year. Then she won played in the 2023 GF as Knights went back to back, before Waitara's Davison moved to Roosters where a move to the starting lock role saw Roosters win five consecutive game, including last week's finals win over Knights.

In three NRLW seasons, Davison is 12-3 and she has one loss in each of her three NRLW seasons. Kiwi Ferns veteran Hall, is 9-1 in two seasons with Roosters. While she didn't do much in the win vs Knights, Hall had two tries, three linebreaks, 22 tackle breaks and 12 offloads in the three games before finals footy.

Pule has also settled into a starting prop role, which coincides with Davison moving to the starting lock role and the five game winning streak. Pule has just two missed tackles in these five games and 18 tackle breaks, playing 10 games for the second season in a row.

Sharks have Annessa Biddle and Brooke Anderson in their team. Anderson will line up against the NRLWahine forwards for Roosters as a smaller lock forward who also covers dummy half. NZ Kiwi Ferns need Anderson more as a hooker than a middle forward and she did spend a few minutes there vs Broncos but her speed, distribution and work ethic are on show in both roles.

Otara's Biddle also has positional intrigue as she is a dominant NRLW centre but the NZ Kiwi Ferns win over Australia featured Biddle at edge forward. As the leading player for post contact metres and a ruthless defender who smashed plenty of Broncos, here are Biddle's two NRLW seasons fresh out of local footy in Aotearoa...

2023: 8 games, 2 tries, 2 try assists, 7 linebreaks, 170m/game, 93.9% tackling
2024: 10 games, 4 tries, 2 try assists, 4 linebreaks, 166m/game, 93.51% tackling

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