Josiah Karapani made his NRL debut for Brisbane Broncos in their Magic Round win over Manly Sea Eagles and showcased his quality at left centre, while also serving as the latest Kiwi-NRL youngster of note to shine at Broncos. Karapani was placed in a tricky situation as he had been playing on the wing for Burleigh Bears in Queensland Cup and was thrown into a fresh left edge for Broncos alongside winger Corey Oates.

Karapani finished with 17 run - 174m @ 10.23m/run, five tackle breaks and 22 tackles @ 75.8% efficiency. Not only was the Broncos left edge trying to build a defensive combination alongside Ezra Mam, they also had to contend with the Sea Eagles right edge where Haumole Olakau'atu runs rampant.

Josiah Karapani (East Tamaki RU) try for Rabbitohs NSW Cup #KiwiNRL pic.twitter.com/Aty7ou1Fdc
— The Niche Cache (@thenichecache) June 12, 2023

This frames Karapani's defensive stats as he registered four missed tackles, while Mam and Piakura both had five missed tackles. Add 'ineffective tackles' into the mixer and the Broncos left edge all tackled below 80%. Despite this tricky combination and match up against Sea Eagles, Karapani made a crucial tackle on Olakau'atu and played his role well in a game where Broncos only conceded 12 points.

Adapting to the situation of this game was a hearty effort from Karapani as his running ability has made him a standout Kiwi-NRL prospect ever since he emerged out of Pakuranga College a few years ago. Karapani is from Otara and has history with East Tamaki Rugby Union, before switching to league with Otahuhu Leopards and Pakuranga College.

Karapani helped spark up a decent rugby league team at Pakuranga College and this was followed by cracking the Counties Manukau Under 17s team, leading to NZRL representative camps. 2020 was a crazy year for everyone and Karapani started that year in the NZ Warriors SG Ball alongside Ali Leiataua (NZW), Daeon Amituanai (Panthers), Zyon Maiu'u (NZW), Vaka Sikahela (Titans), Viliami Vailea (Cowboys). Karapani then had an impressive performance in the halves for the NZRL Under 18 Clubs team in a pandemic fixture against NZRL Under 18 Schools.

NZW lost all their teams except for the NRL outfit in 2020 and the roster spots for juniors vanished, so Karapani took up an opportunity with Rabbitohs. Karapani settled as one of the best up and comers in the Rabbitohs system, moving from SG Ball and Jersey Flegg in 2021 to make waves in NSW Cup. This is where things get a bit crazy.

Rabbitohs obviously loved Karapani as they shared his journey, then dropped a highlights package before offering another video about the bond between Rabbitohs and Karapani. A few months after the second special interview, Karapani stopped appearing for Rabbitohs in NSW Cup. We never really know what is happening behind the scenes and Karapani was the leading Kiwi-NRL junior in the Rabbitohs system, so it was assumed that Karapani was injured or something.

Suddenly Karapani appeared in summer activities with Broncos. However this came about for Karapani, it was clearly a fantastic move to make as Rabbitohs have since imploded and the young lad from Otara has now made his debut for one of the best organisations in the NRL.

Broncos deserve to be celebrated here as they recruited Jordan Riki (Hornby), Xavier Willison (Waicoa-Bay) and Deine Mariner (Marist) from Aotearoa. Riki was a high profile recruit who was in every NZRL representative squad possible, but Mariner and Willison were less obvious recruits who Broncos spotted, signed and shifted to Palm Beach Currumbin High School where they blossomed into the best Kiwi-NRL youngsters in Australia.

Karapani was a nifty pick up from Rabbitohs and shares a similar dynamic, balanced running style as Mariner. With this in mind, folks should be tapped in with other Kiwi-NRL juniors in the Broncos system such as Kylem Vunipola from Palmerston North and Marley Igasan from Tauranga. If Broncos have signed a Kiwi-NRL junior, pay attention because they usually have something special about them.

Prior to his NRL debut, Karapani played eight games of Queensland Cup and is listed as a winger for all eight of them with six tries, six linebreaks, 153m/game and 84.6% tackling. The stars aligned for Karapani to make his debut with Broncos suffering lots of injuries, but Otara's latest NRL player has been in the mix all season and his ability to cover wing/centre could see him grab more opportunities.

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