Kiwi-NRL Spotlight: The Reuben Porter Slow Grind To NRL Footy With Tigers
Te Atatu junior Reuben Porter is the latest Kiwi-NRL debutant after making his NRL debut with Wests Tigers in round 14 but more importantly, Porter is the latest example of Aotearoa persistence and patience. The stars aligned for Porter to make his debut a week after Preston Riki debuted for Panthers at 26-years-old and Porter is a year older, which only gets funkier as Porter was born on March 26 in 1997 and Riki was born on March 24 in 1998.
Porter has now played two NRL games and his slow grind towards NRL footy was so sneaky that he wasn't really on the Kiwi-NRL Spotlight radar. There was nothing sneaky about how Porter was recruited by Roosters back in 2014 as he was graced with the fly in, fly out treatment to play SG Ball while he finished school at Mt Albert Grammar.
In 2014, Porter cracked the NZRL Under 18 Residents team before rising through the Roosters alongside Kiwi-NRL juniors Joseph Manu (Tokoroa), Poasa Fa'amausili (Glenora), Adam Pompey (Tuakau) and Sitili Tupouniua (Marist). Porter progressed through SG Ball and the Under 20s competition to make his NSW Cup debut in 2017, then he played 21 games of reserve grade in 2018.
Having settled with Roosters for a few years, Porter then shifted into the Raiders system where he played for Mounties in NSW Cup for 2019, 2020 and then a bit in 2021. Porter played 19 games in his first year for Mounties which gave him two consecutive NSW Cup seasons with a combined 40 games, before the pandemic hit pause on his journey with one game in 2020 and then five games in 2021.
Porter shifted to North Sydney Bears for one game in 2021 and then moved up to Queensland for 2022 where he played 19 games for Tweed Seagulls. Porter moved back to join Bears in 2023 for his best season of reserve grade, playing 26 games for a Bears team that finished first in NSW Cup and lost in the Grand Final.
Credit to the Tigers scouting/recruitment crew as they snapped up Porter on a train and trial deal last summer. Porter has played nine games of NSW Cup this year for Western Suburbs Magpies and despite them being last in NSW Cup, Porter has churned out a career-high 114m/game this season while his tackling, tackle breaking and offloading stats are all aligned with his immense mahi from 2023.
Then came a NRL debut in round 14 vs Dragons, which was a 14-56 loss. Tough spot for a debutant there but Porter flashed his mana and Tigers coach Benji Marshall showed faith in the Cook Islands international, giving Porter 70 minutes in a hearty win over Titans last weekend.
Porter started the game and was listed at prop, but most of his mahi came on the right edge. Porter had 9 runs - 73m @ 8.11m/run, 2 tackle breaks and 33 tackles @ 82.5%. Alex Seyfarth was the only Tigers player to make more tackle than Porter and while he's a dynamic runner with fabulous offloading potential, Porter's best attribute seems to be his hard mahi tackling efforts.
Porter started his NSW Cup career tackling at 83.5% with Wyong and in his next three NSW Cup teams (Mounties, Bears, Magpies), Porter has tackled with more than 91% efficiency. Porter is now named on the edge for this weekend's Tigers vs Raiders game and this will probably be his best NRL position as he's played 60 games across NRL, NSW Cup and Q Cup at edge forward along with 19 games starting in the middle and 30 games coming off the bench.
It's tricky to assess the Tigers Kiwi-NRL vibe as they are coached by an Aotearoa Kiwis legend and Tigers have allowed Kiwi-NRL juniors Isaiah Papali'i and Asu Kepaoa to join Panthers. Papali'i is unavailable for footy at the moment and Kepaoa made an immediate switch to Panthers, which opened up edge forward space for Porter. This leaves Starford To'a (Mt Wellington) and Solomon Alaimalo (Hornby) as the other Kiwi-NRL lads at Tigers, neither of whom are playing right now.
Tigers also have Sione Vaihu (Waitemata) playing NSW Cup while still Under 21 Jersey Flegg eligible and Te Umuariki Heremia-Tukere (Turangawaewae) is getting steady game time for Tigers in Flegg after leaving Dragons mid-way through last season. Right now, Porter is the only Kiwi-NRL lad playing for Tigers in NRL and his maturity should add value to Tigers as they build through the Benji era.
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