Kiwi-NRL Spotlight: The Selumiela 'Leka' Halasima Debut
Selumiela 'Leka' Halasima is the latest youngster to debut for New Zealand Warriors as the Mangere East junior flashed his talent in a hectic stint coming off the bench in a loss to Bulldogs. Despite being a late call up to the NZW team, Halasima started his NRL mahi with a powerful run through the middle before Marcelo Montoya left the field due to injury and Halasima shifted to right centre as NZW battled to keep a team on the field.
That's a pretty crazy job to do on NRL debut and yet Halasima was genuinely covering middle, edge and centre as a 17/18-year-old in NSW Cup over the past year and a half. Halasima spent most of his NSW Cup mahi starting at edge forward but he would often shift positions mid-game and that set the recent Southern Cross Campus graduate up nicely for what he would need to do in his debut.
This versatility and mobility would have been a factor in Halasima creeping on to the NZW bench ahead of Demitric Sifakula and Jacob Laban, both of whom made NRL debuts before Halasima. Sifakula, Laban and Bunty Afoa all played NSW Cup while Halasima was promoted to the NRL team and Halasima's speed aligned nicely with the the smaller Bulldogs forward pack.
Halasima played 36 minutes and while his 7 runs - 107m @ 15.2m/run was boosted by his linebreak on the right edge when he was playing centre, Halasima casually started his NRL career with a 13-15m run in the middle as well as his dynamic mahi at centre. A week prior to this debut, Halasima churned out a typically bonkers stat line in a NSW Cup win vs Raiders: 73mins, 15 runs - 155m @ 10.3m/run, 2 offloads, 22 tackles @ 100%
Strangely, Halasima didn't register a tackle break in that game. No worries though as he had 13 in the game prior vs Dragons and is averaging 4.8 tackle breaks per game in NSW Cup this season. Halasima has also played 80mins in four of his seven NSW Cup games this year, which is five games of 70+ minutes in NSW Cup as an 18-year-old this season.
Here is how Halasima moved through his two seasons of NSW Cup prior to his debut. Keep in mind that all of Halasima's 2023 mahi was as a 17-year-old...
2023
18 games, 6 tries, 5 linebreaks, 6 offloads, 103m/game, 88.4% tackling
2024
7 games, 3 tries, 4 linebreaks, 7 offloads, 144m/game, 91.5% tackling
In the best rugby union/league city in the world, Halasima was a dominant force. Most of his junior footy came with Mangere East who are producing an almighty wave of Kiwi-NRL talent. Halasima played both codes for Southern Cross Campus and they have a sneaky pocket of Kiwi-NRL talent as Halasima's former comrades Elijah Leaumoana and Jarome Falemoe are both in the Knights system.
All three of these SCC lads played in the NZ Warriors team who played at the 2022 World Schools Sevens competition. Halasima made numerous Auckland Rugby Union representative teams while playing 1st 15 for SCC and he was part of a Blues Under 18 Development squad alongside NZW juniors Etuate Fukofuka, Sio Kali, Ratu Naborisi (as well as Tevita Naufahu, Elijah Rasmussen who are signed to Dolphins and Roy Tatupu who is with Bulldogs).
This continues the trend of recent NZW debutants combining both codes. Halasima played 1st 15 for SCC as well as league for Mangere East. Zyon Maiu'u played 1st 15 for Kelston Boys High School and league for Te Atatu. Jacob Laban played 1st 15 for St Bernard's College and league for Te Aroha before moving to Auckland where he played 1st 15 for KBHS. Demitric Sifakula played 1st 15 for De La Salle College and league for Otahuhu. Ali Leiataua played 1st 15 for King's College and league for Papatoetoe.
It is highly likely that Halasima pursues a representative career with Tonga - don't expect him to play for Aotearoa Kiwis. Halasima played for Tonga A vs Aotearoa A last year and his hearty Tongan mana is mixed in with Halasima coming from a Tongan hot-pocket of Mangere East in the Polynesian capital of the world.
Halasima made a bunch of NZRL representative teams as well and this shows the abundance of rugby league talent emerging in Aotearoa. The immense cultural diversity of this talent under the Kiwi-NRL umbrella is a major boost to rugby league as a sport in Aotearoa and Halasima's rise is a credit to his community.
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