Breaking Down Another Year Of Christchurch's Excellent Rugby League Production Line
Jordan Riki will be the only player from the Christchurch region in the NRL or NRLW Grand Final but his 2025 NRL season reflects the continued rise of rugby league in the South Island's biggest city. 25-year-old Riki will play his second NRL GF in three years after being a starting edge forwards in the Brisbane Broncos 2023 GF loss and he followed that up with his NZ Kiwis debut in 2024.
In his fourth consecutive NRL season playing 20+ games, Riki has thrived under the coaching of Michael Maguire and is on track to lock down a starting edge forward position for Aotearoa. Riki's class saw him settle into gritty mahi as an edge forward in the NRL with his defensive efforts leading to consistent game time and in 2025 he has adding more oomph with the footy to fully tap into the potential he showed as a high pedigree junior in Aotearoa.
Riki's six linebreaks this season is a career high and the per game stats below show how Riki has been more dynamic running the footy in similar game time this season...
2023: 75.3mins | 1.6 tackle breaks | 80m
2024: 78mins | 1.5 tackle breaks | 81m
2025: 77.8mins | 2.2 tackle breaks | 108m
While Riki is the only player from the Canterbury region in the NRL or NRLW GF, two young forwards from Christchurch will play for NZ Warriors in the State Championship. Halswell junior Tanner Stowers-Smith is a starting prop after he finished the season in the NRL team and Papanui junior Jason Salalilo is on the bench to roll through the middle.
Linwood junior Makaia Tafua is on the extended bench for NZ Warriors after featuring regularly in NSW Cup as a hooker or small forward this season. All three of these Christchurch juniors are 21yrs or younger. Stowers-Smith turned 21-years-old in March, Salalilo starting the year in Under 21 Jersey Flegg Cup before settling on the NSW Cup bench and Tafua moving between U21s and NSW Cup depending on the availability of those above him.
NZ Warriors have other juniors from Christchuch throughout their system as well. Rico Lemalie (Linwood) and Isaiah Savea (Hornby) played Under 19 SG Ball Cup this season, along with Meihana Pauling (Halswell) who then shifted to Titans where he played in the Under 20 NRLQ series.
NZ Warriors have won back to back Under 17 Harold Matthews Cup championships and two juniors from Christchurch won the Player of the Match awards for both Grand Finals. Linwood junior Lennox Tuiloma won the award in 2024 and is a sneaky young forward to watch out for as he didn't play any footy this year due to injury.
There is nothing sneaky about Bishop Neal (Hornby) who won the award earlier this year and is the freakiest rugby league talent from Christchurch in an NRL system at the moment. Neal didn't play any more footy for NZ Warriors after the U17 season and could start next year in U19s with Tuiloma before commanding selection in the U21s (assuming they are healthy and available).
NZ Warriors won the 2025 Harold Matthews Cup championship with Aoraki junior Dougal Grant and Sydenham's Kenny Lafituanai in the GF team alongside Neal. Riccarton junior Christiano Elia was 18th man for the GF, plus the Celebration duo of Amasio Tiatia and Calieb Fidow also featured throughout the season.
Not only are the last two Harold Matthews Cup Grand Final MVPs from Christchurch, there were also youngsters from Christchurch in teams who won the SG Ball Cup and Jersey Flegg Cup this year. Jackson Stewart (Hornby) started at fullback for Roosters in the U19 GF and played 11 games of SG Ball Cup, as well as 11 games of U21s for Roosters.
K-Ci Newton-Whare (Riccarton) started at prop for Storm in the Jersey Flegg Cup GF and he has played 15+ games of U21s for Storm in three consecutive seasons. Josiah-Ekkehard Neli (Hornby) didn't play in U21 finals for Storm but he has also played multiple seasons of U21 footy for Storm and there were a few games this season with these two middle forwards from Christchurch in the same Storm team.
Antonio Verhoeven isn't from Christchurch but the Cobden Kohinoor junior Greymouth was part of the footy circuit in Canterbury before moving to Australia and entering the Broncos system. Verhoeven played for Eastern Eagles and 1st 15 for St Bede's College in Christchurch, then he excelled with Burleigh Bears in Mal Meninga Cup and Palm Beach Currumbin State High School.
That led to selection for the Australian Schoolboys team and the tradition of a Kiwi-NRL junior being selected for Australia Schoolboys continued. It is now five consecutive years of a Kiwi-NRL junior featuring in the Australian Schoolboys team and while none of them are from Christchurch, the quality of juniors from the region is aligned with all regions in Aotearoa.
Verhoeven also played two games of NRLQ for Broncos at the U20 level. Given that the Australian Schoolboys team is an U18 group, this highlights Verhoeven's talent and how siwftly he has dominated the Queensland scene.
Growth includes women of all ages. There were three women from Christchurch who were regulars in NRLW this season with Isabella Waterman (Sydenham) adding to her NRLW mahi with Raiders, while fellow Sydenham rugby league product Martha Mataele was a force on the wing for Eels in her first season.
Jaydika Tafua earned selection as a starting edge forward for most of the season with Sharks and she is the older sister of Makaia. Their younger brother Evander is in the Bulldogs system (U17) and while all three are linked to different organisations, there is also a funky note that all three are linked to different clubs in Christchurch. Jaydika is a Papanui junior, Makaia is a Linwood junior and Evander is a Sydenham junior.
The beautiful thing about rugby league juniors in Christchurch as they come from a wide range of grassroots clubs around the region. This means that most, if not all rugby league clubs in Christchurch are developing talent that is good enough to enter NRL/NRLW systems and that Canterbury/South Island Rugby League is doing a stellar job in their pathways. Keep that in mind as we venture deeper through other juniors from Christchurch who were on the radar this season.
Sticking with the wahine and Manisha Seebeck had an impressive year for Roosters in Under 19 Tarsha Gale Cup and NSW Women's Premiership. Fellow Hornby junior Dejah Tuliau did the U19/Women's Premiership combo for Panthers and Te Koha Te Rito is a Southland junior who spent the U19 season with Rabbitohs, having used Christchurch as a platform for her development via Linwood and Eastern Eagles.
Felix Fa'atili (Hornby) played NSW Cup and U21s for Sharks this season, lining up against Newton-Whare in the first round of Jersey Flegg Cup finals. Fa'atili was joined by fellow Hornby big bopper Richie Tupuailei in the U21 team for Sharks throughout the season and along with Sea Eagles, Knights and Bullodgs, they had at least two Kiwi-NRL juniors from Christchurch in their squads this season.
Fa'atili was the only one who elevated to NSW Cup while the rest are in the U19/U21 bracket. Most of the Christchurch juniors listed in this deep dive are 21yrs or younger which forecasts how the wave of rugby league talent from the region is sweeping through NRL/NRLW systems.
Sea Eagles had Halswell junior and West Coast product Oliver Lawry in their U21 team for most of the season. Papanui junior Ezekiel Paulo started the year in U19s and he then climbed up to U21s for Sea Eagles for much of the second half of the season.
Knights had Te Kaio Cranwell (Linwood) and Xavier Lynch (Halswell) in their U21 team all season. Hornby junior Ezekiel Faga-Ieti started the year in U19s for Knights and had a few games of U21s.
Bulldogs have the biggest Kiwi-NRL crew in their junior system which reflects their relationship with Canterbury Rugby League. As you must know by now though, juniors from Christchurch are in a wide mix of NRL/NRLW systems and despite the Bulldogs/CRL combo whipping up lots of headlines at the time, this has not led to Bulldogs dominating the marketplace.
Sosaia Alatini (Hornby), Bronson Reuben (Kaiapoi) and Genesis Ah Kam Sherlock (Linwood) all played U21 footy for Bulldogs after starting the year in U19s. Alatini and Reuben played 10+ games of Jersey Flegg Cup after they played U19 and U21s in 2024. Linwood junior Chelden Hayward was also in the U19 team this year, so there were four juniors from Christchurch in the Bulldogs SG Ball Cup team at some stages of the season.
Dakota Kakoi (Linwood) had his second year with Eels. He had one game of U21s after the U19 season last year and moved up to U21s this year with eight games.
Many of these players will feature in the annual 'Kiwi-NRL Juniors Who Helped Australian Teams Win' deep dive that will expand out to NRLWahine juniors with more wahine getting opportunities. It's not just the number of juniors from Christchurch and nearby towns that stands out with rugby league's growth in the area, it is the quality of youngsters and how they impact winning that is commanding attention.
This will only increase and summer is an exciting phase to track which Kiwi-NRL/NRLWahine juniors take up opportunities with NZ Warriors and systems in Australia. Riki is the leader of the new wave of rugby league talent coming out of the Canterbury region and it is only fitting that he enters his second NRL Grand Final at a time when the rugby league production line has become undeniable around Christchurch.
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