Bayleigh Bentley-Hape made his NRL debut for South Sydney Rabbitohs in their win over St George Illawara Dragons, which makes the Moerewa junior the second Kiwi-NRL debutant in two rounds of footy this season. Salesi Foketi made his debut for Sydney Roosters in round one and having started his journey in Australia with Roosters, Bentley-Hape's debut means that both Kiwi-NRL debutants this year were initially recruited by Roosters.

Bentley-Hape played on the wing for Rabbitohs and had 13 runs - 91m @ 7m/run. While he didn't have much of an impact on the game, Bentley-Hape did his job in tough conditions and he hasn't played much footy on the wing so this was an intriguing challenge for him. That's amplified by lining up against the swiftness of Tyrell Sloan and a shuffle of the Rabbitohs backline as Isaiah Tass was listed to play on the wing but was the centre on Bentley-Hape's left edge.

According to RugbyLeagueProject.org, this was Bentley-Hape's first game playing on the wing at the NSW Cup/NRL level. Most of his reserve grade footy at Rabbitohs has been as a fullback (16 games), while also played four games at centre and four games in the halves. This versatility is crucial because players tend to debut where ever the opportunity opens up and Bentley-Hape has earned his rise through the Rabbitohs system as a fullback, who then had to adjust to being an NRL winger.

His NRL debut came after a fabulous performance at fullback in round one of NSW Cup. Bentley-Hape scored two tries including a long range banger that accounted for a chunk of his run metres in his 25 runs - 272m @ 10.8m/run, as well as having seven tackle breaks and kicking a few goals.

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A slow build through the Rabbitohs reserve grade pipeline came after six years in the Roosters system. Bentley-Hape is from Kawakawa and played junior footy for Moerewa Tigers before being scouted by Roosters to join their Harold Matthews Cup (U16 at the time) team in 2016. Then came two years of SG Ball Cup (U18 at the time) and in 2018, Bentley-Hape played 10 games of SG Ball before moving up to play our games of Jersey Flegg Cup (U20 at the time).

From there he played three more years of Jersey Flegg for Roosters and it seems as though Bentley-Hape hit a wall, probably due to injury. He played three games of Jersey Flegg in 2021 and didn't pop up in the Rabbitohs NSW Cup team until 2023 which highlights the long grind of pursuing an NRL career - even for high pedigree youngsters who were recruited to move to Australia earlier than most.

After two games of NSW Cup in 2023, Bentley-Hape played 20 games last season and has clearly made a lovely impression at Rabbitohs. That has stretched across two different regimes as Bentley-Hape first entered the Rabbitohs system with Jason Demetriou as their NRL coach, then he got an NRL debut after a summer training under coach Wayne Bennett.

Bentley-Hape has steadily made himself available to represent Aotearoa when available. In 2017 he was part of the Aussie based Taurahere team and that led to selection in the Aotearoa Under 18 Select team. Bentley-Hape was named in the 2019 Junior Kiwis wider squad but didn't play in their one game vs Australian Schoolboys. Bentley-Hape joins a hearty group of Northland juniors led by James Fisher-Harris and Dylan Brown, with Fisher-Harris and Bentley-Hape sharing the most northern status of current Kiwi-NRL players.

With the ability to play any backline position, Bentley-Hape is a fantastic player to have in an NRL squad. His main role for Rabbitohs right now appears to be on the wing and Bentley-Hape will be eager to build on his debut performance, especially under coach Bennett who help players tap into their potential. Regardless of what the future holds, Bentley-Hape shine as another example of Aotearoa mana having made his debut after a rugged journey that saw him move to Australia as a youngster and face plenty of adversity.

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