Moses Leo added himself to the2025 Kiwi-NRL debut list with his late call up to the Melbourne Storm team who defeated Manly Sea Eagles. Leo's debut came after Glenora junior Sean Mullany made his debut (Kiwi-NRL Spotlight incoming) which means that there have been four Kiwi-NRL debuts in five rounds of NRL footy so far this season.

Selected to start at right centre, Leo had a tricky defensive assignment in marking Tolutau Koula. There was statistical alignment that showed how tricky this match up was with Leo missing seven tackles and tackling at 56.2% efficiency while Koula had four linebreaks and eight tackle breaks, yet some of that came when Leo moved to the right edge to cover the loss of Xavier Coates.

Leo was solid in debut and he offered that splash of versatility in covering different roles while playing who whole game. He finished with 6 runs - 63m @ 10.5m/run, 1 linebreak assist, 2 tackle breaks, 9 tackles @ 56.2%.

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All of which is extra funky because this was his second game of rugby league since joining Storm from NZ Sevens. Leo was a late inclusion at starting centre for North Sydney Bears a few weeks ago and had 7 runs - 48m @ 6.8m/run, 1 try assist, 1 tackle break, 7 tackles @ 77.7%.

This differs greatly from the Will Warbrick development path at Storm after he switched from NZ Sevens. Warbrick was stashed away in Queensland Cup for a year before he played NRL and that is more typical of how Storm develop all their emerging talent.

Leo was initially signed for the 2026 NRL season and that was announced in September last year. That changed quickly though as Leo was granted an early release from his NZR contract and was officially signed for the 2025 NRL season in mid-November. Leo has gone from joining Storm for the 2026 season to making his NRL debut in April, 2025 and the fact that Storm wanted the early release shows how they view Leo's ability.

That is amplified by how quickly Leo progressed since joining Storm. After his debut, Storm coach Craig Bellamy laid out how there weren't many other options in their outside back depth but along with Harry Grant, they chatted about how Leo had earned faith through his summer training. Grant specifically mentioned that the senior players at Storm wanted Leo in the team because of his efforts in training.

There will be plenty more to learn about Leo over the next few weeks. His debut performance came in a game where Storm had two outside backs leave the field with Ryan Papenhuyzen departing before Coates. With one game of NSW Cup, Leo was thrown into a difficult match up vs Koula and he had to deal with major backline shuffles ... in a game which Storm won fairly easily.

His next task will be to earn selection once again. Leo could learn quickly at the NRL level in a strong Storm team and there are obvious advantages in rolling through consistent footy at the reserve grade level. Leo flashed his speed and running ability on debut, to go with a work ethic that filled those around him at Storm with confidence. Those are lovely foundations for Leo to build upon.

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