Tanner Stowers-Smith became the sixth Kiwi-NRL debutant in the 2025 NRL season after the Halswell junior from Christchurch got 25 minutes of action for New Zealand Warriors vs Dolphins. Coming off the bench, Stowers-Smith was probably injected into the game earlier than planned as Demitric Vaimauga left the field for an HIA after playing 5 minutes.

Stowers-Smith played middle forward as usual and after 14mins in the first half he came back on during the second half for 10 minutes. This included back to back penalties conceded by Stowers-Smith and in a tough battle against a fast Dolphins team, such mishaps can happen when battling fatigue. It didn't stop coach Andrew Webster from giving Stowers-Smith the most game time of the bench players and Stowers-Smith ended up playing 10 more minutes than Vaimauga in the same role.

vs Dolphins: 25mins, 6 runs - 50m @ 8.3m/run, 21 tackles @ 87.5%

Stowers-Smith first played reserve grade in 2023, the same year he played his first Under 19 SG Ball Cup game for NZW. Despite still being eligible for Under 21 Jersey Flegg Cup as a 21-year-old, Stowers-Smith has only played one game of U21s for NZW. He played nine games of U19s in 2023 and has churned out 43 games of NSW Cup, most of which were played while he was 19/20yrs.

Here's how Stowers-Smith's development in NSW Cup looks...

2023: 13 games 46% wins, 1 try, 75m/game, 87.4% tackling
2024: 23 games, 52% wins, 1 try, 1 offload, 88m/game, 89.8% tackling
2025: 7 games, 86% wins, 3 tries, 4 offloads, 115m/game, 93.3% tackling

Keep in mind that the NZW NSW Cup team has been top-four in all three seasons of the two Andys era and Stowers-Smith has been a consistent presence since his debut at that level. During this period Stowers-Smith was also selected in the 2023 NZ-A squad as a 19-year-old, while also being eligible for Samoa.

Now Stowers-Smith is the leader of a the new wave of South Island rugby league talent and specifically Christchurch's elite development pipeline. This yarn from Star News highlights how Stowers-Smith is cousins with Jamayne Isaako (as well as a sneaky link between Halswell/Cronulla Sharks) and along with Fa’amanu Brown, Isaako was a key figure in the previous era of Canterbury Kiwi-NRL talent, an era that finished with Jordan Riki (Hornby) joining Brisbane Broncos.

Canterbury Rugby League has emerged as a powerhouse in Aotearoa. St Thomas of Canterbury College is the best rugby league school in Aotearoa with back to back National Secondary Schools Championships and this has seen NZW embrace the entire South Island with various academies. Bulldogs have an official partnership with CRL and late last year Roosters announced that they were linking up with Rolleston College to establish their South Island Academy.

Stowers-Smith did have a stint in the Bulldogs system. That same Star News report was about Stowers-Smith joining Bulldogs but it was late in 2020 and a few years before the Bulldogs/CRL partnership was announced. Stowers-Smith doesn't appear to have played any NSWRL footy for Bulldogs and once he finished school with St Bede's College, he entered the NZW pipeline.

This is a new wave of rugby league talent from Canterbury because the NSW Cup Warriors currently have Makaia Tafua (Linwood) and Jason Salalilo (Papanui) playing consistently despite still being U21s. Rico Lemalie (Linwood) played U19s and Meihana Pauling (Halswell) played the U19 season for NZW before recently moving to Titans, while back to back U17 Harold Matthews Cup championships for NZW have featured a heavy dose of Christchurch flavour.

Micah Sula (Hornby) and Isaiah Savea (Hornby) both played U19s before moving back to STOCC where they are playing 1st 15 rugby alongside U17 champions Bishop Neal (Hornby), Calieb Fidow (Celebration), Kenny Lafituanai (Sydenham) and Christiano Elia. Other U17 champions from Christchurch include Dougal Grant (Aoraki) and Amasio Tiatia (Celebration).

Other notable Canterbury Kiwi-NRL juniors include...

Sharks: Felix Fa'atili (Hornby), Richie Tupuailei (Hornby)
Knights: Te Kaio Cranwell (Linwood), Xavier Lynch (Halswell), Ezekiel Faga-Ieti (Hornby)
Storm: K-Ci Newton Whare (Riccarton), Josiah-Ekkehard Neli (Hornby)
Sea Eagles: Oliver Lawry (Halswell), Ezekiel Paulo (Papanui)
Roosters: Jackson Stewart (Hornby)
Bulldogs: Sosaia Alatini (Hornby), Bronson Reuben (Kaiapoi), Chelden Hayward (Linwood), Genesis Ah Kam Sherlock (Linwood), Evander Tafua (Sydenham)

All of those players are from the Canterbury area and are rising up behind Stowers-Smith. His next NRL opportunity will depend on NZW middle forward availability, as well as other holes that need plugging because others like Jacob Laban and Eddie Ieremia-Toeava are capable of covering edge and middle. Stowers-Smith has the potential to develop into a grizzly middle forward maintaining the mahi of James Fisher-Harris/Mitchell Barnett, offering balance to the x-factor and versatility of the young young forwards for NZW.

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Peace and love.