Tukimihia Simpkins made his return to NRL footy with Gold Coast Titans in their win vs Manly Sea Eagles and the hearty Pikiao junior from Rotorua seems like the type of forward that coach Des Hasler would love. Coming off the bench, Simpkins played 22 minutes and while Titans had already taken a hefty lead, he helped Titans keep Sea Eagles out of the contest in the last quarter.

Still only 23-years-old, Simpkins has had to grind through a tricky start to his NRL career. It started with plenty of buzz when Simpkins was at Rotorua Boys High School where he was a staple of their 1st 15 and Cowboys swooped on the highly recruited youngster as part of some sneaky impressive Cowboys Kiwi-NRL recruitment from regional Aotearoa.

Despite Cowboys doing the recruitment mahi, Simpkins shifted to Tigers during the Michael Maguire era ahead of the 2021 season. That was when Maguire was also coach of Aotearoa Kiwis and there were lots of Kiwi-NRL threads in players that Tigers signed, which was soon followed by an NRL debut for Tigers later that year.

Simpkins played five games for Tigers that year before falling into the abyss and he returned to footy with Norths Devils to play the 2024 Queensland Cup season. In his first season of Q Cup, Simpkins showed the ability that made him such a high pedigree footy junior in Aotearoa as he won the championship and was named at prop in the Team of the Year.

Prior to that 2024 season though, Simpkins spent time with Dolphins during their summer training period. Norths Devils are one of three Q Cup teams with connections to Dolphins and despite bringing Simpkins in for summer training, then watching him in Q Cup and win the Grand Final vs Redcliffe, it was Titans who came knocking late in 2024.

This was a similar move to Glenora junior Sean Mullany who had been grinding through years of Q Cup footy and was picked up by Titans ahead of the 2025 season. Mullany didn't play vs Sea Eagles but he made his debut earlier in the season and his gritty style of footy, is aligned with how Simpkins plays. That seems to be a recipe that coach Hasler and the Titans are recruiting which includes a dose of Kiwi-NRL flavour.

Simpkins switched to Tweed Seagulls who are under the Titans umbrella and while he went from winning most of his games in 2024 to losing most of his Q Cup games this year, Simpkins earned his promotion through his tough mahi and skill. Somehow there were minor increases in a couple stats as Simpkins went from 1.5 tackle breaks and 2 offloads per game in 2024, to 1.8 tackle breaks and 2.2 offloads per game this year.

2024: 19 games, 1 try, 30 tackle breaks, 38 offloads, 110m/game, 92.8% tackling
2025: 8 games, 15 tackle breaks, 18 offloads, 128m/game, 90.9% tackling

Simpkins has played 50+ minutes in all eight of his Q Cup games this season. As a middle forward he has played 60+ minutes in five games and he has three games over 70 minutes, including an 80min effort vs Sunshine Coast. He has a tackle break in seven of his eight games and 2+ offloads in every game this season.

That was on show in his return to NRL footy as he had an offload and a tackle break in his 22mins...

vs Sea Eagles: 22mins, 8 runs - 60m @ 7.5m/run, 2 tackle breaks, 1 offload, 18 tackles @ 94.7%

Simpkins looked comfortable at the NRL level with his size, mobility and footwork adding to the Titans forward pack who laid a platform in their win. Titans have a few dummy halves ahead of Mullany which limits his opportunities and they also have a bunch of middle forwards who could clutter the path to more NRL footy for Simpkins, making it interesting to see how Simpkins progresses over the next month.

Josh Patston made his debut in the win vs Sea Eagles and they were missing Tino Fa'asuamaleaui, while young forward Arama Hau was 18th-man after playing seven games this season. Simpkins seems more reliable at the NRL level right now than Hau and his offloading ability could see Simpkins add more attacking funk than other forwards like Iszac Fa'asuamaleaui.

Titans signed Simpkins once coach Hasler had settled down as coach and assessed his squad, so it's pretty clear that coach Hasler appreciates Simpkins' ability. Add in commanding performances in Q Cup as well as desperation to stay in the NRL mix and Simpkins should get another crack soon enough.

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