Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs have started their first NRLW season with two wins and almost half of their team coming from Aotearoa. In round tahi they had a a 26-12 win vs Knights and they followed that up with a 12-8 win vs Tigers, with eight NRLWahine in their team of 17 for both games. Add in six of their seven tries being score by players from Aotearoa and their appreciation for rugby league talent from New Zealand is undeniable.

Two of the NRLWahine for Bulldogs are 19-years-old with Mangere East junior Simina Lokotui starting both games at centre and Auckland's Shaquaylah Mahakitau-Monschau (Waitakere College/St Peter's Cambridge) starting both games at hooker. This is obviously notable because it shows how impressive the women's rugby league talent is coming out of Aotearoa, it also puts into perspective how bonkers Alexis Tauaneai has been in establishing herself as one of the best NRLW forwards at 20-years-old.

The Wainuiomata junior has played 70 minutes (full games) in both wins, starting at edge forward and then moving to the middle. Tauaneai doesn't just jack up big stats because she is on the field for the whole game, she is incredibly efficient with her mahi which is most evident in how she as averaged over 10m per run for at least 20 runs in both games...

Win vs Knights: 70mins, 22 runs - 224m @ 10.1m/run, 1 tackle break, 1 offload, 22 tackles @ 96%
Win vs Tigers: 70mins, 1 try, 20 runs - 215m @ 10.7m/run, 5 tackle breaks, 3 offloads, 34 tackles @ 94%

Those are stats that any NRL forward would envy in 80mins and Tauaneai is churning them out in 70mins as a 20-year-old, spanning across edge and middle forward duties. While she made her NRLW debut with Dragons and had two years there (where younger sisters Trinity and Paige are cooking), Tauaneai was recruited from Aotearoa by Bulldogs and her return to Belmore has seen her blow out her previous two seasons (per games stats)...

2023: 1.5 tackle breaks, 1.5 offloads, 55 post contact metres, 148m, 95.9% tackling
2024: 1.8 tackle breaks, 2.1 offloads, 78.3 post contact metres, 169m, 92.5% tackling
2025: 3 tackle breaks, 2 offloads, 10.25 post contact metres, 219m, 96.5% tackling

Fellow Kiwi Ferns forward Angelina Teakaraanga-Katoa has also elevated in her return to Bulldogs, emerging as the enforcer and leader of their forward pack. She is averaging 169m/game, which is the highest of her career after 120m/game, 123m/game and 140m/game in her three seasons prior.

Most notably, Teakaraanga-Katoa has also offered efficient mahi running the footy and along with Tauaneai they ensure that Bulldogs are rolling forward...

vs Knights: 59mins, 1 try, 22 runs - 218m @ 9.9m/run, 1 tackle break, 1 offload, 22 tackles @ 91.6%
vs Tigers: 47mins, 11 runs - 121m @ 11m/run, 34 tackles @ 94.4%

Turangi's Ash Quinlan has started both games in the halves and she has slotted into a slick supporting role for halfback Tayla Preston. With Mahakitau-Monschau starting at hooker, two of the four spine players are from Aotearoa and despite mainly playing as a half in the Bulldogs system, Mahakitau-Monschau has settled in nicely as dummy half at the NRLW level.

Playing 22 and 26 minutes, Mahakitau-Monschau has looked comfortable with the physicality of NRLW footy and that's especially the case for the opening exchanges. She has played most of her minutes in the opening stanza with 17mins vs Knights and then 15mins vs Tigers, before Ebony Prior enters the arena to spend most of the game at dummy half.

Mahakitau-Monschau has been playing alongside her aunty Shaniece Monschau who, along with Shannon Muru are exactly the kinda of smaller, mobile forwards who Bulldogs love. 23-year-old Monschau was playing for Mt Albert in Auckland as recently as 2023 before entering the Bulldogs system and she has mainly rolled through the middle but she has also covered edge forward.

Against Tigers, Moana Courtenay (North Shore RU) suffered an injury as the right centre and this was covered for Bulldogs by Shannon Muru and Monshcau holding down the edge spots. With Courtenay off injured, Muru slid to right centre and Monschau took the edge forward spot. Both have links to Mt Albert and they both offer immense versatility in covering various roles across the field.

Muru came through Waitemata and Ponsonby in rugby union, as well as Richmond and Mt Albert in rugby league and when Tauaneai moves to middle forward, Muru is the player who takes her edge forward spot. While Muru has already played NRLW for Eels, she has been playing NSW Women's Premiership for Bulldogs recently and the Bulldogs investment in wahine from Aotearoa is on display in how Tauaneai, Mahakitau-Monschau, Monschau and Lokotui all left Aotearoa to link up with Bulldogs in their lower grades.

Lokotui played rugby union for Grammar Tec and played for Auckland in the Farah Palmer Cup in 2024 but also played rugby league for Mangere East before moving to Sydney. After playing the Tarsha Gale Cup season for Bulldogs, Lokotui went straight into a starting centre role in NRLW with 25-year-old Courtenay on the other side of the field.

The NRLWahine umbrella includes all those who played footy in Aotearoa or want to represent Aotearoa and the abundance of rugby league talent coming out of New Zealand provides depth for all Pacific Island nations. Muru, Lokotui and Courtenay are likely to boost Tonga's depth moving forward. Muru has already represented Tonga in rugby league, Lokotui has come through the thriving Tonga pipeline in Aotearoa and Courtenay represented Tonga in rugby union.

Monschau and Mahakitau-Monschau could also pursue opportunities with Tonga. They played netball for Tonga in Auckland cultural tounaments and Monschau was part of the wider Kiwi Ferns squad in 2021. Quinlan, Tauaneai and Teakaraanga-Katoa have already settled as Kiwi Ferns players.

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Peace and love.