The 2025 NRL season is almost finished and Pacific Championship footy is just around the corner, so let's check in with the five biggest movers and groovers for Aotearoa Kiwis. While we don't know who will be available to play after the long tough season, NZ Kiwis will probably have a settled squad which is a luxury they have not enjoyed over the last few years with a bunch of new players entering the Kiwis whanau.

Now many of the younger players who made debuts in 2022, 2023 or 2024 have settled into the NRL grind and a bunch of them have already had multiple campaigns with the Kiwis. Of the five players listed here, Xavier Willison is the only one yet to play for Aotearoa and the Cook Island international is yet to align himself with Aotearoa so this predicition could look a bit wonky in the next couple of weeks.

Willison is a hearty kiwi though having come through the same Taharoa pipeline as Tenika Willison, Te Maire Martin and Taine Tuaupiki. Tenika is on track to enter the Kiwi Ferns mix this year and so the Willison cousins could be making their debuts for Aotearoa at the same time, which could be boosted by the presence of Martin if the Kiwis need more halves depth.

The 23-year-old Whatawhata junior has played 19 games in the last two seasons ahead of another NRL Finals game this weekend. Willison has played most of his games this season in the middle for Broncos but he also dabbled in edge forward mahi with five games starting on an edge. While he would add to the middle forward depth for Aotearoa, his ability to cover edge and middle could boost Willison's case for selection.

Like all forwards in this break down, Willison is averaging more minutes per game this season compared to last year. Last season Willison averaged 38.6 minutes and that's blown up to 44.7 minutes per game this year, which includes an 80-minute outing as a starting edge forward in round eight and a few games over 60mins as a middle forward.

All of which suggests that Willison has found a groove and is fulfilling the potential that saw Broncos recruit him from local footy in Waikato. Willison has the ability to play every Test for Aotearoa this year but the first checkpoint his selection and his eligibility decision.

Naufahu Whyte and Erin Clark have already debuted for NZ Kiwis and both have followed their mahi for Aotearoa with even better performances in the NRL. Bay Roskill junior Whyte is the same age as Willison and he has already established himself as a leader in the Roosters forward pack, going form eight games in 2023 to 23 games in his last two seasons.

Whyte's stats are boosted by playing more minutes. Last season he averaged 33 minutes per game and this season it has jumped up to 54.8 minutes per game, which has seen Whyte go from 77m/game to 148m/game and add almost one tackle break per game (2.1 - 3). Most notably, this followed the 2024 Pacific Championship in which Whyte was one of the best players for Aotearoa and his development should see him play a crucial role in the Kiwis forward pack.

Clark has also followed the 2024 Pacific Championship with his best season of NRL footy. The move from Titans to NZ Warriors came with a move from a bench forward to starting middle forward where Clark has done most of the passing in the middle for NZW and also led their running mahi in the forward pack.

Last season Clark averaged 38.8 minutes per game and this season he is averaging 57.5 minutes. Despite playing 20+ games in four consecutive seasons, the increase in minutes has seen Clark climb above 100m/game for his first NRL season and he's well above that mark on 147m/game. Not only was Clark the best running and passing forward for NZW this season, he was their leading offloader and went from 0.5 offloads per game in 2024 to 1.5 offloads per game this season.

Clark and Whyte are both top-17 talents for NZ Kiwis. This highlights the depth on offer to Aotearoa as the other middle forwards in the top-tier are Joseph Tapine, James Fisher-Harris, Moses Leota, Isaiah Papali'i (edge), Leo Thompson and Griffin Neame. Neame was ruled out for the season due to injury though and along with a dip in form/class from Nelson Asofa-Solomona, there are spots opening up in the forward pack mixer.

Phoenix Crossland is another notable player in this equation as he is primarily a small forward like Clark, but has covered hooker and halves more recently in the NRL than Clark. 25-year-old Crossland will probably be the second dummy half behind Jeremy Marshall-King and having him on the bench will provide another middle forward who can cover a few different positions.

Jordan Riki made his NZ Kiwis on his home turf in Christchurch last year and he is in career-best form for Broncos this season under coach Michael Maguire. Having played 22 games in four consecutive years, the ease with which Riki entered the NRL reflected his status as high pedigree junior in Aotearoa and the 25-year-old Hornby junior has added more running oomph to is already solid mahi.

There has been no change in Riki's game time as he is hovering around 78 minutes per game in 2024 and 2025. There has however been a big shift in Riki's production with the footy as his 109m/game this season isn't just his first season over 100m, it's his first season averaging more than 85m/game.

This is also on display in how Riki went from 1.5 tackle breaks last year to 2.2 tackle breaks per game this season and his six linebreaks this season is a career high. Riki is now offering far more with the footy than he did in his first few seasons but he has also maintained his grizzly gritty work without the footy.

Last season Riki averaged 32.3 tackles per game and this has increased to 36 tackles. Riki has stayed around 92% for his tackling efficiency despite adding four more tackles per game and there is actually a slight increase (92.6% - 92.9%). There is a chance for Riki to command a starting edge forward role for NZ Kiwis this year and his development may see Riki overtake the other edge forwards like Briton Nikora, Scott Sorenson and Marata Niukore.

Casey McLean is the easiest pick in this bracket as he made his debut for NZ Kiwis after seven games of NRL and he has played 22 games this season ahead of another NRL Finals encounter this weekend. For most of the year I had McLean alongside the Raiders duo of Matthew Timoko and Sebastian Kris as the best centres available to Aotearoa, but McLean has steadily emerged to rival Timoko as Aotearoa's best centre.

This wasn't the case early in the season though as the 19-year-old Blacktown junior from Sydney had four losses in his five games as a winger to start the season. McLean had two games as 18th geezer in the first 10 rounds as well and then he returned to play centre consistently which coincided with Panthers blasting their way deep into NRL Finals.

After losing four of his five games on the wing, McLean then had four losses in his next 17 games at centre. He has 10+ tries (16) and try assists (11) which is a lovely combination for a centre like McLean who can bust tackles and has silky hands to shift the footy to his winger under pressure.

McLean's decision to represent Aotearoa despite being born and raised in Sydney, a few months after he played for New South Wales Under 19s, was one of the funkiest eligibility choices that Aussies completely overlooked. While Australia figures out what State of Origin is all about, one of the best teenagers in the NRL opted to represent Aotearoa instead of pursuing State of Origin and his freakish talent has been on display in the Panthers' run through finals footy.

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Peace and love.