Te Hurinui Apanui Twidle became the fourth Kiwi-NRL debutant of the 2026 NRL season in a close loss for Parramatta Eels against Wests Tigers. Not only did the Turangawaewae junior from Ngaruawahia debut, he scored a try with his first touch of the footy and soon had three linebreaks with his first three touches in a passage that saw him score two tries to give Eels a sniff of victory.

Twidle's first involvements of his debut were on the right wing as another Kiwi-NRL outside back Bailey Simonsson suffered a nasty injury. Twidle had a few linebreaks on the wing and was then moved to fullback, swapping roles with Joash Papali'i who was battling cramp, with Twidle looking comfy in his favoured position to finish the game.

It was an epic debut for a youngster from Aotearoa who shares plenty of similarities to Whangarei's Dylan Brown. Brown left New Zealand and quickly emerged as one of the best emerging talents in the Eels system, winning the 2017 SG Ball Cup before making his NRL debut at 18-years-old.

Twidle's rise through Eels was much slower than Brown's but after leaving Waikato to go to Marsden State High School in Queensland, Twidle helped Eels win the 2023 SG Ball Cup in his first year in the Eels system. Twidle started at fullback in that final and after playing 12 games of Under 18s for Eels that year, Twidle went on to play 19 games of Under 21 Jersey Flegg Cup.

That sparked up three years of U21 footy with Eels in which Twidle was mainly a fullback, but also dabbled in halves mahi. By 2025 Twidle was involved in NRL preseason footy for Eels where he had a few reps in the halves as well as his usual fullback position and he played 18 games of NSW Cup last year while still eligible for U21s where he played five games.

Twidle returned to NRL preseason footy to start this year and started one game at halfback, then two games at fullback. Two weeks ago Twidle scored four tries in a draw vs Panthers and this boosted his case for selection in the NRL squad, but Eels have plenty of depth in the fullback/five-eighth bracket so a few stars had to aligned for Twidle to get a spot on the extended bench and then debut.

At this checkpoint it would be lovely to throw in some NSW Cup stats for Twidle but it's goofy how Twidle does not have a full NSWRL profile page this year, plus there is tremendous confusion across various platforms about Twidle's name. Some platforms have one profile for Te Hurinui and another profile for Apa, which includes NSWRL who haven't bothered to update anything for his NSW Cup profile.

Te Hurinui and Apa seem to be completely different blokes. Te Hurinui Apanui Twidle has been cooking for a long time though and first emerged as an impressive talent via Turangawaewae Rugby League, which led to regional footy with Upper Central. In 2020 Twidle made the NZRL Under 16 Residents squad as one of three Coastline/Upper Central players and the others were Tamakaimoana Whareaorere (Te Puke) who is playing NSW Cup for Knights and Xavi Taele (Otumoetai) who is now playing Super Rugby for Blues.

Other notable names from that U16 Residents squad are Benaiah Ioelu (Roosters), Demitric Vaimauga (Warriors), Francis Manuleleua (Knights) and Salesi Foketi (Roosters) who have all played NRL. Also in that squad were Ben Peni (Knights), Cassius Tia (Warriors) and Felix Fa'atili (Sharks) who are all playing at the reserve grade level.

Twidle's impact on NRL debut was surprising because of how it unfolded with the injuries and how Twidle hasn't started a NSW Cup game on the wing before. His silky but powerful running style has led to lots of highlights across the grades for Eels though and the combination of his kicking and passing ability make Twidle an enticing play-maker to track moving forward, especially for Aotearoa Kiwis.

Twidle can add to the Kiwis fullback and halves depth if he continues his progression. Add in others like Mason Barber (Kaikohe) who is on the rise as a fullback/centre with Cowboys, or Haami Loza (Mangere East) and Bronson Reuben (Kaiapoi) who are halves working through the Panthers and Bulldogs systems respectively, for examples of how rugby league's growth in New Zealand is leading to more depth in spine positions.

Twidle's versatility can boost his selection case for Kiwis. Like his standing at Eels where Papali'i and Isaiah Iongi are usually the leading fullbacks, plus Jonah Pezet was signed to play in the halves, Twidle has plenty of elite talent ahead of him for NZ Kiwis - especially with Kalyn Ponga joining Keano Kini as fullbacks. There wasn't a clear path to NRL footy for Twidle to start this season until the path emerged and Twidle has the funky ability to pounce on opportunities, so anything is possible this year for the latest NRL player from Ngaruawahia and Turangawaewae.

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