Kiwi-NRL Spotlight: John Fineanganofo Debut For Dolphins
John Fineanganofo became the eighth Kiwi-NRL debutant for 2026 with 10 minutes off the bench for Dolphins in their loss vs Knights. John made his NRL debut less than 24 hours after older brother Fehi made his All Blacks debut and along with their older brother Melino, the Fineanganofo brothers all flowed through Auckland Grammar School's 1st 15.
Melino was a Mt Albert junior who spent time in the NZ Warriors system after leaving AGS. Fehi went into the All Blacks Sevens system after school and John was scouted by Dolphins while playing 1st 15 rugby, leading to a move to Brisbane where he finished his schooling at Mabel Park State High School.
Fineanganofo made the Australian Schoolboys squad in 2023. That means he is part of a five-year streak in which Kiwi-NRL juniors have made the Aussie Schoolboys squad within a year or two of moving across the ditch...
2021: Deine Mariner (Marist)
2022: Keano Kini (Northcote)
2023: John Fineanganofo (Auckland Grammar)
2024: Mason Barber (Kaikohe)
2025: Felipe Fakauho (Otahuhu), Antonio Verhoeven (Cobden-Kohinoor), Jake White (Bell Block), David Bryenton (Ellerslie)
2023 was a busy year for Fineanganofo as he also played U18s, U21s and Queensland Cup for Redcliffe. He played in another year of Mal Meninga Cup in 2024 as well as six games of Q Cup for Redcliffe and while he featured in the Dolphins NRLQ team this year, Fineanganofo settled in reserve grade where he's played 10+ games across the 2025 and 2026 seasons for Central Queensland Capras who are under the Dolphins umbrella.
Fineanganofo has played nearly every position in the Dolphins system. In reserve grade he has started games at centre, five-eighth, hooker and middle forward. This season he has started six of his 10 games in the number 13 jersey and he built into his NRL debut by playing 40+ minutes in every game, along with 50+ minutes in eight games.
Against Knights, Fineanganofo came on at hooker to replace Whakatane's Jeremy Marshall-King and while he didn't have a run, Fineanganofo got through his work with 12 passes and 5 tackles @ 100%. In true NRL fashion, Fineanganofo doesn't even have an NRL profile despite being on the extended bench many for most games this season before his debut.
Fineanganofo joined Tevita Naufahu in the Dolphins team as two of their key recruits from Aotearoa that helped boost the development pipelines, but while Fineanganofo was shining in 2023, Naufahu was still in Auckland playing 1st 15 rugby for St Kentigern College and then the New Zealand Schools team. Naufahu made his NRL debut last year as the first Kiwi-NRL junior to work through the Dolphins system and along with Fineanganofo, they are examples of the abundance of talent coming out of Aotearoa.
Dolphins entered NRL with Kiwi-NRL juniors already in their system. Elijah Rasmussen (Westlake Boys High School) and Patrick Kailahi (Hamilton Boys High School) were also part of those initial recruitment waves from Aotearoa and they have both played Queensland Cup this year as middle forwards.
Naufahu, Fineanganofo and Rasmussen played preseason footy for Dolphins this year. Also in the preseason mix were Sangstar Figota (Marist) and Adaquix-Jeramiah Watts-Luke (Ellerslie), with Watts-Luke recently making the Quensland U19 squad. The Dolphins team who lost to Knights was full of Aotearoa flavour with Sebastian Su'a (Mt Albert) playing his second NRL game and first of the season, rolling through 31 minutes as a middle forward coming off the bench.
They joined NRL regulars Marshall-King, Jamayne Isaako (Eastern Eagles), Kodi Nikorima (Burnham) and Connelly Lemuelu (Tangaroa College) in the Dolphins team. All of which captures the Kiwi-NRL vibe as there are rugby league juniors who also played 1st 15, as well as strictly rugby league juniors and those who only played 1st 15, along with those who moved to Australia at a younger age.
While Fehi expressed that it was a dream come true for him and his family to play for All Blacks, everything is different in rugby league. The desire to play for Samoa or Tonga instead of All Blacks does not exist and rugby union does very little to celebrate the Pacific Islands on the international stage. John has come through the Hakula Tonga pathway in Aotearoa and he is highly likely to stick with Tonga in international footy.
This is amplified by the presence of Kristian Woolf as Dolphins coach because he is also Tonga's coach, so there should be an expectation that Fineanganofo and Naufahu will choose to play for Tonga. Everything about how Dolphins have entered NRL sums up rugby league in Aotearoa and international eligibility is another funky zone as they have Kiwi-NRL juniors who are already aligned with NZ Kiwis (Isaako, Nikorima, Marshall-King) as well as Samoa (Lemuelu) and this will increase with the two young tokos.
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Peace and love.