Te Maire Martin And The Maori Panthers
To single out the Penrith Panther's collection of Maoris without doing the same for Brisbane Broncos would be silly. While the Panthers had almost had a team full of Maoris, the Broncos have their own crew of the highest quality. One time for Adam Blair, Kodi Nikorima, Jordan Kahu and Alex Glenn (Cook Island/Maori) for holding it down with the Broncos, it's just that they were overshadowed by the Maori Panthers.
The late inclusion or Te Maire Martin gave the Panthers a strong list of Maoris, a list that covered a range of positions and stages of experience. Peta Hiku played at centre, Dallin Watene-Zelezniak on the wing, Sam McKendry at prop, Elijah Taylor started at lock and young James Fisher-Harris came off the bench, giving the Panthers six Maoris.
What was more impressive than that the mere presence of a strong Maori contingent was the role these lads played in an impressive upset win for the Panthers. Hiku scored a try, sneaking on to a delicious grubber from Tyrone Peachey and was a constant threat on the edge, especially going up against James Roberts who enjoyed his strongest game of the season for Brisbane. Roberts had 89 running metres with 6 tackle busts and Hiku missed 3 tackles (likely missed tackles vs Roberts) but Hiku showed his class as an international as he ran for 123m, broke 3 tackles and had the most offloads of anyone on the field with 6.
Watene-Zelezniak was solid out on the wing with 116m thanks to high involvement as he had 14 carries, which in combination with Josh Mansour's 18 carries put the work of Brisbane (sorry Kahu) in the shade as Kahu only had 10 carries for 72m and Greg Eden only managed 58m off 10 carries.
Not noted as a game-breaking prop, Sam McKendry put in a solid shift in which he averaged 8.4m per carry and made 30 tackles in only 36 minutes of footy. McKendry was supported in the middle by Elijah Taylor and James Fisher-Harris, with all three kiwi forwards not playing big minutes as the Panthers had six middle forwards sharing minutes. All three were solid without being overly spectacular and it was Taylor who threw the final pass to Martin, who scored in the corner to level the scores.
And then kicked the winning field goal.
We've heard a lot about Martin as a footy player, he was a star with the Tigers Under-20s and was a consistent presence (along with fellow Panthers Zach Dockar-Clay and Sione Katoa) in the Junior Kiwis. Many young footy players have had big praise lumped on them without playing in the NRL though, so you've got to take it with a grain of salt until you see that player actually get some NRL game time.
Martin saved his best for last as he grew into the game. Martin's involvement was limited to running the footy for much of the game, a luxury allowed by the expert general-play kicking of Jamie Soward. Soward had 9 kicks for 213m, Martin didn't have a single kick all game.
What immediately caught the eye about Martin was his size and his eagerness to run. Martin is a big half at 181cm, he's lean and glides across the field rather effortlessly, switching gears without really looking like he's bursting into a sprint which made him stand out every time he ran the ball. Soward played halfback and controlled the team which allowed Martin to sit two-passes wide of the ruck, usually on the right where he could pick out a lazy Bronco or a bit of space and flick the switch.
While other great kiwi ball-runners like Roger Tuivasa-Sheck or Shaun Johnson rely on a big step, or lightning footwork, Martin's ability to read the play and pick the perfect moment to hit a gap was clearly evident. I'll use the word 'glide' again as that best describes Martin's running and I think I'm already in love with Martin's ability to glide across the park, hopefully we get to watch it for many years to come.
With 95m off 11 carries, 5 tackle busts and 2 line breaks, Martin had a great influence on the Panthers' attack without even showing off his kicking game or his distribution. That Martin made 26 tackles and only missed 2 shouldn't be overlooked either.
To tie the game, Martin scored in the corner of his favoured right side and was simply in the right place at the right time. Keep in mind that Martin is a half and scored the try essentially as a winger, doing what all good wingers do when an over-committing covering defender is approaching from the inside. Not easy to do as a half, especially on debut but even more impressive was where Martin came from as he had just thrown a pass to centre Isaah Yeo, before ending up on the wing, anticipating that he'd have to get back in the mixer and he pushed up in support of Taylor.
As for the field goal, Martin was positioned behind the ruck and got a late pass from Jamie Soward who felt too much pressure coming his way. The way the Panthers set up ensured that Soward was best positioned to his his left boot while Martin could quickly push onto his right. Ben Hunt came within a whisker of charging it down, a split-second that was enabled by Martin already being perfectly poised, this allowed him to efficiently set up and slot it just before Hunt arrived.
That Martin let off an accurate droppie under such pressure should tell us all we need to know about the kid.
So should his post-match interviews that would be nothing new to us kiwis. Remember last week when Bulldogs centre Kerrod Holland kicked a match-winning goal on debut against the Panthers? Hollad oozed confidence and told us all how he 'doesn't miss' which was impressive, to have such confidence in your ability and all is cool, it's just not a kiwi thing to do though.
Martin spoke frankly and with humility, something that we have come to expect from our young kiwi lads, I couldn't help but feel immense pride hearing Martin speak, he's one of us.
This was a great win by the Panthers, which included major contributions from a strong Maori contingent, yet it's Martin's performance and his actions in glory that will stick in my mind for a long, long time. He's been highly touted player ever since he emerged onto the Under-20s scene with the Tigers, it felt as though Martin wasn't too far removed from playing footy with Turangawaewae or being just another one of the lads at Hamilton Boys' High School.