This Kiwi-NRL guide rolls through the Queensland NRL teams with fringe/development nuggets about North Queensland Cowboys, Redcliffe Dolphins, Brisbane Broncos and Gold Coast Titans. This will be updated with any new information that flows through about Kiwi-NRL lads and there will be a few more guides published over the next week or so, covering the other teams in Australia.

North Queensland Cowboys

In the top-tier for Cowboys, Manurewa junior D'Jazirhae Pua'avase was granted a release from his contract and is yet to have his new team confirmed. Northcote junior Jaxson Paulo joined Cowboys from Sea Eagles.

Cowboys have been busy in the tier below their NRL team by promoting Kaikohe's Mason Barber to summer training, along with Marist junior Henry Teutau and Otara junior Jeremiah Mata'utia. These three have featured in the Kiwi-NRL Juniors Who Helped Australian Teams Win with Barber leading the 2024 edition, while Teutau and Mata'utia were regulars after leaving Auckland. Barber is an outside back. Teutau can play edge and middle. Mata'utia is primarily a middle forward.

Cowboys also have Cook Islands international Esom Ioka (Glenora) in their summer training mix after he left Auckland to join Western Clydesdales in Queensland Cup and the Ioka whanau is a sneaky pocket of rugby league excellence to keep tabs on. Temple Kalepo (Ellerslie) has a summer gig with Cowboys as well after spending time with Knights where he gathered NSW Cup experience as a dummy half.

Redcliffe Dolphins

Dolphins have Aublix Tawha (Turangawaewae), Elijah Rasmussen (Pt Chevalier/Westlake Boys High School) and Tevita Naufahu (St Kentigern College) in their development/supplementary contract group.

Tawha has had a slow grind to earning a fringe NRL spot with Dolphins, having left Waikato to enter the Raiders system in 2017. Tawha then had a couple years with Tweed Under 20s, while also playing for Waikato men in 2019 along with a stint for Paraparaumu rugby union in 2021. In 2023, Tawha started to appear in Redcliffe's Queensland Cup team and mid-way through his second season for Redcliffe he had earned a development spot for Dolphins primarily as an edge forward.

Rasmussen and Naufahu fit the Dolphins theme of 1st 15 excellence in Aotearoa, along with John Fineanganofo (Auckland Grammar School) who is in the summer training mix. Rasmussen played 1st 15 for WBHS and cracked the Blues Under 18 squad alongside Naufahu, who made the NZ Schools rugby union team in 2023 before joining Dolphins.

Rasmussen is a middle forward who spent most of the season in U19 Mal Meninga Cup. Naufahu played centre in that team and another lad with a 1st 15 background in Patrick Kailahi from Hamilton Boys High School was a consistent presence at edge forward for Redcliffe U19s.

Fineanganofo played in the Redcliffe U19s team as well, but he had six games of Queensland Cup where he played two games in the halves, three games at centre and one game coming off the bench. Fineanganofo made the Australian Schoolboys team last year after leaving Auckland and while still in that schoolboy bracket, he snuck in a Queensland Cup appearance last year.

Marist junior Peter Hola is hunting more NRL opportunities for Dolphins after moving up from Raiders. Cowboys initially recruited Hola from Aotearoa and he developed nicely in Townsville before moving to Raiders. There is no word on where Valynce Te Whare (East Tamaki RU) could end up after a strong season in Queensland Cup, that wasn't good enough to earn him another crack in the NRL.

Dolphins have invested heavily in recruitment from Aotearoa in their first couple seasons of NRL footy. Much of that came with Peter O'Sullivan leading their recruitment, which is why most of the Dolphins Kiwi-NRL juniors have 1st 15 backgrounds. O'Sullivan has moved to Knights and it will be interesting to see which Kiwi-NRL juniors appear in the Dolphins U19 squad early next year.

Brisbane Broncos

Pikiao junior Hayze Perham is in the Broncos development group after spending time with Eels and Bulldogs since departing NZ Warriors in Aotearoa. While Perham was signed to Bulldogs by blokes who knew him well in Cameron Ciraldo and Phil Gould, Perham was shunned to NSW Cup for the 2024 season where he played 23 games with six tries, 17 try assists, 11 linebreaks, 123m/game and 87% tackling.

Perham wasn't graced with a regular role in NSW Cup and churned out consistent mahi regardless of the position he played. The only backline position Perham didn't play was halfback and this frames his value to Broncos as can plug holes in all backline positions, with a splash of maturity after a few years of adversity.

Kylem Vunipola (Kia Ora) and Nathaniel Tangimataiti (Ellerslie) have been notable Kiwi-NRL recruits for Broncos who haven't popped up so far this summer. Vunipola will be a key junior to track as he played three years of Mal Meninga Cup for Wynnum while linked to Broncos after leaving Palmerston North.

Broncos are busy in recruiting from Aotearoa and while their flow on Kiwi-NRL recruits into their NRL tier has slowed down, there will be a bunch of Kiwi-NRL juniors to learn about when U19 footy starts; most notably Marley Igasan (Otumoetai).

Gold Coast Titans

Tukimihia Simpkins (Rotorua Boys High School) joined Titans in the development tier after a playing Queensland Cup for Norths Devils this year. After being recruited from Rotorua by Cowboys, Simpkins made his NRL debut for Tigers and had a summer training phase with Dolphins last summer before settling in reserve grade for Norths.

Simpkins played middle forward for Norths where he rolled through 110m/game and 92.8% tackling, as well as averaging two offloads per game. This resulted in an opportunity with Titans where a few middle forwards have moved on and Simpkins could offer value to Titans by cracking NRL game time on a development/supplementary contract.

Ryder Williams (Marist) was generating buzz last summer while training with the Titans NRL squad as a 17-year-old, before being a key figure in Tweed's U19 team this year. Williams hasn't been mentioned in any Titans updates so far this summer so it will interesting to see where he pops up.

Sean Mullany (Glenora) joins Titans for summer training after spending the last few seasons around the Cowboys squad. As a hooker who can play small forward, Mullany has had a few fringe NRL opportunities (spent time with NZ Warriors as well) and this is especially funky as Vaka Sikahele departed Titans to joins Brisbane Tigers who are linked to Storm. Titans recruited Sikahele from Aotearoa and invested in his development, now they have picked up a similar style of player in Mullany.

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