The Kiwi-NRL Summer Guide finishes with Cronulla Sharks, St George Illawara Dragons, Canberra Raiders and Melbourne Storm to check in with lads from Aotearoa who are hunting more NRL footy in 2025. There are a bunch of Kiwi-NRL Summer Guides to check in with as well as a few New Zealand Warriors yarns covering similar matters...

New Zealand Warriors Wider Squad & Summer Training Break Down Ahead Of 2025 NRL Season

2024/25 Kiwi-NRL Summer Guide: Cowboys, Dolphins, Broncos, Titans

2024/25 Kiwi-NRL Summer Guide: Knights, Sea Eagles, Rabbitohs, Roosters

2024/25 Kiwi-NRL Summer Guide: Bulldogs, Eels, Tigers, Panthers

Cronulla Sharks

Arorangi/Mt Albert junior Kayal Iro has established himself as a starting centre in the NRL and Sharks are well served with Kiwi-NRL juniors in their centre/outside back department. Western Suburbs (New Plymouth) junior Mawene Hiroti has a top-30 contract with Sharks and the 25-year-old has played more than two NRL games in one of his five seasons at Sharks.

Hiroti played five games in two years for Rabbitohs and that's more than Hiroti has played in his last three seasons (four), but it's clear that Sharks enjoy the reliability and versatility of Hiroti. With 15+ NSW Cup games in three consecutive years, forming a five-year streak of Hiroti winning over 50 percent of his NSW Cup games, Hiroti has settled as an ideal depth option who can cover centre/wing. The fact that Hiroti even dabbled in halves mahi for a strong Newtwon Jets team this season only amplifies his footy ability.

Having top-30 players who cover multiple positions, have NRL experience and provide salary cap value is highly beneficial for Sharks. Hiroti is the ideal squad member and Sharks also have Waitemata junior Chris Vea'ila on the rise as a centre who coud plug a hole one the wing if required. Initially recruited by Knights from Auckland, Vea'ila made a mid-season switch to Sharks last season and rolled through 21 games of NSW Cup this year.

Hiroti and Vea'ila were the starting centres for Newtown in their NSW Cup final win. Hiroti has churned out 88 NSW Cup games and after making a few appearances in the Knights reserve grade team, Vea'ila has played 32 NSW Cup games. Sharks slowly develop their emerging talent with Iro offering a clear example of this and 21-year-old Vea'ila will probably need to chill in reserve grade for the start of 2025, while Hiroti provides reliable NRL cover.

Sharks don't have any Kiwi-NRL juniors in their Train/Trial group but Felix Fa'atili (Hornby) was announced by Sharks as having a contract extension with confirmation that he is in the summer training squad. Fa'atili was a consistent starting prop for the Sharks Under 21 Jersey Flegg team who made the final and stepped up to play one NSW Cup game last season, which is likely to set him up for a steady bench role in reserve grade next year.

Fa'atili leads a sneaky impressive cluster of Kiwi-NRL juniors in the Sharks system, even with Salesi Ataata moving to Rabbitohs. Lads like Richie Tupuailei (Hornby), Pharrell Gray (Rongotai College) and Manako Piutau (St Paul's College) all made an impact this year in U21/U19s and they will be interesting lads to track, as well as learning about the new youngsters from Aotearoa that Sharks have recruited.

St George Illawara Dragons

Not much of a Kiwi-NRL presence for Dragons with Otahuhu junior Ben Murdoch-Masila the only player from Aotearoa in the development or Train/Trial tiers. There is a lovely Otahuhu flavour with Christian Tuipulotu and Raymond Faitala-Mariner also Otahuhu juniors. Dragons are one of the only NRL teams who don't have multiple Kiwi-NRL juniors across their junior grades at the end of 2024 and we will be keeping close tabs to see if they step up their recruitment from Aotearoa.

Canberra Raiders

Ata Mariota (Manurewa) rolled through 23 NRL games this year, mainly playing through the middle but also offering edge forward cover. There was a clear increase in Mariota's offloading ability with three offloads in 16 games during the 2023 season jumping up to 14 offloads in 23 games, which along with his powerful running should see Mariota consistently feature in the Raiders top-17 next season.

Raiders also have Simi Sasagi (Ellerslie) brewing as an edge forward who could cover middle or centre if required. Sasagi played 16 NRL games in three seasons with Knights and had 10 games in his first season with Raiders, usually coming off the bench but also starting three games at edge forward and playing 80 minutes.

Sasagi scored his first two NRL tries this year and sneaky Raiders development boost was also evident in his NSW Cup mahi. In his fourth season of reserve grade, Sasagi played 16 games which was slightly less than his last season with Knights playing 18 games. Despite playing less games, Sasagi scored nine tries (six in 2023) and he had far more linebreaks (16 vs three) as well as offloads (11 vs six) than he did finishing up with Knights.

Raiders have Jenson Taumoepeau (Western Suburbs - New Plymouth) in their Train/Trial group. Taumoepeau is an outside back who left Sharks and went to Northern Pride where he played 21 games of Queensland Cup this year, starting every game on the wing. Now Taumoepeau adds size to the Raiders outside back depth chart and while he was recruited from Taranaki as a youngster, Taumoepeau has now played a few seasons of reserve grade that should have him well prepared to snap up this opportunity.

Melbourne Storm

Moses Leo (Westlake Boys High School) has joined Storm from All Blacks Sevens and given how Will Warbrick (Ngongotaha) spent a whole season with Sunshine Coast in Queensland Cup after moving from rugby sevens, it will be interesting to see how Storm develop Leo. Forecasting as a centre/wing, Leo could get an opportunity in pre-season trials and Storm don't have as much depth at centre as they do in other positions so Leo could emerge for a debut at some point next season.

Storm have a bunch of Kiwi-NRL juniors in their Train/Trial group where they deploy their links to reserve grade teams in Queensland and New South Wales. Vaka Sikahele (Manurewa) and Setu Tu (Otahuhu) are with Brisbane Tigers, while Nathaniel Roache (Richmond) and Morgan Harper (Ngaruawahia) are with North Sydney Bears. Sikahele is primarily a dummy half who could flourish as a small forward, offering more versatility than Roache who is just a hooker. Tu is a winger and Harper is mainly a centre.

Two lads to watch out for deeper in the Storm system are K-Ci Newton-Whare (Riccarton) and Josiah-Ekkehard Neli (Hornby). Both are from Christchurch and both play through the middle. They are in the U21 mix for Storm heading into 2025 and could step up to play reserve grade in either Queensland or New South Wales.

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