Round 3: BULLDOGS v TITANS (2024)

[Hail Sezer]

Why's that mate he's played there is the juniors and lets face it he's going to be to small @ 1

When did he play as a halfback in juniors?

[RavShamrock]

When did he play as a halfback in juniors?

Google it

[RavShamrock]

MDREW the man himself we can thank for this wonderful work (love ya work buddy)

Keano Kini.
The dynamic half is a Titans contracted youngster from Auckland New Zealand who started in the halves for the Titans U16 side that played the U16 Newcastle Knights Harold Matthews squad in Coffs Harbour in January 2020. In the match Keano Kini operated on the right side of the field with fellow New Zealander and halves partner Levon Pure on the left.

Keano Kini was acknowledged for his performance by Titans JTS Co-ordinator Matt Srama in his review of the match in a video on the Titans Official Site after the match especially taking into account that Keano Kini had only two or three field sessions with the rest of the team prior to the match.

In March 2020 Keano Kini was selected to captain the under 16 NZtag Black team that was due to compete in the 2020 Trans-Tasman Series however that competition was postponed as a result of the Covid 19 pandemic. Early 2020 also saw Keano Kini named in the initial New Zealand rugby league U16 representative squad.

Keano Kini was not able to play much rugby league in 2020 but was able to play First XV school boy rugby in New Zealand for Rosmini College, not bad at all for a 16 year old.

Keano Kini started the 2020 school boy rugby year at fullback (N0. 15) for Rosmini College in their pre-season match against Rangitoto Collage, and when he season proper started all six of Rosmini College's First XV matches at fullback, finishing second in the competition with five wins and just one loss.

Keano Kini started against Kaipara High School (Round One 59 - 0 win), Westlake Boys High School (Round Two 24 - 19 loss), TGS (Round Three 31 - 5 win), Massey High School (Round Four 14 - 0), Orewa College (Round Five 48 - 5 win) and Whangarei Boys High (Round Six 43 - 10 win).

Post the school boy First XV competition, Keano Kini was selected for the New Zealand Rugby Blues U18 training squad.

In October 2020 Keano Kini played for Kotahitanga in the 2020 New Zeaand Maori tournament and post the competition of the tournament was named at fullback in the U17 All-tournament team.

Keano Kine started the Grand Final of the 2020 New Zeaand Maori Tournament at fullback for Kotahitanga as they defeated Taranaki Whanau 36 – 12 with Keano Kini scoring a try and kicking two conversions in the victory. Keano Kini scored when he was operating on the right side of the field and chased through a chip kick, taking the ball on the full and rounding two defenders to score under the posts.

The NZ Maori U17 side featuring Keano Kini at fullback played a New Zealand Residents U16 team on 24 October 2020 at Rotorua International Stadium with New Zealand Maori going down 46 – 6.

In 2019 Keano Kini played for Marist Saints in the Auckland U16 Open Rugby League competition even though he was impressively still U15 eligible. To be fair Keano Kini did not just play in the Auckland U16 competition, he absolutely dominated it, finishing at or near the top of the competition in the try scoring, goal kicking and overall points scoring categories.

Keano Kini moved to the Marist Saints from the Northcote Tigers where he had previously played his entire junior rugby league with before the 2019 season. Keano Kini currently attends Auckland’s Rosmini College where amongst other sporting pursuits Keano Kini played rugby, including sevens in Year Seven.

In the 2019 Auckland U16 Open competition, even though he was still U15 eligible Keano Kini had some outstanding matches including scoring twenty eight points from three tries and kicking eight goals against Mangere East Hawks in Round One and eighteen points from two tries and five goals against the Te Atatu Roosters in Round Two.

Being Marist Saints primary goal kicker meant that Keano Kini was one of the Auckland U16 Open competitions leading point’s scorers over the course of the 2019 season and try scorers for that matter.
Keano Kini started at half for Marist Saints in their 24- 12 semi-final win over the Waitemta Seagulls to progress to the 2019 Auckland U16 Open Grand Final.

In the 2019 Auckland U16 Open Grand Final Keano Kini started at half for Marist Saints against the Pakuranga Kingz with Marist Saints coming away with a 22 – 8 victory, with Keano Kini kicking three conversions from four attempts with his only miss being his first attempt of the Grand Final from wide out to the right of the uprights.

Keano Kini also set up Marist Saints first try of the Grand Final. Early in the first half, Keano Kini, was operating on the right side of the field two off the ruck. After receiving the ball is space, Keano Kini ran at the line with the ball out in front of his body in two hands, accelerating as he went. Impressively Keano Kini ran at the gap between two defenders, drawing both before popping a great short ball to his right for his fullback to surge over.

Also in 2019 Keano Kini started at half and kicked a conversion for the Auckland U16 side in their NRL curtain raiser in May 2019 against an U16 Future Warriors side at Mt Smart Stadium.

Keano Kini was part of the Marist Saints side that toured Australian in July 2019 playing a number of matches including a match on the Gold Coast against a Keebra Park select side in prefect conditions on the Gold Coast at Keebra Park’s school campus. In that match Keano Kini kicked five conversions.

Keano Kini also started at half in another tour match against the Mudgeeraba Redbacks with Kenao Kini kicking six goals as Marist Saints defeated the Redbacks 48 – 0, with Keano Kini also recording a try assist, when operating on the right of the field, he held the ball up bueatifully to put the Marist Saints right centre away on a twenty metre run to to score.

To cap off an outstanding 2019, Keano Kini was selected in the New Zealand U16 side that played a TAO Samoa U16 side in Auckland in October. Keano Kini played the entire match at half for New Zealand and converted their final try with six minutes to go from directly in front as his New Zealand side went down 26 – 20.

Even though he played the 2019 season in the Auckland Rugby League U16 competition and represented New Zealand at the U16 level, Keano Kini was still U15 eligible in 2019 and represented the Akarana Falcons in that age group in the 2019 New Zealand U15 National Youth Tournament, an impressive achievement.

On Day One of the Tournament Keano Kini started at half and scored for the Akarana Falcons as they defeated the Wellington Orca’s 40 – 10. On Day Two Keano Kini once again started at half back as his Akarana Falcons side won 12 – 0 against the South Island Scorpions to be unbeaten after two matches.

On Day Three Keano Kini had a huge match scoring a double and kicking four goals as the Akarana Falcons defeated the Northern Swords 48 – 4. In the Akarana Falcons semi-final clash against Wai Coa-Bay Keano Kini was once again at half and scored a double as the Akarana Falcons progressed to the Tournament final on the back of a 32 – 8 win.

In the New Zealand U15 National Youth Cup Final against the Manakua Stingrays Keano Kini led his Akarana Falcons side from half back to the New Zealand U15 National Youth Title on the back of a 18 -6 win.

At the conclusion of the Championship Final, Keano Kini was named the New Zealand U15 National Youth Tournament Player of the Tournament and was also named at half in the U15 All-Tournament Team to cap an outstanding week for the budding Titans super star.

In 2018 Keano Kini represented the Akarana Falcons at the New Zealand U15 National Youth Tournament including kicking four conversions on Day One against the exceptionally named Wellington Orca’s.

Rugby League recognition is not new to Keano Kini who in 2016 was named MVP of the U13 2016 ARL Jets camp, also making the merit squad from the camp and playing for the Auckland U13 side.

2016 also saw Keano Kini named MVP of the Auckland Rugby League Regional Representative season when Keano Kini played in the U13 competition.

Incredibly Keano Kini attended a Titans meet and great session in 2014 at the home of the Northcote Tigers. Obviously the Titans players that were there made a very positive impression that day on Keano Kini.

In addition to also dabbling in rugby Keano Kini is also an outstanding athlete being named U13 Auckland Athlete of the year in 2016 for his exploits in other sports such as tennis and athletics amongst others.

Keano Kini continues to have an outstanding athletes career with Rosmini College. In 2019 Keano Kini competed in the Auckland North Zone Athletics Championships, running in the 100 metre and 200 metre events.

In the 100 metres, Keano Kini finished third in the final running 11.99 seconds into a head wind after running 11.88 seconds in the preliminaries. Keano Kini also finished second in the 200 metre final running 24.26 seconds improving the time that he ran in the preliminaries which was 24.35 seconds.

Keano Kini also competed for Rosmini College in the 2018 Auckland North Zone Athletics Championships, representing his school in long jump and the 100 metre and 200 metre spring events.

In the long jump Keano Kini finished second with a jump of 5.28 metres. In the 100 metres sprint Keano Kini finished sixth in the final running 11.65 seconds after running 12.50 in the preliminary round. In the 200 metre final Keano Kini finished second running 25.69 seconds after improving from running 25.95 seconds in the preliminary round.

In 2016 Keano Kini had an outstanding year from an athletics perspective including being awarded an Integrated Schools Sporting Award for winning a gold, silver and bronze medal at the Colgate Games and two gold medals at the Trans-Tasman Athletics Championships.

In 2016 Keano Kini was named the Rosmini College Intermediate Athlete of the Year after winning the long jump, 100 metres and 200 metres sprint races at the school athletics championships. Keano Kini jumped 5.87 metres to win the long jump, ran 11.65 seconds to win the 100 metres and 23.7 seconds to win the 200 metre sprint.

To round off an impressive 2016 Keano Kini represented Rosmini College in basketball at the NZCT AIMS Games, ultimately being named in the boys merit side after leading Rosmini College to a second place finish.

Even though Keano Kini has plus acceleration off the mark and above average top speed, his primary focus on a football field is to direct his side around the field, putting his side where they need to be to maintain pressure on the opposition.

Holding the ball out in front of his body in both hands enables Keano Kini to put doubt into the minds of the opposing defensive line and thus he can dummy and run if there is a gap in the defensive line or put his support runners into gaps or for that matter get the ball out to his back line as quickly as possible.

Getting the ball out to the back line quickly is no issue for Keano Kini as he has a very good long passing technique which delivers the ball quickly and accurately to the right place. Keano Kini’s decisive nature also means that when the ball needs to get out to his back line he will get it out there quickly to give his outside backs as much space as possible to work with prior to contact with the opposing defensive line.

In defence, due to his size Keano Kini is obviously not going to come up with the big hit but reads the play well and can more than hold his own when defending much bigger players and against players with similar size is very aggressive when finishing off his tackles and slowing the resultant play the ball down.

Keano Kini is also very vocal on the field always talking and encouraging his side and doing it in a positive way.

Keano Kini is also a very good goal kicker with both good range and accuracy and as a consequence I would suggest that he is likely to be his side’s primary goal kicker regardless of the level he progresses to into the future.

Keano Kini also has a very good short attacking kicking game with a positive being that he will go right to the line before dropping the ball to his foot, add to the fact that he regularly runs with the ball out in front of his body in both hands, he gives defensive lines a lot to consider, is Keano Kini going to kick, run or pass, a defensive line that anticipates incorrectly will be scrambling to recover before he makes them pay for their error in judgement.

Like with his goal kicking Keano Kini has a real opportunity to be his team’s primary tactical kicking option going forward.

Keano Kini’s season with Marist Saints in the Auckland Rugby League U16 Open competition came to a positive conclusion with their Grand Final victory and going forward Keano Kini should also be part of the Akarana Falcons side that takes part of the 2019 New Zealand National Youth Championships U15 tournament later in the year.

Keano Kini will play in the MM Cup in 2021 and post that competition will play in the GCRL U18 Division One competition as well as playing in the GIO and Langer Cup school boy competitions.

Keano Kini has played half for the duration of his young career to date and there is nothing in the way that he plays to indicate any necessity for that situation to change. I must note however that Keano Kini was more than impressive at fullback in school boy rugby in 2020 as well as for New Zealand Maori.

My NRL player comparison for Keano Kini is fellow New Zealander, Cronulla Sharks and New Zealand International Shaun Johnson as a comparison from a playing stand point. Like Shaun Johnson, Keano Kiri has a wicked side step and plus acceleration as well as the ability to lead his side around the field and put them where they need to be. Like Johnson Keano Kini is also a solid (if not better) tactical and goal kicker and is more than good enough to be his team’s primary opinion in both of those kicking categories.

No one can predict the future but how Keano Kini’s game develops over the coming years will be something that I will be keeping a very close eye on especially in relation to his ball playing and game management skills which will be outstanding supplements to Keano Kiri’s already outstanding attacking skills.

[RavShamrock]

Another little snippet from Silvertails.net rugby forum

Chris Faagutu​
State: Qld
Position: Lock
Affiliation: Wests Tigers
School: Marsden SHS
The mobile Faagutu is captain of Marsden SHS in his third season of Langer Trophy. He has made The Courier-Mail’s Langer Team of the Year in both 2020 and 2021 and last season, along with Keano Kini (#7), Faagutu was named joint Langer Trophy Player of the Year in 2021. In May he was also a member of Karmichael Hunt’s Souths Logan premiership winning Meninga Cup side.
27

[Titanic]

Ravs rests his case on Kini and I must admit that for all the reasons I have mentioned in previous discussions about size etc that I am a bit of a supporter of him in closer.

Did he ever deliver torpedoes when he was here...I only ever remember cringing at his kicks

And you're right about this but it does provide good evidence that a good coach can find the diamond in the rough ... surprise, surprise, surprise.

[RavShamrock]

Did anyone ever think Jahrome Hughes would kill it @ #7

[Mini GF]

What I liked also in that post was that he is a good goalkicker.
Good work RVS.
You have to admit he makes a good point about J.Hughes too.

Having said that I’m all in for Weaver at halfback NOW and Tanah being a low wage depth player.
If Tanah doesn’t like it he can find a new club.

[NZTITAN]

Did anyone ever think Jahrome Hughes would kill it @ #7

Using Jahrome Hughes as any example for anything junior development related is the biggest exception to the rule ever lmao, dude was NOT the current Jahrome Hughes coming through the grades and showed nothing close to even being considered a legitimate NRL starting fullback let alone starting 7, or even among the game’s best today, handy player in the 20’s don’t get me wrong, but he is almost certainly Craig Bellamy’s greatest achievement from a “how the hell did he get THIS player out of THAT (referring to Gold Coast Hughes)”.

I think it’s very unlikely Kini makes a successful transition as a first receiver, its clear he excels as a secondary play-maker at very best, but I think he has shown he’s mostly comfortable as a support player for now. Frankly I’m also bullish on his size, he has some mass to put on that frame still, whereas someone like JC for example I think is going to be ice-skating uphill for the rest of his career as far as meaningful hypertrophy is concerned.

Just keep Kini at 1 for now, he’s now at the point where weekly Q-Cup resistance isn’t helping his development, he needs NRL reps and I think he’s closer to figuring it out than he’s been given credit for.

[Hail Sezer]

Another little snippet from Silvertails.net rugby forum

Chris Faagutu​
State: Qld
Position: Lock
Affiliation: Wests Tigers
School: Marsden SHS
The mobile Faagutu is captain of Marsden SHS in his third season of Langer Trophy. He has made The Courier-Mail’s Langer Team of the Year in both 2020 and 2021 and last season, along with Keano Kini (#7), Faagutu was named joint Langer Trophy Player of the Year in 2021. In May he was also a member of Karmichael Hunt’s Souths Logan premiership winning Meninga Cup side.
27

This is incorrect….anyone who actually watched that year of Langer would know this.

- - - Updated - - -

Google it

Id rather you tell me seeing as you’re so confident Ravs

And not a typo from a courier mail article.

Keano has played fullback every single game he’s played since landing in Aus as a 16 year old. He played a few minutes at 6 one time for the Titans 17s. I know this because I’ve watched every single one.

Unless you’re leaning on a few games he played in Auckland as a 14 or 15 year old, where he was still mostly playing at fb? I just don’t know if that experience would qualify him with much

But hey, I didn’t think JC would ever be anything close to a 7 and now I’ve done a 180 on that

[RavShamrock]

This is incorrect….anyone who actually watched that year of Langer would know this.

- - - Updated - - -



Id rather you tell me seeing as you’re so confident Ravs

And not a typo from a courier mail article.

Keano has played fullback every single game he’s played since landing in Aus as a 16 year old. He played a few minutes at 6 one time for the Titans 17s. I know this because I’ve watched every single one.

Unless you’re leaning on a few games he played in Auckland as a 14 or 15 year old, where he was still mostly playing at fb? I just don’t know if that experience would qualify him with much

But hey, I didn’t think JC would ever be anything close to a 7 and now I’ve done a 180 on that

So are you telling us MDrew is talking sh1t?

[Hail Sezer]

So are you telling us MDrew is talking sh1t?

Yes mate he's absolutely dribbling

No haha I'm telling you exactly what I said in my post...he played a bit of halves before he moved to Aus, but has played exclusively at fullback, in juniors (PBC, MM, Schools carnival, state, Aus Schools, Titans age group sides), since doing so. I wouldn't say that where someone played a bit of when they were 14 or 15 (albeit in a second grade Auckland comp) says anything about where they would be suited to play in first grade, if you disagree that's fine. If you read mdrew's post, you'll note it's referencing the 2020 season and prior. i.e. 4 years ago. Keano is 19.

For some perspective - Erin Clark played more halfback in junior grades and at a higher level than Keano Kini

[The Birdman]

Using Jahrome Hughes as any example for anything junior development related is the biggest exception to the rule ever lmao, dude was NOT the current Jahrome Hughes coming through the grades and showed nothing close to even being considered a legitimate NRL starting fullback let alone starting 7, or even among the game’s best today, handy player in the 20’s don’t get me wrong, but he is almost certainly Craig Bellamy’s greatest achievement from a “how the hell did he get THIS player out of THAT (referring to Gold Coast Hughes)”.

I think it’s very unlikely Kini makes a successful transition as a first receiver, its clear he excels as a secondary play-maker at very best, but I think he has shown he’s mostly comfortable as a support player for now. Frankly I’m also bullish on his size, he has some mass to put on that frame still, whereas someone like JC for example I think is going to be ice-skating uphill for the rest of his career as far as meaningful hypertrophy is concerned.

Just keep Kini at 1 for now, he’s now at the point where weekly Q-Cup resistance isn’t helping his development, he needs NRL reps and I think he’s closer to figuring it out than he’s been given credit for.

Agreed. If anyone of our 3 gun fullbacks should be playing 7 it's JC not Kini.

[Whats Doing]

Agreed. If anyone of our 3 gun fullbacks should be playing 7 it's JC not Kini.

Agreed Birdy

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Also in Union, the 5/8 as we call it, is also commonly known as a fly half in union. Just saying

[RavShamrock]

Agreed. If anyone of our 3 gun fullbacks should be playing 7 it's JC not Kini.

Just throwing it out buddy.

[RavShamrock]

Yes mate he's absolutely dribbling

No haha I'm telling you exactly what I said in my post...he played a bit of halves before he moved to Aus, but has played exclusively at fullback, in juniors (PBC, MM, Schools carnival, state, Aus Schools, Titans age group sides), since doing so. I wouldn't say that where someone played a bit of when they were 14 or 15 (albeit in a second grade Auckland comp) says anything about where they would be suited to play in first grade, if you disagree that's fine. If you read mdrew's post, you'll note it's referencing the 2020 season and prior. i.e. 4 years ago. Keano is 19.

For some perspective - Erin Clark played more halfback in junior grades and at a higher level than Keano Kini

I was just throwing this out there HS and in no way am I suggesting he would kill it but I'd love to hear how the kid things he would go in that position...he might just laugh like Willh did

And I doubt Erin ever had the explosive speed and footwork and good hands like Kini