One New Zealand Warriors Ali Leiataua and Kalani Going have been named in the New South Wales Cup Team of the Year.
Both excelled as the Warriors marked their return to the competition after a three-year absence by finishing third in the regular season.
Their play-offs campaign came to an end with a 24-28 loss to North Sydney leaving them one win short of making the grand final.
Centre Leiataua (20) made his NRL debut in the One New Warriors’ round 15 win over Canberra while back rower Going (26) was called up for his first NRL appearance in the final regular season match against Redcliffe.
Going appeared in 24 of the team’s 27 matches while Leiataua was limited to 16 games due to the hamstring injury which sidelined him for several weeks in the latter part of the season.
With 11 tries, Going was the Warriors’ leading try scorer with Leiataua next best with 10.
Going and Leiataua were the team’s top line breakers with 13 each while Going produced the side’s best numbers for post-contact metres with 1062 (ninth in the competition) and tackles with 721 (sixth overall). He was the Warriors' second best for most runs (300) and for most metres (2764). Leiataua made 2204 metres, averaging 137 metres a game.
Going had a total of 82 line breaks and Leiataua 77, an average of almost five a game including an exceptional 14 in the week two play-off win over Canberra.
NEW SOUTH WALES CUP TEAM OF THE YEAR
1 Isaiah Iongi (Penrith Panthers)
2 Clayton Faulalo (Blacktown Workers Sea Eagles)
3 Kayal Iro (Newtown Jets)
4 Ali Leiataua (One New Zealand Warriors)
5 Fetalaiga Pauga (North Sydney Bears)
6 Jesse Marschke (North Sydney Bears)
7 Dean Hawkins (South Sydney Rabbitohs)
8 Liam Henry (Penrith Panthers)
9 Peter Mamouzelos (South Sydney Rabbitohs)
10 Trey Mooney (Canberra Raiders)
11 Clay Webb (Canberra Raiders)
12 Kalani Going (One New Zealand Warriors)
13 Zach Dockar-Clay (North Sydney Bears)
