Titans player-of-the-year Kini eyeing Kiwi debut

Gold Coast fullback Keano Kini was third choice No.1 at the start of 2024 but has capped an extraordinary season by winning the Titans’ player-of-the-year award.

The 20-year-old Paul Broughton Medal winner is on the cusp of making his New Zealand Test debut in the Pacific Championships after being named in the Kiwis extended squad.

Titans captain and Kiwis veteran Kieran Foran has been vocal behind the scenes for Kini to play in the post-season Tests and coach Stacey Jones will find it hard to leave him out.

Foran, who played in last year’s 30-0 win over Australia in the Pacific Championships final, will be unavailable due to planned ankle surgery.

Kini was in the squad last year but did not get on the field.

Such was his Titans club form this year Kini was preferred to Jayden Campbell at No.1 and kept Queensland representative AJ Brimson out of the fullback spot when he returned from an injury lay-off.

He only played 16 games this season but the pocket rocket made them count, averaging 212m per game. He twice broke the Titans’ running metres record for a match with 344m in a 32-16 loss to St George Illawarra in round 24, breaking his own previous record mark of 321m in the 18-10 loss to Wests Tigers in round 15.

The Auckland-born dynamo had only played two NRL games this season before round two. At the Titans presentation evening he was nowhere near the leaderboard after round 12 but blitzed the field in the second half of the season.

He finished on 19 points ahead of centre Brian Kelly (16) and prop Moeaki Fotuaika (15).

In doing so he emulated club great Preston Campbell who was the only other Titans fullback to win the Paul Broughton Medal in 2008.