Canterbury's Moses Mbye may be making a splash since taking over as fullback but he hasn't relinquished his kicking responsibilities as the club, easily leading among non-halves players for total kick metres in the Telstra Premiership.
Canterbury's best performance this year came last week with a 27-10 win over the Cowboys in Townsville and it was also Mbye's biggest return off the boot, clearing a match-high 338 metres – well ahead of regular kicker and halfback Kieran Foran (233 metres). It was the first time this year Mbye had topped the kick metre tally in a game but he has regularly been second behind Foran.
According to NRL.com Stats, Mbye's total of 802 kick metres in six matches this season (which is essentially five matches since he didn't have a kick in a concussion-affected round four) is more than any player that doesn't wear a number 6 or 7 on his back, and second at the club after Foran's 1331.
Second in the NRL among non-halves is Cameron Smith, whose 652 kick metres is next best for a non-halves player. Then comes two more hookers in Peter Wallace (359) and Andrew McCullough (320) then Cowboy Ben Hampton (237), who is accustomed to playing in the halves but has mostly been at fullback for North Queensland this year. The second best specialist fullback for kick metres is Billy Slater with just 131 kick metres.
"Obviously I've had experience playing in the halves so I can add a bit of influence with my kicking game," Mbye said.
"We've got two right footers in our side (Foran and Jeremy Marshall-King) so playing on that left side it's hard to kick right-footed.
"Me being left-footed, it's a little bit easier for me to jump in and do some of that. I thought I'd put my hand up to help out a little bit."