Puru power: Debutant Niwhai happy to join twin in All Stars journey

As one of 10 debutants in the Men’s Indigenous All Stars side, Niwhai Puru was happy to see a familiar face in camp, joining his twin brother Hohepa for this year’s campaign.

The duo – who with their sister make up a set of triplets – are eligible for both cultures as their father is Aboriginal and mother is Māori, with Hohepa, who has been named at lock this year, making his debut in last year’s game for the Indigenous All Stars.

“It’s been amazing,” Niwhai said of the week in camp under coach Ronnie Griffiths.

“My brother experienced it last year and he said it keeps your cup full and you embrace the journey and the week and the game takes care of itself, but these past few days have been amazing for me.

“It's all about culture and connecting with brothers.

“Obviously 10 debutants it's pretty big, so connecting with people that you've never played with and embracing their culture and their journey in life, so it's been amazing for the first couple of days that I've been in.

“We have our cultural circles at nighttime and we talk about how important this All Stars week is for not only debutants but Māori people, Indigenous people, First Nations people, it's important for us, we embrace it.

“We love it and there's some talk about how Vegas is kind of taken the spotlight for this week for us, but this is an important week for us and people love it. There'll be thousands of people down there at CommBank representing how important this is for us and our people. It’s an important week and important journey for us.

“The players that have been there before, of course they've kind of taken that leadership role even though they're the Elders and older heads, we've kind of had to step up to the plate and embrace that there is a lot of new debutants and we have to kind of step up to the pressure.

“But that's what we're here for, we love footy and we just go out there and show what we're made of and what our journey has been to get to this stage.

“When Ronnie gave us that call full of opportunity, we didn't take a step back and we're not going to and we'll show that.”

The selections comes after a big year for the Sharks-contracted Puru who helped guide the Newtown Jets to last year’s The Knock-On Effect NSW Cup title, winning player of the match in the 28-22 win over North Sydney.

Still working towards NRL debut, this season, the All Stars halfback is joined by Hohepa at Cronulla, who has transferred from the Raiders on search of more opportunity.

A game that has seen emerging players stand up and impress, both will be hoping to make their mark. But for now, Puru was excited to be joining with his brother in camp and expect a large contingent of family to come in support.

“It's good we obviously did the preseason together at Cronulla there and it was good to have that connection before coming into the camp, but I've missed playing with my brother and guiding me through this camp, it's been amazing.

“I can't wait to put those colours on and pull the jersey on and play for our culture.

“Both sides of the family are really proud, my mom is Māori and she's been a big part of our life, but she embraces as much as I am on the other side of the fence, but they're proud of me, both sides, and they're happy that I represent my culture and they made shirts for us there for the game so they'll be there to embrace with us.”

Tickets for Harvey Norman All Stars 2025 are available from nrl.com/tickets, starting at $25 for adults and $75 for families (two adults and two children).