Hazelton did the job asked of him last night. He played 49 minutes, made over 100m, made 32 tackles at 91% efficiency and no errors.
He is a 25 year old prop in his 2nd year of NRL stepping up to start against 2 international props. Anyone who expected him to do any more than hold his own is kidding themselves. His development from 15-20 minute cameos to playing well over 40 mins starting has been very good for this stage of his career. That is a massive change in role for an inexperienced player.
Tuks is Hazelton 12 months ago. Short stint after the sting is out of the game with a license to run hard and make an impact. He is doing that well. He is more explosive than Hazelton and has good upside as a power running forward. He played 19 minutes and made 9 runs for 80 metres with 37 post contact. He has 8 tackles, missed 1 and made an error. I was watching his defence last night and his contact is not good. He gets pushed back too easily for someone of his size. This is not unexpected for a rookie and will be worked on but fans see the flashy stuff.
In our best pack, Tuks is a closer comparison to Hunt as a power runner in short stints as the 4th prop. Hazelton is being developed into a 3rd prop who can cover minutes if needed.