Captain Harmon enjoying leading from the front

New Brighton loose forward Billy Harmon has found himself in unfamiliar territory this season, not just in his ability to play across 6, 7 or 8, but in being the squad’s captain so far in 2022.

Harmon, who has also ticked off 50 games for Canterbury this year, has stepped up into a leading role, finding enjoyment in both the performances of the team, but also the opportunities that leadership has provided him.  

“It’s been really good (to have the captaincy), it hasn’t been too much of a challenge as I’m pretty lucky to have people around me doing such a good job leading in their areas too.” said Harmon. 

“It’s been a good chance at this stage of my career, and it’s gone well so far” 

There’s certainly an argument to be had that having the captaincy has allowed Billy the opportunity to get as much out of this season as possible, completing 95% (52 out of 55) tackles as well as nabbing two tries and helping set up four others.  

It’s those efforts and more that have all contributed towards the NPC team continuing to get positive results, albeit sometimes coming late into the second half. 

“It was an awesome performance on Sunday (against Northland), while we didn’t come out of the gates as well as we would have liked, we showed that we can adjust as a team and we can finish off really well.” Harmon said. 

“We certainly have given some great second half performances this season, so for us, it’s about bringing that intensity from the off, so that will be a massive thing for us going forward.” 

It leaves Canterbury with three tough games to finish the regular season, with the trip to Counties Manukau followed by matches against two of Canterbury’s biggest rivals, Auckland and Otago.  

“We know that the next three matches will be tough, but in the same sense, we know we’ll be ready for those as the boys love playing in those sorts of games.”