Jimmy Mill, from Ngāti Porou, entered rugby as a top-class halfback. Mill was regarded by his peers as the best in his position during the era in which he played and he would often comment on his ability to take a photograph in his mind of where every player stood on the field before he fed the scrum. He, along with George Nepia, toured with the 1924 Invincibles and subsequently became a household name. Mill was described as being as ‘elusive as an eel’.