Former All Blacks winger Jeff Wilson believes Queensland's Kiwi recruit Mike Harris didn't fit the New Zealand mould but should make his homeland pay with the Reds, and possibly Wallabies.

Harris's sensational round five Super Rugby cameo didn't surprise Wilson, his North Harbour coach, in the slightest with the dual international predicting New Zealand's loss would be Australia's long-term gain.

Harris made a line break with his first touch of the ball, scored two tries in two minutes and then set up the Reds' final try, and converted it from the sideline, to ensure a record 53-3 victory over the Melbourne Rebels.

A virtual unknown before the weekend, he's now being spoken about as a Wallabies prospect courtesy of an Australia-born grandmother.

While desperate to keep the former New Zealand Schoolboys and Under 20 rep at home late last year, Wilson couldn't be happier for Harris, who is ready and willing to switch allegiances.

Wilson said the tall and powerful 22-year-old "flourished" at five-eighth in the New Zealand provincial competition but was unable to pick up a Super Rugby contract with any of the five Kiwi franchises.

"Unfortunately he wasn't able to get a chance here and I'm disappointed about that," the 60-Test winger said. "I tried very hard to get him in somewhere around New Zealand but a lot of people stayed loyal to their (local) players.

"Mike is a very combative, very aggressive first five-eighth. In New Zealand we tend to look at ball distributors a little more.

"Sometimes it's about fitting the mould and here in New Zealand he just didn't fit it at the right time.

"From my perspective it's great for him. He's enjoying it over there and he's thriving."

Reds coach Ewen McKenzie, aware of the utility back's heritage, swooped last September and Harris jumped at the chance to be playmaker Quade Cooper's back-up.

"I wasn't getting too much interest back home," Harris said. "I felt like I was plateauing a little bit.

"If I hung around there I would have been hoping and waiting on a draft contract."

Although his grandmother, Marion O'Connell, lived in Australia for just the first five years of her life, Harris is feeling more Aussie every day after producing one of the best 20-minute cameos seen in Super Rugby.

On a two-year deal with the Reds, he admitted he wouldn't give a second thought to jumping ship if he continued to take his opportunities and Robbie Deans came knocking.

"Yep definitely," he said. "If that opportunity comes I'd take it with two hands and go for it.

"I'm loving Brisbane and the Queensland way of life.

"It's funny, the Australian-born grandmother is living in NZ and the other one, born in New Zealand, is living on the Gold Coast."

Harris, a great foil for the mercurial Cooper, is in the frame to make his first start for Queensland at inside centre on Saturday with McKenzie admitting Anthony Faingaa could move to outside centre to accommodate him against the Cheetahs at Suncorp Stadium.

Skipper James Horwill's likely return from an ankle injury will hinge on how he pulls up from training on Tuesday.

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