Aotearoa Warriors have officially announced the signings of Peta Hiku and Matiu Love-Henry as the winds of change shift from a breeze to a gale through Mt Smart's corridors. I wrote about Love-Henry's return to the Warriors a few weeks ago, so we don't need to go up that tree again. If you want to get the down low on my thoughts about Love-Henry's signing and why it's a nifty piece of business, go check that out.

I also wrote about Hiku's possible signing when news about that broke and now we've got official word, I can get up to my neck it what it means. Those winds of change have upgraded to a gale with the signing of Hiku because this now means that we are likely to see a vastly different Warriors backline next season. There are a variety of options available to coach Stephen Kearney and we have to remember that Kearney was the bloke who used Tohu Harris and Hiku in some funky positions for Aoteraoa when he needed to.

Negative Neds out there will highlight that this is an example of Kearney being a crap coach.

Positive Pablos like myself with highlight that this could only be done thanks to the nek-level skill of Harris as an edge forward and Hiku's versatility.

A Montage to Manly Sea Eagles representative winger Peta Hiku. ASK QUESTIONS AND KEEP UPDATED - INSTAGRAM: https://instagram.com/jj_montages/ ALL FOOTAGE BELONGS NRL.

Hiku's versatility means that trying to predict with any sense of certainty what position he'll play, is tricky. For now, I'm going to roll with Hiku being the best centre available to Kearney and that's going to mean that Blake Ayshford and Solomone Kata are in for a huge summer in terms of impressing Kearney. The only lockdown selections in the Warriors backline are Roger Tuivasa-Sheck, Shaun Johnson and David Fusitu'a - I still view Fusitu'a's best position as wing.
Ata Hingano is the likeliest option to replaced Kieran Foran, so there's already a change there with Hingano consistently partnering Johnson. This is why Warriors fans should pay close attention to how Hingano steers Tonga around during the World Cup as their forward pack means nothing without a half who organises, controls and dictates their game-plan.

Hiku joins Gerard Beale as a new recruit and I highly doubt that Kearney would have signed either to offer depth. Kearney would have noted what he needs this season and that's why I found it so crazy that people are ignoring the long-term mindset here as Kearney had to suss out what he already had, before making changes. He's made changes now in bringing Hiku and Beale in, thus laying down the challenge for Ayshford, Kata and Ken Maumalo.

Right now, it's Kata and Maumalo who I view as being in the most danger. This could be part of a completely re-vamped left edge as Tohu Harris replaces Ryan Hoffman, joining Hiku and Beale. That's a whole new left edge folks and it's an upgrade in all aspects, especially defensively.

This ultimately comes down to a battle between Kata and Ayshford. The alternative to the above is that Hiku replaces Ayshford. I prefer centres who do their job and feed the footy to their wingers though and Kata is more inclined to step off his left foot, running back in-field, than he is delivering a variety of passes to Maumalo; feeding the beast. Ayshford is a limited player, which is to his advantage as his job is giving Fusitu'a the footy and not busting a game open.

What this means for Kata and Maumalo, or Ayshford, is one of the super intriguing narratives to follow this summer. Perhaps there might be some sort of positional shift for Kata or Maumalo? In my strongest Warriors backline, I don't have either Kata nor Maumalo; Tuivasa-Sheck, Fusitu'a, Ayshford, Hiku, Beale, Hingano, Johnson.

Otherwise, Hiku could be used in literally almost a hundred other ways. He could be the halves partner for Johnson, he could play on the wing, he even spent time this season as an edge forward for Penrith and came off the bench for them in a utility role.

We can't sleep on the depth required to compete at a high level in the NRL either. All these equations about possible selections deal in perfect world where no one is injured, or suspended and we've all seen that this perfect world doesn't exist. Hiku can plug a hole for a few weeks in any backline position, just as Beale can. While it's cool to deal in that perfect world, the major takeaway from the Warriors signings is that they are far better equipped to deal with the ebs and flows of an NRL season than they have been.

Peace and love 27.

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