So our NZ Warriors have bombed at the NRL Nines. From the Shaun Johnson kerfuffle to the disparity between having Ruben Wiki leading a young pack of eager-beavers who couldn't quite hold the pill; it was an eventful bombing. In many ways, the fortunes of the Warriors and how the first day of their Nines weekend went, reflects the predicament that the Nines now finds itself in.

As always, I tend to stick with footballin' matters and chose to ignore the discussion around the future of the Nines in Auckland for example. So if you're wanting thoughts on that, then slide on to a mainstream media outlet. 

While the Warriors did bomb the first day of the Nines, it's definitely all good. We all know that the Warriors have tended to put a fair bit of resource and emphasis into the Nines as they are effectively the host team and for some reason, while other teams understandably neglect the Nines, the Warriors have always had pressure on them to perform at the Nines. That's never brought with it legit NRL success though and any sort of noise that has a tinge of disappointment about the Warriors at the Nines, needs to be met with a stern 'who cares?'
You want relative Nines success followed by another shitty NRL season?

I mean, who knows what's gonna happen this season but compared to previous seasons, the Warriors have fluffed the Nines and enter this season with Roger Tuivasa-Sheck as their skipper. I'm excited. 

The Shaun Johnson situation is very interesting as he's in the same boat as Jarryd Hayne and Jonathan Thurston with these three operating as the faces of the Nines, promoting the event and undoubtedly getting reimbursed for their work. Thurston is joined by Cameron Smith and Cooper Cronk as the best players in the game and I'd be fairly confident in saying that he wouldn't be playing in Auckland if he wasn't getting some assistance. 

A healthy Johnson is crucial to the Warriors NRL hopes, although his style of footy is also perfectly suited to selling Nines tickets. This is being written before day two gets underway, so Johnson might play and risk doing further damage to his groin injury which with the Warriors loosing their day one games, seems incredibly stupid. The Warriors can't come out early and say that Johnson won't play though, because Johnson is an ambassador of the competition. 

This is a unique situation thanks to Johnson's standing at the Nines; if Jason Taumalolo gets the slightest niggle for the Cowboys, he's going no where near that Eden Park turf and that would be made clear rather quickly. It makes zero sense to push Johnson to play given how the Warriors are situation in the competition.

The joy of the Nines has always been seeing young blokes emerge, guys who have either crept up from the Under 20's competition or blokes who have served their time in reserve grade and have worked hard in summer training to cement a first grade spot. Established NRL players should always enjoy more time and space that the Nines offers, which youngsters make the biggest impression during the tournament is where interest should sit.

Hence it was cool to see Warriors half Sam Cook scoot away to score a try after stepping in for Johnson. Cook has returned to the Warriors, boosting their halves depth and the list of young Warriors halves is now a lengthy one; Cook, Ata Hingano, Tui Lolohea, Mason Lino, Erin Clark, Chanel Harris-Tavita.