Diary Of An Aotearoa Warriors Fan: Transfer Shenanigan Update #4
Follow him home Matz.
Creeping under the radar and of interest for a variety of reasons was Aotearoa Warriors signing Matiu Love-Henry, from Brisbane Broncos. Love-Henry was formerly with the Warriors and joined a long list of former Junior Warriors who have gone on to play in Australia at reserve grade level, doing enough to get a contract with the Broncos. That contract didn't result in any NRL minutes for Love-Henry, it did however put him in front of Stephen Kearney.
That's the first splash of funk in this as we're consistently seeing Kearney's influence in player signings. Kearney and Tohu Harris would have crossed paths back in 2009/2010 when Kearney was still coaching at Melbourne Storm and Harris played his first Under 20s season with the Storm. Then obviously Kearney and Harris worked together with Aotearoa Kiwis, just as Gerard Beale and Peta Hiku (Hiku's still unconfirmed) played under Kearney for Aotearoa.
Adam Blair shares the closest relationship (still unconfirmed) with Kearney having worked together at the Storm, Broncos and for Aotearoa. The most exciting arrival though is strength/fitness guru Alex Corvo, who has also worked with Kearney in Melbourne and Brisbane. It's also relevant to mention that the likes of Jordan Kahu and Alex Glenn were also targeted by the Warriors, both Broncos who have played under Kearney's assistant coach guidance.
Kearney needed a cheap edge forward to replace Bodene Thompson, so he went back into his Broncos bag of goodies and snared Love-Henry. Sure, there's the Warriors connection there and the Warriors are making a low key habit of bringing back players who they let go earlier in their careers; not a terrible or embarrassing move when you consider that many of these lads need to get out of Auckland and learn about life.
While there wasn't a short-term pathway for more NRL minutes in Brisbane, Love-Henry could have seen game time when Matt Gillett or Glenn were out on rep duty, or injured. Brisbane have been developing Jaydn Su'a and he's next in line, while Sam Thaiday is doing a fine job in the middle, so Love-Henry would have been at least in the mix.