Diary of An Aotearoa Warriors Fan: Don't Worry, Blake Green is Playing
Not sure what the New Zealand equivalent of a Brinks truck is?
Last week it was Blake Green who was a late scratching from the Warriors team, this week Issac Luke and Tohu Harris have been omitted from the initial Warriors team to face Gold Coast Titans. Having recently played a bunch of games without Harris, his absence won't have much of an impact given, but the absence of Luke will see the Warriors play back to back games without a key member of their spine.
Keep that in mind when making any type of judgement about the Warriors during this time. Playing without Green's class and experience felt like the difference between winning and losing vs Melbourne Storm last week, now the bloke who sparks so much of the Warriors attack is absent.
We've seen a mix and match spine, Harris is still out injured, Adam Blair is suspended and I still think the situation at centre or more specifically with Peta Hiku is far from sussed. In a big picture sense; we haven't seen a full-strength Warriors team for a long time and there are still selection queries for coach Stephen Kearney. That's reason to smile as no one really knows what the best Warriors team can actually do.
Narrow it back down to this game on the GC and I reckon that playing without Green is tougher than playing without Luke. Karl Lawton and Jazz Tevaga will probably share dummy half minutes and while neither has the all-round skill of Luke, they both like to run the footy. You won't see any 40m kicks from Lawton or Tevaga, but you will see them scoot out of dummy half and all as long as the hooking rotation combines for 7+ dummy half runs, Luke's absence can be absorbed.
Having Green back means that the Warriors have two equal play-makers on either side of the ruck, forcing the defence to stay engaged and not load up on one or the other. Green allows Johnson to do what he's best at, while also pulling the strings in attack himself in terms of running his plays and patiently building pressure with his kicking.
Green is also a far, far better defender than Mason Lino. Not that Green's an awesome defender, but Lino averages 4 missed tackles/game while Green averages just 2.5. Lino not only averages the most missed tackles/game, he averages the most errors/game and is one of the most penalised players in the Warriors.
The impact of playing with Green is greater than playing without Luke, assuming that Green, Johnson and Roger Tuivasa-Sheck are all playing when Luke is absent. This is also a low key bummer for Luke's ongoing contract situation as he's playing in the shop window. My gut feel is that Luke has been playing busted for the past few months because of that and now, maybe as a new contract is close to being signed, Luke has been given the 'all good' for a rest; 'we're playing the Titans, we think we can beat the Titans without you and we need you healthy for the coming weeks more than just this week and you don't need to play for a contract any more, so chill' ... maybe?
Harris' absence doesn't come at the best time. Blair had been playing on the right edge, with Simon Mannering through the middle and there's not too much of a drop off between Harris, Mannering or Blair playing right edge. Expect Mannering to stay in the middle for this game, the Warriors are graced with the return of Leivaha Pulu which is handy and Pulu could come straight into the starting team or Joseph Vuna could get a start, with Pulu coming on to the bench.
If the Warriors can lay a platform and match, out-play the Titans in the middle then they should have too much attacking firepower for the Titans. The major issue, or test for the Warriors is kicking it with the likes of Jarrod Wallace, Ryan James, Jai Arrow and then Moeaki Fotuaika's impact off the bench.
There has been this lingering narrative of the Warriors being steam-rolled through the middle by better forward packs and while they weren't exactly steam-rolled by Melbourne, they were out-played in the middle. This isn't solely about metres, there's also physicality, energy, aggression and wrestle that comes into the equation and that Titans middle crew could surprise the Warriors if they are slightly off their game.
As this game hinges on that battle and as it's round 20, nearing Finals footy and then sprinkle the absences of Blair and Harris especially, what happens in the trenches will be of great intrigue. It'll decide the game, but also give us an insight into what the ceiling is for this forward pack and how dominant they can be.
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Peace and love 27.