Sussing out all things Aotearoa Warriors isn't very fun these days, yet there is the annual look at how the Warriors are building their playing stocks to dive into. Each year I pile up notes and observations, trying to make sense and present a package of what is happening below the surface of the NRL team. This year, it's no different with a bunch of wrinkles having to explore, while being completely different as we approach a key juncture for the club.

From a broad perspective, 2019 sucked for the men's side of the Warriors.

The NRL team weren't competitive and blatantly didn't respond to any coaching. Meanwhile, both the Cantebury Cup and Jersey Flegg teams missed out on the finals. When all three teams aren't very good, it makes sense that some niggly decisions would be made in response and so, in recent weeks we have seen Alex Corvo and Brian Smith gap the scene.

With that in mind, perhaps this isn't so much a deep dive into how the Warriors are building their junior base and more a deep dive into 'wtf are the Warriors up to?'. Corvo's departure could be viewed as leaving a major hole in the strength and conditioning system at Mt Smart, although the Warriors looked slow, lethargic and lacking the intensity or even enthusiasm of other teams.

That kinda epitomises where we are at with many aspects of the Warriors because most of it feels like it can't be explained. I've settled on the idea of the Warriors being cursed (most who go to Mt Smart, fall victim to the cures), but for the sake of optimism, I won't bring up the curse too much here. Corvo was an infamous strength and conditioning coach, who worked with coach Stephen Kearney at Melbourne Storm and Brisbane Broncos, the tough-bugger-Aussie who every kiwi sports fan wants at the Warriors. Corvo appears to have had little to no impact on the Warriors, merely based off the facts of 2019.

Of course, we can try and explain why Corvo's style didn't work. We can try and explain why Smith left, or we can try and explain what is wrong in any aspect of the club. To be straight up though, anyone who tries to explain stuff about the Warriors, really thinks highly of their opinions. The Warriors have a history of getting this player in only for it to not really work, or get this coach or staff member in and meh. Acting like I have solutions to any of these issues would be ludicrous; this club has by-passed the realms of logical thinking far too many times.

Prior to the news of Corvo and Smith leaving, a mainstream media outlet got the major scoop of a yarn with Smith. That was about a week before Smith was confirmed as gone, so it was super weird and that weirdness is amplified with Smith talking about the new plan to scrap the Jersey Flegg team, replacing it with an SG Ball team. This move and the ramifications of such a move form the crux of this annual yarn.

Jersey Flegg is the New South Wales Under 20s competition, running alongside NRL and Canterbury Cup. Queensland has the Hastings Deering Colts competition, but the Warriors decided to wiggle into Flegg footy after the NRL's Under 20s competition was scrapped. SG Ball is NSWRL's Under 18s competition and other than the age bracket, the major difference is that SG Ball is played from late-February to early-April.

Why the Warriors made this move is damn complex. Smith's last act was outlining how this is being done to combat Australian clubs snapping up talent at the younger age bracket, with the Warriors establishing a deeper connection or relationship with those players (and families) that will ideally see those players stay with the Warriors.

That's fine and it is admirable that the Warriors are putting more (or less, see below) resource into the younger players. I thought the Warriors showed great signs this year with the 'Future Warriors' squad playing a few games, mainly as an under-16 team. Most notably, the various Future Warriors teams featured players from around Aotearoa, bringing players to Auckland for trainings and games. Along with many of these players being aligned with prominent 1st 15 rugby schools/teams and/or part of various Aotearoa age-group representative squads, the basic vibe here is positive.

Having the Future Warriors, then a Flegg team for these players to progress into, then Canterbury Cup, seemed like a solid pathway. Now there is the hole where the Flegg team used to be and this presents immense intrigue from my perspective as to how this all plays out.

My belief is that there is an abundance of rugby league talent in Aotearoa. This is kinda based on facts, like, every NRL club has recruited players (league and union) to Australia and all clubs have kids from Aotearoa in their junior system. There is no scarcity of talent and there is more than enough for the Warriors to wisely pluck out who they want, while others head to Australia.

This has been extremely evident given that Australian clubs have consistently scouted and recruited in Aotearoa, starting with kids at intermediate age and then high school. The past 10 years especially has seen a blanket chucked across Aotearoa from NRL scouts and anyone in the local league community has seen scouts at games or tournaments. Thus, the idea that the Warriors has some special right to talent Aotearoa is completely false.

The Warriors have neglected such efforts, hence we are in the position right now where moves are being made from that scarcity mindset. Having an SG Ball team will give Under 18 players a great opportunity, I highly doubt it will limit or have an impact on the flow of talent to Australia though. Remember, that's primarily because there is genuinely enough talent in this great land of Aotearoa to fill everyone's cup.

What happens to players who are too old for SG Ball now? There's a chance that some players in the Flegg bracket take up opportunities in Australia and the Warriors lose that talent, which kinda defeats the whole purpose of the exercise. Well, that's if you belief Smith's reasoning prior to his departure.

This feels more like a financial decision, packaged into a 'for the greater good of kiwi rugby league' message. Having a Jersey Flegg team would have been a serious investment, as they play every second week in Australia and have to fund that over the course of a full season. SG Ball on the other hand, is 6-10 weeks and the Warriors might be saving themselves half of their annual Flegg investment.

What will the players who are too old for SG Ball do? The best will move up to Canterbury Cup and in that regard, there could be nice benefits to having a younger group form the reserve grade squad and do the complete opposite of the old days of fast-tracking the Under 20s superstars into NRL - which didn't work. The rest will most likely turn out in the local Auckland competition, playing big boy footy and probably still signed/aligned with the Warriors.

The Warriors have laughable desire to ensure that their players are signed to specific clubs in Auckland. Whether these players are from Auckland and are moved from less-sexy clubs to more high profile clubs, or from outside Auckland and placed into certain clubs. If more Warriors players are playing local footy because of that hole at the Flegg bracket, certain clubs will continue to enjoy a certain advantage.

Conveniently, this decision was made while Auckland Rugby League was still in the ownership thing. Not only does this slash the costs, saving the Warriors money, if my read is correct, then more fringe-Canterbury Cup players will be playing local footy; no Flegg footy and not quite in Canterbury Cup means local footy. This would be a massive boost for ARL having better footy played with a few more high-quality players involved.

We'll wait to see how that Flegg hole impacts the local scene. I've chucked up a few skeptical ideas there and I simply view it as a convenience for every party involved, to replace Jersey Flegg with SG Ball. Greg Boulous came to the Warriors last summer with a lovely record of working with that SG Ball age-group and he now moves from Flegg coach to overseeing the whole SG Ball set up. Slade Griffin comes across from Newcastle Knights to work in the Future Warriors group and so I still get a good feeling about the folks involved at this level.

On that; the Warriors are still getting good footy people involved. Part of my belief that I struggle with predicting or throwing up ideas of what the Warriors should do, is because over the past few years the club has made good appointments that for whatever reason haven't worked out. There is a need to provide greater assistance to a young group of dummy halves, then the Warriors get Nathan Brown involved for that purpose.

Dig deeper that the NRL hookers here as well. Nathaniel Roache, Karl Lawton and Wayde Egan are all young-ish in the NRL, then Tyler Slade and Sean Mullany were both Flegg-eligible but played most of the season in Canterbury Cup. Taniela Otukolo and Temple Kalepo were eye-catching for the Flegg team this year, so having Brown work with this whole group is a wise move.

Griffin came up through Melbourne Storm and has a certain mana based on what he has gone through with knee injuries. I reckon Griffin is exactly the type of person I want working with the Future Warriors and even in getting Boulous across from Australia, he offers a very specific skillset or experience in working with teenage lads as well as working with polynesian/maori teenagers in Sydney's west. Smart appointments.

As for Craig Twentyman who replaces Corvo...

Uploaded by Pacey Performance on 2018-06-22.

Point being that the trend of the Warriors getting smart folks involved continues. But, again there is no rhyme or reason with the Warriors so who knows what impact these moves will make. In terms of actual recruitment, Peter O'Sullivan's fingerprints were all over a bunch of signings from the past 12 months, specifically in bringing Adam Pompey, Jackson Frei and Josh Curran over from Sydney Roosters.

Otherwise, at the NRL level there is a distinct lack of big/mid-tier signings. I view this as beautiful, while others shave a different perspective. Wayde Egan is the only recruit for 2020 and that's another smart move, getting a hooker who is eager to make his case for consistent selection to the club, given that Nathaniel Roache and to a lesser extent Karl Lawton steadily battle injuries. Nothing sexy, just a move to fill a need.

I want to see this group figure their shit out, so I'm not fussed with little turnover from 2019-2020. Keep in mind that summer is as busy as any other time of the NRL's wild-west player market and more moves could be made. 15 players are coming off-contract at the end of 2020, so if it's another mediocre season next year, there is more wiggle room to overhaul the roster. I come back around though, to leaning into my belief that the Warriors should be a development club, empowering their juniors to thrive in the NRL and fielding a team largely from their junior system.

Which is why the SG Ball/Flegg situation is so intriguing. Mid-year, the Warriors signed Rocco Berry from St Pat's Silverstream 1st 15 rugby and Berry will probably be too old for SG Ball next year, so what will be up to? Even if Berry does play SG Ball, he is unlikely to then slot right into Canterbury Cup footy and thus, a very nifty little recruitment move would result in Berry playing local footy.

Sione Moala is perhaps the most decorated domestic junior in Aotearoa and settled into the Flegg halves role. Moala made the Aotearoa Residents U18 team this year as well as Aotearoa U19 Junior Kiwis, so will he be playing Canterbury Cup or local footy? There is no shortage of players in this scenario and it presents the juncture where we don't know how this is going to work and simply have to wait to see.

There isn't a shortage of players who could bump into Canterbury Cup from the Flegg group this year. Tom Ale and Phillip Makatoa both spent a lot of time in Canterbury Cup, Brody Tamarua has a unique skill/size package, Eliesa Katoa went from Tamaki College 1st 15 to appearing on the Flegg bench and then commanding a starting role so I expect him to be pushing for Canterbury Cup. Then someone like Jyris Glamuzina who joined Caleb Pese, Temple Kalepo, William Fakatoumafi, Sione Moala and Semisi Sikei in the Aotearoa Residents U18 squad, has a high ceiling and could be ushered into Canterbury Cup to boost his development.

The talent is there, regardless of how the Flegg team performed; Fakatoumafi was called up to Tonga's World Cup 9s squad despite only playing Flegg footy this season.

Which leaves me pondering the recruitment focus of this thing and that this isn't a time when recruitment feels like the major focus. From the outside looking in, I see simmering talent that has now settled into Canterbury Cup or will be breaking into Canterbury Cup next year. The Warriors are still recruiting 1st 15 rugby players, but that's not a special thing as every NRL club is eating off that 1st 15 rugby plate.

Even in that Future Warriors stuff, it feels less like the Warriors are recruiting from 1st 15 rugby and that 1st 15 rugby is recruiting from local rugby league. This extrapolates out into a wider discussion of rugby schools only caring about themselves as my observation of schoolboy rugby and this Future Warriors stuff is that many start playing league, then pick up a 1st 15 rugby scholarship, while also being signed to an NRL club or the Warriors. Unique talents like Rocco Berry or Eliesa Katoa are then lured to the Warriors.

Are the Warriors doing the recruitment thing right? Yeah, seems so. In fact, the junior system feels rather strong at this point in time and this is the reason why I'm eager to go all-in on the development club idea. The Warriors have already headed down that road, with a reserve grade team that skews younger and has a higher number of players who have moved through the Warriors system - or been recruited out of high school and pushed into reserve grade like Hayze Perham.

The curveball is the move away from Jersey Flegg to SG Ball. I have no idea how this is going to play out, just like I have no idea in forecasting anything about the Warriors. I do however know that this is a monumental juncture, where the structure and whole ethos of Warriors development is shifting with ramifications and rippling effects that will be felt at various levels of rugby league in Aotearoa.

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Peace and love 27.