Diary Of An Aotearoa Warriors Fan: Haere Mai SG Ball
What must be the first ever Aotearoa Warriors SG Ball game in Aotearoa, went down yesterday with the Warriors grabbing a 36-16 win over Victoria Thunderbolts. This was the first of eight games the Warriors will play against teams from New South Wales, as well as the Melbourne Storm aligned Thunderbolts and Canberra Raiders. The next three games will all be in Australia on Sunday afternoons, against the Raiders, North Sydney Bears and Cronulla Sharks.
Covering any kind of junior sport is super niggly and I have no intention of providing weekly updates on any type of Under 18 sport. This was the first SG Ball fixture for the Warriors after moving away from Jersey Flegg (Under 20s) and I do intend to offer sporadic insights when the stars align. While this is under the Diary of an Aotearoa Warriors umbrella, touching base with SG Ball footy will also provided more depth to the #KiwiNRL information on offer via the Niche Cache as most of these Australia SG Ball teams will feature #KiwiNRL juniors.
Take the Sydney Roosters team named to face North Sydney Bears this weekend. Four of the five outside backs were #KiwiNRL juniors, led by the Graham-Taufa twins Lani and Moala who have been decorated rep players and the Marist Saints juniors were most recently part of the Aotearoa Residents Under 18 team last year. Moala was named at fullback for this first game, while Lani was named in the centres and they were joined by Petelo Kepaoa on the wing and Kani Manu at centre.
Kani, is the younger brother of Joseph Manu and while I'm not certain, Manurewa's Petelo may be the brother of Asu Kepaoa who played a bunch of reserve grade footy for the Roosters last year. In the Roosters forward pack, Naufahi Whyte was named to start on an edge and he's also a Marist Saints junior, plus the Roosters also had Asolelei Fretton on their bench.
Fretton, the Graham-Taufa twins and Whyte were all in the Aotearoa Residents Under 16 team back in 2018. Then the Graham-Taufa twins and Whyte were named in the Aotearoa Residents U18 team last year, alongside the Kepu twin (Valingi and Kina), Sione Moala and Taniela Otukolo who all played for the Warriors SG Ball team yesterday.
This is just a small example of how much quality talent is coming out of Aotearoa and why I don't buzz about the Warriors not signing all these lads up. There is literally more than enough talent going around in both rugby league and union, to satisfy the needs of the Warriors and all the Australian clubs who are scouting every corner of Aotearoa. I can't stress this enough as Aotearoa is the best footy breeding ground in the world.
The Warriors team that played against Victoria, was led by Sione Moala who has already shown immense potential. Moala and hooker Taniela Otukolo both played Jersey Flegg footy last year, which means they were playing Under 20s last year and now Under 18s; view that as them being U18 eligible right now, but good enough to play U20 last year.
Manurewa Marlins junior Moala has far too many rep honours to list and was in the U19 Junior Kiwis last year. Operating on the left edge for the Warriors yesterday, Moala ran the show and as with any decent half, Moala's intent to run the footy was impressive. Otahuhu Leopards junior Otukolo started at hooker and much like the string of depth through the Warriors in the halves (Chanel Harris-Tavita, Paul Turner, Moala), Otukolo is part of an excessively dynamic duo of dummy half prospects alongside Temple Kalepo.
Late in the win over Victora, Otukolo was on the field alongside Vaka Sikahele and Sikahele is also an intriguing hooker prospect. Another Manurewa Marlins product, Sikahele appeared a bit more polished than the explosive Otukolo, both were rugged through the middle as little blokes though and time on the field together means that one was playing as a middle forward while the other wiggled into dummy half.
Another example of the funk around Aotearoa's footy talent and perhaps something to keep an eye on moving forward given there's a bit of niggle floating around rugby union in Aotearoa at the moment, is the overlap between league and union talent. This isn't exactly new, as the Warriors and other NRL clubs have consistently enjoyed the rugby league production line of 1st 15 rugby union (far too many names to mention).
What I find interesting is the fact that 1st 15 rugby union almost produces as many NRL prospects as Super Rugby prospects. That's because 1st 15 rugby schools are more concerned with their superficial reputation and enjoying donations from their old boys, while also doing a nice job of producing professional athletes. 1st 15 rugby schools don't exactly have an alignment with Super Rugby teams or provinces and simply want the best players to boost that rep.
Many of the top-tier 1st 15 rugby schools, predominantly in Auckland also happen to do their recruitment from rugby league and scout from rugby league as much as they do junior rugby union. This is why I refer to 'footy talent' and all of this is a credit to the young men involved as they are capable of playing both codes at a high level and I'd chuck it out there that some of these Warriors SG Ball players who played on Sunday, will also be playing 1st 15 rugby union in a few month.
That's me setting the scene to highlight that Tony Tafa, Zyon Maiu'u (Kelston Boys) and Jeremiah Asi (St Peters) played for the Warriors SG Ball team and were also named in the Blues Under 17 Development Squad for 2020. This also features Eric Vaafusuaga (Kings College) who was a late withdrawal from the Warriors team, as well as Francis Manuleleua (Kings College) who wasn't in this SG Ball team but was a stand out performer last year as part of the Future Warriors group.
Papatoetoe Panthers junior Ali Leiataua impressed at fullback for the Warriors and is also with Kings College. The work of edge forward Maiu'u was fairly ruthless and despite not being as big as the other forwards, seeing Maiu'u cut back in field with his mobiltity was enticing.
Last year the Future Warriors played two notable games and players from tha group who played in this first SG Ball game were: Tamiro Armstrong, Tony Tafa, Carlos Tarawhiti, Ali Leiataua, Sebastyan Jack, Zion Maiu'u.
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Peace and love 27.