Diary Of An Aotearoa Warriors Fan: Nines, Propaganda and Bunty
Fresh off of not winning an NRL Nines game, Aotearoa Warriors slide into trial mode with their 'quick, agile and skillful' propaganda doing the rounds as well as Bunty Afoa's bung knee. Trials can be interesting, although only a wee bit more interesting than the Nines and there won't be any judgements made about the Warriors from their trials and Nines performances around these ways.
This is to simply touch base on a few relevant Warriors angles at the present moment and Warriors folk can kick back with the knowledge that there ain't much of a correlation between success in the Nines and NRL. One could make the case for future success, as Nines Grand Finalists have gone on to crack NRL Grand Finals in the following year, however no team has made the Nines Grand Final and NRL Grand Final in the same year...
2014
Cowboys/Broncos (Nines) - Rabbitohs/Bulldogs (NRL)
2015
Rabbitohs/Sharks - Cowboys/Broncos
2016
Eels/Warriors - Sharks/Storm
2017
Roosters/Panthers - Storm/Cowboys
With the Cowboys and Dragons playing in the Nines GF this year, I'd suspect this trend will continue. Coming to any conclusions about the Warriors from their Nines performance then seems a bit foolish, even if this Warriros propaganda has folks thinking that former Australian Rugby Sevens fitness guy Craig Twentyman is going to churn out a freaky Sevens/Nines type of Warriors outfit.
I use the word 'propaganda' in the nicest way, in similar fashion to advice to push the positive propaganda on a daily basis. Or perhaps you dabble in a bit of buckie use and thus, we're out to spread positive herb propaganda to the brain-washed old folk of Aotearoa. The only weird thing about the Warriors fitness/training propaganda is that it's the same yarns that were rolled out when Alex Corvo arrived.
One of the favourite narratives for mainstream media folk in Aotearoa has been the need for a hard-nosed Aussie type of approach at the Warriors. That's exactly what Corvo offered and so when Corvo arrived, it was all about the hard yakka, mental fortitude and apparently re-setting that Warriors DNA of being lazy jokers. None of which translated to on-field success other than an impressive streak at the start of the 2018 season.
Now it's Twentyman's job to re-fresh this approach and cool. Chat about a switch in the fitness stuff comes packaged with an apparent switch in the style of footy to be played, as senior players and head coach Stephen Kearney collaborated to come in with a new approach to their footy.
In covering the Warriors, I endeavour to enter each year with a new pair of goggles on. Anything different and I'd go insane, so I've released the cynical view on Warriors changes and try to dwell in empathy and understanding; this is how the Warriors have decided to operate, fabulous. The joy of following a sports team closely is absorbing this information, this propaganda and then applying this as I assess their performances throughout the year.
At the very least: NRL footy in 2010 (most likely in 2020 as well) is very fast, relying on mobility and skill more than ever and what we are being fed by the Warriors is that their training is more aligned with the demands of NRL footy.
We've recently had news of Bunty Afoa suffering a season-ending knee injury, which is a bummer for a lad who was perhaps on track to level up from a low key impressive 2019 campaign. I'd much rather have Afoa in the top-17, given that he averaged 9.64m/run with 1.3 tackle busts/game which is second only to Leeson Ah Mau's 1.4 tb/game. Afoa also got through 21.5 tackles/game and only missed 0.6 tackles/game, along with barely conceding a penalty/game (0.3) and making an error/game (0.1).
That paints Afoa as being a dynamic runner, who is disciplined and gritty without the footy. All of which comes via a high level of efficiency as Afoa only averaged 34.1 mins/game, giving coach Kearney someone who could do their job sans any real negatives. For the Warriors this season though, replacing Afoa isn't going to be overly complicated.
With Ah Mau (47.3), Lachlan Burr (50.1) and Agnatius Paasi (41.3) all averaging over 40mins/game and the return of Tohu Harris bumping either Isaiah Papali'i or Adam Blair into the middle, the hole left by Afoa is a 25-ish minute impact forward. Factor in that we are likely to see Jazz Tevaga settle into a middle forward role with Karl Lawton, Wade Egan, Nathanael Roache and maybe Kodi Nikorima handling dummy half duties.
The Warriors haven't made any additions to their middle forward group for this season, although they have players already within the squad who will make it feel like there are a couple new lads in the mix. Last season Leivaha Pulu played one game, Josh Curran played three games and Jackson Frei played no games. All three will be hunting for middle minutes along with Sam Lisone - who is now in a battle to continue his NRL career and that desperation may yield Lisone cracking some of his potential.
Eliesa Katoa is the wildcard, especially considering he is of a similar robust/dynamic style to Afoa. In the space of 12 months, Katoa has gone from sussing out Jersey Flegg to being promoted to the top-30 squad and I'll be interested to see how Katoa is deployed in the NRL as he could be the prototypical 'edge forward who starts in the middle because he's big enough and super mobile'.
Tom Ale is also named in the development group and could come into the equation later in the season if the middle forward stocks are thin. Katoa and Ale are form the foundations of my case to not hit the player market in desperation as they are exactly the type of middle forwards the Warriors need, obviously as they gain experience.
Without Afoa, I've got Ah Mau, Burr and Paasi locked in. Not as starters necessarily, just locked into the top-17 and with a dummy half on the bench, that leaves three spots to be filled from the group of Tevaga (maybe dummy half cover), Curran, Frei, Pulu, Lisone and Katoa. The most important detail here though is that Harris returns as an 80 minute edge forward and this will bolster the middle forward depth as either Blair of Papali'i will take on a work-horse kinda role through the middle.
Afoa's fantastic; robust, gritty and low maintenance. The Warrior have the pieces in their squad to absorb the loss of Afoa's 25-30 minutes and in the process, we could see a fresh youngin' emerge to tickle our footy toes.
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Peace and love 27.