Ain't nothing like a couple of injuries prior to the NRL season getting underway to tickle my Aotearoa Warriors tastebuds. Having already lost Bunty Afoa to a season-ending knee injury, Jackson Frei also suffered a major knee injury in the recent trial vs Melbourne Storm and all of this has come either side of Sam Lisone's move to Gold Coast Titans. On the surface, this looks horrible and if we want to use some lingo here to look cool - there are some really bad optics.

For starters, the last thing you'd want as the new fitness guru guy are multiple major knee injuries. This is where the term 'optics' is useful because that's how this looks but we all know that every tackle is a mess with bodies moving in all directions and it's tricky to suss out any connection, unlike maybe pulled hamstrings etc. However, it looks crappy for Craig Twentyman and having lost two middle forwards, releasing Lisone also looks rather silly.

In losing Afoa to injury, I wasn't too fussed given the role that Afoa had played in 2019. This can come in the same package as Afoa being one of the Warriors best players in 2019 and the bummer here is that we won't be graced with the opportunity for Afoa to hit a nek level and build on the 2019 season. As I stated last week, Afoa was playing a specific role for the Warriors as an efficient battering ram and while I'd love to see Afoa develop from that, the Warriors will be able to plug that hole.

Plug that hole with or without Lisone and Frei. For Warriors fans, Lisone has been an interesting lad to follow on his ascent to NRL footy and despite all of us in the Warriors fandom exploring the idea of Lisone having the potential to be this or that at some stage of his career, Lisone is currently an expendable player. Let's be straight up here and view this in the realm of professional sports where Lisone is in and out of NRL footy, having good moments and not so good moments in a position where there is always a long list of young, hungus middle forwards ready to rip in.

Lisone never commanded more minutes or more opportunities, as well as the fact that his package as a middle forward is easily replaced. Lisone isn't big, he's not overly mobile and even though he has good hands, Lisone never legit showed any ability to bring it all together at a consistent, above average level in the NRL. Afoa for example, flourished as a run it straight type of forward last season and obviously did his job defensively as he kept getting game time. Lisone was in-between everything, leaving him in footy no man's land.

Hopefully for Lisone, he can find a nek level with Gold Coast Titans and start to tap into the potential he showed at various points of his career. From a Warriors perspective though, what Lisone offers the NRL team can be replaced and in keeping with their recent trend of recruitment, they can replaced Lisone with cheaper, hungrier options. Frei was shaping up as one of those options, although we haven't seen Frei play NRL footy yet so we don't know what we are missing with his absence.

Frei was however part of the signings of the last 12-18 months that saw him, Josh Curran, Adam Keighran and Wade Egan come to the club. None of them were established NRL players, none of them would have made a dent in the salary cap and all of them are chasing NRL minutes.

Jamayne Taunoa-Brown came to Aotearoa on a train and trial type of deal, that now appears to be upgraded to a top-30 spot. This is exactly the type of move I've come to expect in following how the Warriors currently operate and it's rooted in value, similar to a rumoured deal for Canberra Raiders forward Jack Murchie.

In losing Afoa and Frei to injury, Lisone to the Titans, the Warriors only need to find one bloke to step up and do a 25-30 minute job. Afoa was the only one of those three who was consistently in the NRL, so that's the main hole to fill and then we are working with replacing reserve-graders with reserve-graders. However you want to slice this, the Warriors are on the hunt for one, maybe two lads who can step up to NRL level either consistently over the course of the season, or sporadically.

Discussing the injuries to Frei and Afoa, coach Stephen Kearney dropped this nugget: " Isaiah Papali'i, the idea is to push him through the middle". Papali'i was then named as a middle forward for this weekend's trial vs Wests Tigers, which is a low key idea to keep an eye on moving into the season as it may be the most notable off-season move of 2020 for the Warriors; that and David Fusitu'a being a centre lead the way.

I'd never dive too deep into a trial team list, although laying out the middle forward stocks is nicely connected to a depth chart. This trial has Taunoa-Brown and Adam Tuimavave-Gerrard on the bench, both of whom are large, aggressive and mobile. Taunoa-Brown is now chasing a top-17 spot and with the middle forward top-tier established, there is a decent cluster of forwards competing for those bench spots.

Starters: Leeson Ah Mau, Agantius Paasi.

Incumbents/Bench: Isaiah Papali'i, Lachlan Burr, Jazz Tevaga.

In the Mix: Josh Curran, Jamayne Taunoa-Brown, Leivaha Pulu, Eliesa Katoa.

Including the expecting promotion for Taunoa-Brown to the top-30, replacing Lisone, the Warriors have 29 of 30 roster spots locked in. The middle forward stocks do look a bit light from that depth chart, keep in mind that the Warriors only need someone from that 'In the Mix' group to step up and play a solid bench role, then that the last roster spot is highly likely to go to a middle forward.

That middle forward could be this Murchie chap, or someone from within the Warriors rosters such as Tuimavave-Gerrard. Tohu Harris' return and some early projections that Taane Milne could be deployed as an edge forward could be funky factors here as these would make it easier to use Tuimavave-Gerrard (has been edge and middle) as a middle forward if he were to be promoted. Alternatively, Katoa is the enticing option here and he could be eased into NRL footy with limited minutes off the bench.

PATREON

Peace and love 27.