Aotearoa Warriors Re-Jig Their Redcliffe Dolphins Collab With Fresh Aotearoa Juniors
Aotearoa Warriors have announced their wider squad for summer mahi and have promoted a fresh crop of Aotearoa youngsters to spend time with the NRL squad. I'm not going to buzz about the Australian players named on train and trial deals, this will zone in on the Aotearoa juniors and as NZ Warriors are announcing squads, so are are other NRL clubs.
William Fakatoumafi played Jersey Flegg for NZ Warriors in 2019 before being shipped over to Redcliffe Dolphins where he played 10 games for Redcliffe Under 21s. Daeon Amituanai was part of the epic 2020 NZ Warriors SG Ball team before being shipped over to Redcliffe to play 11 games for their U21s team. Both were named in Penrith Panthers Jersey Flegg squad.
Jyris Glamuzina played NZ Warriors Flegg in 2019, then Redcliffe U21s this year and he has apparently moved to Newcastle Knights. Temple Kalepo played NZ Warriors Flegg in 2019, then Redcliffe U21s and he was also reported as signing with Knights, while also named in NZ Warriors NRL squad for 2022. Kalepo is a a nifty hooker, although I doubt he's good enough to play for Knights and Warriors at the same time - we'll wait and see how this winds up but Kalepo will likely be joining Knights.
As more junior squads are announced, I'll break down which NZ Warriors juniors are being picked up by other clubs. Don't buzz about Peter O'Sullivan poaching NZ Warriors juniors as every club loves the talent coming out of NZ Warriors and there are a bunch of players from the 2020 SG Ball team who are making nice progress with other clubs; Josaiah Karapani (Rabbitohs), Tamehana Paruru, Jarney Proctor-Harwood, Tray Lolesio (Tigers), Cassius Cowley (Wynnum), Salesi Ataata (Sharks).
This group of recent departures is interesting because Fakatoumafi, Amituanai, Glamuzina and Kalepo were all invested in by NZ Warriors to move to Australia. In this current climate, any player Aotearoa junior moving to Australia with NZ Warriors requires investment and NZ Warriors have not been cheap in this regard. Those players departing are replaced by more Aotearoa juniors and I welcome those lads in the Kiwi-NRL crew, as a fresh wave of Aotearoa talent makes the move to Redcliffe via NZ Warriors.
Not the 'Development Players' though. Lleyton Finau (Marist Saints), Kina Kepu, Lingi Kepu (Manurewa Marlins) and Taniela Otukolo (Otahuhu Leopards) all played with Redcliffe this year. All played against men this year as well with the Kepu twins playing Intrust Super Cup, while Finau popped back to Aotearoa and played Fox Memorial, plus Otukolo casually played three NRL games.
The Kalepo mystery comes as NZ Warriors re-jigged their list of players. Yesterday all these players below were named as 'Train and Trial' players, then I checked the announcement this morning and that group was split between 'Junior Players' and T&T.
The Junior Players named are Jacob Laban (Randwick Kingfishers), Zyon Maiu'u (Te Atatu Roosters), Eric Va'afusuaga (Kings College), Demitric Sifakula (Otahuhu Leopards) and Ali Leiataua (Papatoetoe Panthers). Va'afusuaga spent this year playing for Redcliffe U18 and U21, so he's already graduated from 2020 SG Ball through to Redcliffe U21s in just over a year.
Leiataua and Maiu'u played 2020 SG Ball. This means that along with Viliami Vailea (already played NRL) there is a nice crop of players from the 2020 SG Ball team moving through the system even though it's split between two countries. All the Development Players played SG Ball, while Leiataua, Maiu'u and Va'afusuaga also featured in that SG Ball team.
Laban, Maiu'u, Leiataua and Sifakula also played 1st 15 rugby this year. Laban moved up from Wellington to join Maiu'u at Kelston Boys High School (Auckland champions), while Leiataua has been a consistent presences in Kings College 1st 15 and Sifakula was a midfielder for De La Salle College 1st 15. Sifakula and Laban both featured in the 2020 Future Warriors group (Under 16s) and it will be interesting to see where these lads are placed to start 2021.
We saw Vailea and the Kepu twins quickly progress through Redcliffe age-groups earlier this year. All these lads could start with Redcliffe U21, while Maiu'u has the most scope to progress into reserve grade as he's a big-bodied-beast. These juniors are all of a high NZRL representative pedigree and the strength of Aotearoa rugby league is low key evident in how Kiwi-NRL juniors quickly progress through Australian systems, as well as how NZ Warriors juniors bounce between Aotearoa and Redcliffe.
Redcliffe's Hastings-Deering Colts and Mal Meninga Cup squads will soon be announced, so that's an intriguing next step to gauge who ranks where. I'm also curious about Future Warriors squads and any further junior Warriors stuff over the summer, after NZ Warriors hosted Under 15 and Under 17 games back in August. For now, we've got a clear group of Aotearoa juniors who will re-fresh the Redcliffe Warriors.
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