Mapping Out New Zealand Warriors Junior Pipelines
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Everything about NZ Warriors is a bit chaotic at the moment. I explored that vibe recently as Reece Walsh put a Warriors footy in a spin and along with injuries or immediate departures, the Warriors NRL roster has already been flipped prior to the mid-way point of the season. With some Warriors juniors in Aotearoa right now and plenty of Warriors aligned players over in Australia with Redclfife Dolphins, that chaotic vibe seeps down the Warriors levels.
I don't know every single Warriors junior and the world of rugby league youngster contracts is about as murky as another underworld industry. There is minimal official information supplied by the Warriors and all my information comes from the same sources that you can find on the interwebs. The task here is to lay out the Warriors junior stuff as best as I can to help build context around the club.
The first key thing is always about Peter O'Sullivan and Phil Gould. While at the Storm and Roosters, O'Sullivan established himself as one of the best in recruiting talent from Aotearoa. While at the Panthers Gould not only led a revamp of the Panthers to focus on local talent, he did what no other rugby league figure has done in setting up direct links with Northland Rugby League. I consider O'Sullivan and Gould two of the best at recruiting talent out of Aotearoa and now they are both working for the Warriors in keeping they talent they want in Aotearoa.
The second key thing to throw up is that 2020 started with the first NZ Warriors Under 18 SG Ball team that rolled through most of their games prior to the pandemic shutting footy down. Under the guidance of O'Sullivan (and others who left the club) the Warriors moved from Under 21s Jersey Flegg to SG Ball and this didn't last long as the SG Ball team was a victim of the pando. Chuck in a collaboration with Redcliffe and for the time being, the Warriors do no have any official junior team playing out of Aotearoa.
With no SG Ball team, various players left the Warriors from that team to take up opportunities in Australia. I don't care for the idea of Warriors having all of Aotearoa to recruit from as every Australian club has the same opportunity (with the right investment/resources) and I view the mini SG Ball exodus favourably as other clubs wanted those who were surplus to what the Warriors could offer.
Sione Moala went to Canberra Raiders. Josiah Karapani went to South Sydney Rabbitohs. Vaka Sikahele and TJ Devery went to Gold Coast Titans. Jarney Proctor-Harwood, Tray Lolesio and Tamehana Paruru went to Wests Tigers.
Funky Kiwi-NRL note: Canberra Raiders won the SG Ball competition with Moala in the halves and Christchurch Boys High School 1st 15 product Jack Sandford at fullback. Raiders NSW Cup team has Matthew Timoko, Brigham Moeakiola, Leo Thompson and Sila Tituiti - all of whom played 1st 15 in Aotearoa.
The most notable players from the SG Ball team right now are Viliami Vailea and Taniela Otukolo. Vailea finished school at Aorere College last year and has immediately slotted in at centre for Redcliffe Dolphins reserve grade. Otukolo just signed a contract extension with the Warriors and the powerful hooker has primarily been playing HDC U21s with Redcliffe. Here is a breakdown of NZ Warriors juniors who have been playing with Redcliffe Dolphins - those who played SG Ball are in bold...
Mal Meninga Cup (U18)
Eric Va'afusaga - wing.
Sebastyan Jack - half.
Hasting-Deering Colts (U21)
William Fakatoumafi - fullback.
Daeon Amituanai - wing.
Kina and Valinga Kepu - middle forwards.
Lleyton Finau - edge forward.
Taniela Otukolo - hooker.
Temple Kalepo - hooker.
Intrust Super Cup (Warriors juniors and non-NRL only)
Preston Riki - middle forward.
Viliami Vailea - centre.
To the best of my knowledge, NRL Development Contract players Jyris Glamuzina and Isaiah Vagana haven't played ISC yet. The Warriors also signed Junior Ratuva last year but he appears to be out injured. From that group above I'm paying the most attention to Otukolo and Kalepo as one of these two will provide cover for Wayde Egan at hooker. Chuck in the mysterious presence of William Fakatoumafi who was swiftly promoted through the Warriors system before not featuring last year (likely due to injury) and has popped back up starting at fullback consistently for the Under 21s team Redcliffe team.
That's a rough count of 11 players listed above without the likes of Edward Kosi, Tom Ale or Rocco Berry and the Aussies like Jackson Frei. I'd bump that rough count up to 20-odd lads who the Warriors probably paid to travel and house over in Australia at Redcliffe. The Warriors and Redcliffe may have sorted out a mutually beneficial arrangement (jobs etc), but there is a big investment involved here.
Now we have 1st 15 rugby and for anyone who doesn't know; 1st 15 rugby isn't about producing All Blacks, it's about producing professional rugby union and league players. In setting up the SG Ball team, the Warriors opened up an avenue to have their best young talent playing those NSW clubs early in 2020 before moving back to 1st 15 rugby. Sydney Roosters do the best job here in working with Kiwi-NRL prospects to either fly-in/out for SG Ball games or stay in Sydney for SG Ball and then return to Aotearoa.
With players of the same age scattered between Redcliffe and Aotearoa, this seems based around individual and family circumstance. I don't view this as the Warriors favouring certain players over others, it simply feels like everyone's different and all parties would have agreed to what is best for that kid.
Here are some notable NZ Warriors juniors who are playing 1st 15 rugby...
Ali Leiataua - Kings College - SG Ball
Francis Manulelua - Kings College - Future Warriors.
Tony Tafa - Kelston Boys High School - SG Ball.
Zyon Maiu'u - Kelston Boys High School - SG Ball.
Jeremiah Asi - St Peter's College - SG Ball.
Tamakaimoana Whareaorere - Rotorua Boys High School - Future Warriors.
NZ Warriors celebrated the signings of Zyon Maiu'u and Jacob Laban recently, with Laban moving up from Wellington (St Bernard's College) to join Kelston. Laban didn't seem to play 1st 15 this weekend but will likely feature at some point and this is all interesting because the Kelston 1st 15 rugby has Autex advertised everywhere. Kelston Boys aren't exactly a Warriors school though as they have Naufahu Whyte who is now on the fringes of the Roosters NRL team and Aso Fretton is working his way through the Roosters as well.
The Warriors/1st 15 stuff has an awkward history and I'd suggest that a difference now is that many of these 1st 15 kids come from rugby league backgrounds. That is thanks to big 1st 15 schools recruiting rugby league talent at a younger age and other schools working well to let their kids juggle both codes.
One more wrinkle to explore is Salesi Ataata who is currently playing for Otahuhu Leopards in Auckland's Fox Memorial Premiership. Last year, Ataata played one game for Warriors SG Ball and finished the year in the Under 18 NZ Clubs team (vs NZ Schools) and it seems like a crazy jump to go from Under 18s footy to Fox Memorial that quickly but Ataata is a hefty bloke and this seems designed to help him develop.
Ataata and Vailea are doing similar development leaps within the Warriors system, only on opposite sides of the ditch. Such development leaps stand out in mapping out these talent pipelines and whether it's repetitions against grizzly men or getting juniors over to Redcliffe for consistent footy at the best U21s level possible, I'm sensing smart operations. On top of that there is the welfare stuff and some of these kids would benefit greatly from finishing school while playing 1st 15 rugby.
All of this does feel fluid though as there are a lot of niggly factors at work here such as Redcliffe Dolphins hunting NRL expansion as well as more collaboration between NZ Warriors and NZRL that could impact how this all looks. The scattered and chaotic nature of the Warriors development pipelines reflect the times we're in with the pandemic etc and I look forward to seeing how all this settles moving forward.
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