Aotearoa Warriors footy doesn't get much more dour than a 6-10 loss to Newcastle Knights. The Warriors have been lucky enough to play the Knights, Melbourne Storm and Manly Sea Eagles twice already this season and in each of these double-bangers there are insights to a typically mediocre Warriors outfit.

Two games vs Storm ended up with a combined score of 84-36. Sometimes the Warriors are competitive against the Storm, right now they definitely are not.

The two Sea Eagles games were narrow losses (1 point and 6 points) and the Warriors held a lead before Sea Eagles comebacks. Two fantastic opportunities to get wins against a genuine top-eight team flushed down the dunny.

Then we have two losses to the Knights. Two more second half leads turned into losses. While Storm and Sea Eagles are both teams competing for a championship, the Knights aren't very good and even Mitchell Pearce's return couldn't take the Knights out of the 'dour' category.

The good thing for the Warriors was that they held the Knights to 10 points. The Warriors held St George Illawara Dragons to 14 points in round six and since then, there are seven games in which the Warriors have conceded 20+ points. Since that win over Dragons, the Warriors have played eight games with 245 points conceded and that's 30.62 points conceded per game.

We all know that not much winning can be done when you're in a patch where you average 30 points conceded each game. This was compounded by a game in Newcastle where the weather had an impact, yet the Warriors looked in slow-motion and were without any vigour. In wind and rain you'd expect the pizzazz to be tucked away and the Warriors settled into a hearty grind despite lacking the linespeed and aggression to match the Knights. That grind resulted in the Knights sealing a late win as they did in round two.

Ultimately, this Warriors team as presented won't do anything of note in 2021. There is a slight vibe that they could string wins together and crack the finals, but this is the same as most other seasons. We all know this feeling well, yet in keeping it a full steak and cheese about dour performances, there is another dose of reality that needs to be explored.

Players who played vs Knights in round two and didn't play yesterday: David Fusitu'a, Peta Hiku, Ken Maumalo, Chanel Harris-Tavita, Wayde Egan, Jamayne Taunoa-Brown, Bunty Afoa.

That is merely to say that everything's a bit crazy. What's also crazy? Taniela Otukolo's debut.

The Otahuhu Leopards junior has not played reserve grade. A 19-year-old made his NRL debut and played 32 minutes without any reserve grade. Noted as a runner of the footy, Otukolo only registered 1 run for 1m while getting through 27 tackles @ 93.1 percent efficiency. There will be ample time for Otukolo to showcase some spark out of dummy half and instead of flexing all of that in his debut stint, Otukolo showcased skills that are less likely to be displayed by a 19-year-old debutant.

Last year Otukolo played for Warriors SG Ball (Under 18) before popping up with Otahuhu in Auckland's Fox Memorial where he battled local men. This year Otukolo has played six of nine Hastings-Deering Colts (Under 21s) with Redcliffe Dolphins where a strong win yesterday without Otukolo takes the HDC Dolphins to 3rd (6-3).

Something is brewing here and it's got my antenna up. If you're only interested in the woes of the NRL team, this ain't for you. If you're interested in team building and greater sports team experiments, the fact that Warriors are producing their juniors from Aotearoa despite being split between Aotearoa and Redcliffe is interesting. Berry, Kosi and Otukolo have all come up through the Warriors system prior to 2021 and made their NRL debuts through the Redcliffe move.

There was a small wrinkle that caught my eye in yesterday's HDC Dolphins game as Eric Va'afusuaga played on the wing after featuring for the Mal Meninga Cup (U18) Dolphins earlier this year. The Warriors have transitioned a junior player from Auckland to Dolphins U18 and then Dolphins U21 in six months. Such transitions are scattered throughout the Warriors pipelines as Otukolo had the bonkers shift of Auckland to Dolphins U21 to NRL and Viliami Vailea's gone from 1st 15 in Auckland to Dolphins ISC.

The opportunity of Warriors juniors to play against men in Auckland was brought about by 2020 dramas. The scattered development journeys for many of these players was not designed and like all of us this was making the best out of a crappy ol' period. Despite this, the Warriors came into 2021 with a clear plan to develop their juniors and regardless of any niggle they doubled-down on their investment in these pathways.

None of this helps the NRL team win. It does highlight a direction and intention to invest time, but more importantly resource into Warriors juniors. The Warriors still have juniors in Auckland and Aotearoa who are not part of the Dolphins crew, plus they have roughly 15 juniors who they have invested in by moving to Redcliffe. Why has all of this got my antenna tweaking?

This is where the changes are most evident. You won't catch a different vibe with the NRL team, yet if you tap in now to what's happening beneath the NRL team you will acquaint yourself with the players who will be part of the changing vibe at an NRL level.

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