Aotearoa Warriors Diary: Phil Gould Mana
Plenty of Aotearoa Warriors bits and bobs to explore from the last week or so, leading into another game against Melbourne Storm this Sunday. I've got no idea how this game will play out and any sniff of sneaking in a win over the Storm during State of Origin is rubbed out by the presence of the low key Kiwi-NRL heroes who are playing nearly every game with the Storm. Addin Fonua-Blake might return to the Warriors outfit, but there's no Reece Walsh and maybe the 'Great Big Kiwi Coast Party' vibe might spark up glorious Warriors footy?
Boss man Cameron George continues to do a fair job in leading the Warriors through this Aussie phase. In speaking to Triple M on Sunday, George hinted at a game possibly being played at Mt Smart stadium sometime this year and that Rocco Berry is really good at footy. George has provided the club stability and a sign of wisdom is learning; the Warriors learned from their experience last year and improved on a few things for their 2021 excursion in Australia.
You might hate George - Phil Gould likes him.
Headlines were whipped up last week as the Bulldogs apparently made an approach to Gould to jump ship. The Bulldogs apparently hit up Warriors owner Mark Robinson as well to secure the services of Gould and yet Gould dropped a 'nah bo' and stuck solid. When Penrith Panthers were in need of help and an immense overhaul, former Panthers player and coach Gould went back to the club where made his debut and executed.
Gould also played for the Bulldogs before coaching the Bulldogs later in his career and one could suggest that the Doggies are in a similar hole to the Panthers were when Gould stepped in. Maybe the Doggies are in a better/worse spot with their finances and/or their junior pipelines, thus making them more or less attractive to Gould. The similarities though are present and given that, Gould returning to the Bulldogs seemed like a plausible idea.
You might hate Gould - Gould likes Aotearoa rugby league.
When the appointments of Gould and coach Nathan Brown were announced I wrote this. Prior to Gould coming on board with the Warriors there were noises about Gould taking a gig with the NRL to help rugby league in Aotearoa and the Pacific Islands. The past week has seen me double-down on my belief that Gould's role with the Warriors goes far beyond the Warriors and in working with the Warriors, Gould is ironing out numerous kinks in the Aotearoa rugby league landscape.
Gould rejected the Bulldogs because he is in the midst of an extremely fun project, perhaps the last major play in rugby league by a bloke who's had various funky chapters in the game. Gould's the bloke who is putting his kahunas on the line in helping Aotearoa rugby league, while other Australian commentators and even those within Aotearoa take the lazy option of being critical with no understanding of what's happening or no desire to help.
Of course, Gould has a major job in moving the Warriors junior pipelines to a more efficient space along with recruitment guru Peter O'Sullivan. I laid out everything I know about the Warriors junior pipelines here and the next 12 months will be more intriguing as the Warriors will likely return to Aotearoa where they can re-establish their whare. Right now, Warriors juniors are split between two different countries and that's a minor example of staying classy in a niggly scenario.
Outside the Warriors, I believe Gould is having an impact. I have no knowledge of Gould's involvement with NZRL and these are merely observations that I've noted over the past six months/year since Gould got involved with the Warriors. Over the summer we had the fun National Under 20s tournament that Central Districts won. Then the Pasifika Aotearoa Rugby League Collective was launched that brings Tokelau, Fiji, Tonga, Cook Islands, Niue and Aotearoa Maori into alignment within Aotearoa to help support each other and provide greater depth in junior tournaments.
We didn't get a National Secondary Schools Tournament last year and the return of this tournament will likely signal further growth in this pocket. Add on to that a Girls Secondary Schools Tournament and a NZ Girls Schools team that will be announced. This weekend the Maori Rangatahi tournament went down, which will be followed by the Schools Tournaments, Auckland's Region of Origin, National Youth Tournament, Pasifika Aotearoa Collective Tournament as well as various boys and girls Under 18/Under 16 fixtures in October.
Next year there will be National District 9s Tournaments for boys and girls at the Under 16 and 18 levels, moving into Regional Tournaments and then the National Tournament. Big up to the folk at NZRL (all this is from the NZRL news page) for their mahi in making all this happen (David McMeeken, Luisa Avaiki, Moty Tony etc). There are already signs of alignment within Aotearoa rugby league and this means more opportunities for girls and boys to enjoy rugby league. Gould may not have been hands on in these initiatives, although I do believe there is at least some slither of influence here and this will only increase as Gould gets busier.
Ponder this: one Women's Super Rugby game was celebrated as being outstanding. Women's NRL has been in action for a few years now, the Warriors have had a team every year of NRLW and NZRL is offering as many opportunities for girls to play rugby league as rugby union.
These are all tentacles of influence from Gould's role at the Warriors. It might be hard to see Gould's impact with the Warriors right now, although recent events suggest Gould is all in on helping rugby league within Aotearoa and we will definitely see organisations and individuals move further into alignment. While Gould's spreading those footy tentacles out across Aotearoa, O'Sullivan continues to quietly go about his business in the marketplace.
The club has re-signed Tohu Harris, Jazz Tevaga, Adam Pompey and Rocco Berry this year. O'Sullivan also pulled the strings in grabbing Walsh and that's not a surprise given the players O'Sullivan has scouted and recruited during his career.
The club has also announced the signing of Melbourne Storm forward Aaron Pene for two years. Pene is big and moves well, which is a common thread in O'Sullivan's recruitment at the Warriors which was led by snaring Addin Fonua-Blake. The Warriors needed a job-doing forward so they signed a big lad who moves well in Kane Evans. Pene feels extremely similar to Jamayne Taunoa-Brown who is also big and moves well, plus Taunoa-Brown was cooking away in Queensland's Intrust Super cup before playing 19 games last season and nine already this season.
The smallest of these forwards who were recently signed is Fonua-Blake (189cm) and he's the best. Pene is 190cm. Taunoa-Brown is 194cm. Evans is 199cm. Jack Murchie is 193cm. Now there are a lot more blokes who look like Tohu Harris (195cm) and they all share the mobility trait. Pene would also be cheaper than more established forwards and O'Sullivan is extracting glorious value out from blokes who were playing far more reserve grade than NRL before joining NZ Warriors.
Apart from youngsters Jyris Glamuzina and Isaiah Vagana, there are five main forwards coming off contract: Bunty Afoa, Leeson Ah Mau, Tom Ale, Josh Curran and Jackson Frei. Curran and Frei seem the least likely to be re-signed and I'd want Afoa, Ah Mau and Ale to be kept around so maybe the idea of signing bigger lads to balance out these three applies here.
We are kinda between eras with the Warriors at the moment as the junior pipelines won't have a greater impact until next season, even though we are seeing the benefits now with Berry and Edward Kosi coming through. Even though Pene has played just three NRL games, he is 25-years-old and has been grinding away for a few years and this is also a common trait across the recruitment. Leadership and matua status will be required in moving forward without Roger Tuivasa-Sheck, so maybe that will work in Ah Mau and then Afoa's favour.
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