Junior Ratuva was already an intriguing footy player from a Kiwi-NRL perspective as he was recruited out of Kings College 1st 15 by Melbourne Storm back in 2017. The last few months have seen the funk around Ratuva amplify as my development talent assessment antenna is all about catching the vibe of how a team views that talent. Through their selections of Ratuva and development process outlined below, Aotearoa Warriors are telling us that Ratuva is a key talent to track and we'd best tap in to the Fijian winger.

Signed by the Warriors in 2020 on a two-year deal, Ratuva was then bumped out of the Warriors squad after suffering a pectoral injury last year. It's niggly to try and pinpoint details about Ratuva's journey, so this is a bit murky as to whether Ratuva was released from that contract or just bumped out of the top-30 to make way for a player who could contribute to the NRL team. Regardless, there doesn't appear to have been any negative vibes here as Ratuva popped up for Bay Roskill Vikings in Auckland's Fox Memorial competition in July.

Ratuva played alongside Ben Henry and Jarome Ropati in the Bay Roskill team - an obvious Warriors connection. The Warriors played the slow-cooking game by giving Ratuva time to recover from his injury, then the next step was placing Ratuva in a team where the Warriors 'Player Wellbeing and Education Manager' Henry and Warriors kaumatua Ropati can support Ratuva. A few weeks later Ratuva was playing for Redcliffe Dolphins in Queensland's Intrust Super cup.

Such a swift progression through the Warriors pipeline signals how the club views Ratuva. This isn't unique to Ratuva though as Taniela Otukolo made his NRL debut with no reserve grade, while Manurewa Marlins juniors Peesi and Kina Kepu are two more notable prospects who quickly progressed through Redcliffe's U21s team and into reserve grade. Ratuva played three games in a row for Redcliffe on the wing with 1 try, 1 linebreak, 3 tackle busts, 2 offloads and 57m per game.

For a rugby league winger who played lock in 1st 15, Ratuva's stats for Redcliffe are slightly underwhelming. Ratuva registered 39 run metres, 64m and 69m which is well below the NRL standard for wingers, let alone those as big and mobile as Ratuva. All of which falls into alignment with the slow-cooking process and a better sample may be 2018 when Ratuva started the year in a stacked Victoria Thunderbolts U20s team before being promoted to Sunshine Coast Falcons to finish the season in reserve grade.

In six games for Sunshine Coast, Ratuva had 6 tries, 5 linebreaks and 97.65m/game. That seems like a better representation of Ratuva's talent, although I'm not sure why Ratuva left the Storm system before appearing in Christchurch with Burnside Rugby Club for 2019. This led to Ratuva being named in the Canterbury NPC squad that year before a stress fracture in his left tibia hit the pause on Ratuva's union career.

Fun note: Ratuva was named on the wing for a 'Crusaders Knights' team early in 2019 which means he went from being a 1st 15 lock in 2017 to wing less than two years later.

Here we have two key themes for Ratuva as he has suffered two fairly hefty injuries and while also impressing enough around those injuries to command a Storm gig, entry into Canterbury's rugby pipeline and then a Warriors gig after all that. Despite his injuries, Ratuva's talent is obviously demanding attention.

This is why I believe we are in the slow-cooking process as any type of stress fracture requires time and especially for a bloke who is 196cm/110kg. Add a pectoral injury and the best thing for Ratuva's career would have been time, hence the Warriors bumped him out of their squad last year and why they are staggering his development now.

Ratuva is a classic Peter O'Sullivan outside back. The Warriors recruitment guru also snapped up Viliami Vailea from Aorere College 1st 15 and Rocco Berry from St Pat's Silverstream 1st 15, both of whom forecast forward as NRL centres with athletic frames and plenty of skill. In the winger bracket, O'Sullivan loves pure athletes and this backing from O'Sullivan would be a key reason why Ratuva has plenty of faith from the Warriors.

Queensland's ISC and Hastings-Deering Colts competitions are back in action this weekend after being paused. The Dolphins ISC team has Ratuva on the wing, while Peesi Kepu is named to start in the middle and Kina Kepu is named to come off the bench. Over in the Redcliffe U21 team, the Warriors have Eric Va'afusuaga and Daeon Amituanai named to start as wingers along with William Fakatoumafi starting at centre.

While on this topic, Counties Manukau Rugby League named their Under 18 squad for the NZRL tournament prior to Aotearoa's lockdown. We'll have to wait and see how all the grassroots stuff winds back up whenever ol' mate Delta buggers off, but to the best of my knowledge the Counties squad features Ali Leiataua, Carlos Tarawhiti, Salesi Ataata, Ben Peni and Francis Manuleleua who have been in Warriors SG Ball or Future Warriors.

Ataata is especially interesting as he has been playing Fox Memorial for Otahuhu after playing for one of the Auckland teams in the NZRL U20s competition earlier this year. Remember Warriors prospect Zyon Maiu'u is playing 1st 15 rugby for Kelston Boys High School and was MVP of that NZRL U20s competition, perking my antenna of lads who are obviously big enough as 17-18 year olds to play in older age groups.

Speaking of Future Warriors, they played a U15 and U17 game prior to the lockdown. You can check out all the photos here, but there is no information on who actually played.

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