Diary Of An Aotearoa Warriors Fan: Looking For Mana
Having floated through a trio of easier NRL encounters, Aotearoa Warriors are now in a gritty stretch of games against Roosters and Storm. Roosters snatched the win last week and Storm continue to be a fantastic footy team which presents more opportunities to learn about Warriors mana, with a slither of hope for bagging a couple points.
We all know the NRL referee yarn. Factor in the third umpire doing whatever they want to do and NRL officiating is among the strangest in this pocket of the world. Chuck in Aussies ignoring Aotearoa Warriors officiating mishaps to moan about the odd time their team is impacted and well, we all know the vibe. Warriors gracefully trucked through such niggle in losing to Roosters and even though their performance wasn't good enough to win, the mana levels were high.
Most folks just want to see Warriors mana on display. Rip in, have fun.
The issue in that loss was a wee dip in Warriors running mahi. I dropped these stats in the Monday email banger plus the Tuesdays Variety Show podcast as there was a substantial drop in Post Contact Metres from the Warriors last week. Add in their lowest Average Set Distance this season and I'm left pondering how Warriors mana kept them in this contest, as opposed to their best footy.
Stats provide one angle, but how does this look on the field? Roosters were aggressive in defence, rushing up in numbers to limit metres and they also did a lovely job of identifying where the ball would be shifted to and rushing up to snuff that carry out.
Roosters are well coached, as are Storm. How Warriors flip this against Storm will be intriguing. Apart from Aotearoa's best forwards (Bromwich bros, Nelson Asofa-Solomona, Brandon Smith) the Warriors may have more robust bench forwards which could help. Warriors only had 3 dummy half runs against Roosters for 15m, 8m and 11m which points to quicker, more direct running that can also counter eager defence.
Storm are currently first for total dummy half runs (89), Warriors are 12th (48). Warriors need to be aware of this, perhaps working hard to tighten the defence around the ruck. Storm are such a delightful footy team that they can then shift wide where a variety of threats are hungry for footy. That's the defensive challenge waiting for Warriors and they may get lucky if Storm are slightly off their game as Roosters were last week.
Only one team offloads less than Warriors. Warriors have 40 offloads all up, averaging 6.7 per game. Broncos have 37 total offloads and average 6.2 per game. Storm are top-five in offloads which goes against all stereotypes lazy Aussie commentators like to draw upon.
Warriors nerds would have noted that a lot of funky minor stuff was happening in the Roosters game, which when combined with the headline stuff made for a enticing viewing. Funky minor things like Aaron Pene getting his first start, Addin Fonua-Blake being the best Warriors player once again, Eliesa Katoa low key transitioning to a middle forward and the wee Otahuhu trooper Taniela Otukolo oozing class in limited minutes.
Matt Lodge returns this week which helps Warriors running mahi, also bumping Pene back to the bench and Otukolo out of the top-17. Otukolo didn't get game time at hooker because Kodi Nikorima has that bench role locked up, with Otukolo instead playing as a middle forward. Otukolo earned all sorts of NZRL representative honours as a youngster, was a leading figure in the strong 2020 Warriors SG Ball team and then had a bonkers 2021 in which he played Redcliffe Under 21s and NRL.
No reserve grade, just U21s and NRL for Otukolo last year. While he didn't do anything substantial against Roosters, Otukolo did his job and this is another sign of good coaching as well as a reminder that Otukolo always rises to the challenge. Edward Kosi has come out of nowhere to be a factor at NRL level, Lingi Kepu was 18th geezer against Roosters and along with Otukolo, plus all the other Aotearoa juniors; these are the lads we need to be loving.
Those Aotearoa juniors have only experienced niggly NRL seasons, they haven't driven to Mt Smart to play where hearty folks rally behind them. Kosi (Mangere East), Otukolo (Otahuhu) and Kepu (Otahuhu/Manurewa) specifically have been developed at south Auckland clubs, growing into NRL players during the niggliest period of the club's history. Celebrate these lads, celebrate growth and development.
Junior Warriors Mahi
Redcliffe Under 18s is all finished and this opens up intrigue as to where these lads pop up next. They could return to Aotearoa and like Otukolo did in 2020, play Fox Memorial against blokes while still a youngster or Warriors could place them in specific spots to continue their development. One of those spots might be Redcliffe U21s where lads like Jacob Laban and Tamakaimoana Whareaorere would benefit immensely.
The last Redcliffe U21s game was Ali Leiataua's four try extravaganza before Easter which also featured Eric Va'afusuaga on the wing, Kina Kepu and Lleyton Finau starting as props. Leiataua and Va'afusuaga are named this week as the centre pairing, with Kina Kepu named in reserve grade. Expect changes and these changes get explored in our Monday email dispatch along with plenty of Kiwi-NRL notes.
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Peace and love.