Kiwi-NRL Spotlight: Will Warbrick's Storm Ascension
Will Warbrick made his Kiwi-NRL debut in round tahi and with Storm building into their 2023 season, a round wha win over Tigers saw Warbrick score his first try. Storm won 24-12 and Warbrick rolled out his best performance of the season with 21 runs - 202m @ 9.61m/run, 2 linebreaks, 5 tackle busts and 2 offloads.
The first four rounds of Warbrick's NRL career are aligned with a tricky start for Storm. The Kawerau product has two games with 5 tackle busts and two games with just a single tackle bust. Before his 200m effort against Tigers, Warbrick had a niggly outing in the loss to Titans where he ran for 95m and struggled to contain his opposite winger.
Despite this tough start, Warbrick clearly fits the profile of Melbourne Storm wingers. Warbrick has dabbled in rugby union, league and AFL like his ancestors. That's similar to the likes of Matt Duffie and Suliasi Vunivalu who Storm recruited from Aotearoa footy, plus Storm are currently deploying Warbrick on one flank and Xavier Coates on the other.
Warbrick's mahi for Sunshine Coast last season lay out the Storm blueprint as Warbrick is the perfect bloke to have on the end of a backline. Storm can kick to Warbrick or they can shuffle the ball to him and the pass of Eliesa Katoa (1st 15 skillset) for Warbrick's try is a lovely example of this. Katoa receives an offload and then fires a long spiral pass immediately...
Storm gave Warbrick a full season with Sunshine Coast which seems like smart Storm stuff. Warbrick played 14 games with 10 wins, 10 tries, 14 linebreaks and 169m/game. For Storm this season, Warbrick is averaging 143m/game. 2 linebreaks and 2 offloads against Tigers are his first of the season, while he's averaging 3 tackle busts per game.
Despite losing elite Kiwi-NRL players in the Bromwich bros and Brandon Smith, Storm mana is undeniable. As a winger, Warbrick's performances will reflect the form of Storm and as Storm develop this season there will be more involvement from Warbrick. His presence on the right edge comes alongside Reimis Smith who appears eager to represent Aotearoa Kiwis and Katoa who is joined by Warriors centre Viliami Vailea as young Tongans who were born and raised in Tonga before moving to Auckland to play 1st 15.
That's a pretty funky right edge and Storm also have Alec MacDonald playing as a middle forward. Warbrick is the prototypical Storm winger and Auckland born MacDonald is the prototypical Storm mahi-man. MacDonald played 31mins vs Tigers which was the most minutes of Storm's bench players, taking 9 runs - 91m @ 10.11m/run with 19 tackles @ 95%.
Storm's success no longer revolves around the Kiwi-NRL lads. This season does feature funky Kiwi-NRL lads who epitomise Storm footy and they will be low key figures who fill the gaps around their star players. Warbrick is the best example of that as his finishing out wide will ensure Storm have monster wingers on both flanks for their elite play-makers to work with.
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