Aotearoa Warriors have an away trip to Newcastle Knights in NRL and NSW Cup this weekend, while the SG Ball crew have a catch up game in Auckland against Sea Eagles. The Under 19 lads have been losing and last weekend's loss to Western Suburbs was their fifth in a row. All five losses came against good SG Ball teams and Sea Eagles are down the bottom of the ladder so this may add a more positive twist to the campaign.

Warriors won't be playing SG Ball finals. As noted throughout this SG Ball campaign, folks shouldn't cling to results at this level as a variety of factors can impact results. We have already seen Leka Halasima promoted from SG Ball to NSW Cup as a 17-year-old and there are a bunch of Warriors SG Ball lads who are well below the U19 age bracket. Every club has different priorities at this level and Warriors SG Ball feels more like a learning experience rather than a results driven exercise.

One thing to stay curious about is where these lads pop up after the SG Ball season. Jumping up to NSW Cup from SG Ball seems unrealistic, hence Halasima's rise is bonkers. Do these SG Ball players feature in local premier footy to gain experience against men? Is there a funky initiative to get these lads more footy against players their age? Until Warriors roll out a Jersey Flegg team, this is an intriguing hole in the development pipeline.

Te Waaka Popata-Henare came off the bench for Warriors SG Ball last weekend and is now named as a starting edge forward. Popata-Henare played for both Warriors Sevens teams (2022 and 2023) out of Mt Albert Grammar School and was listed as 16-years-old for the 2022 competition, which serves as another gauge of the ages in this SG Ball team.

Presley Seumanu also played in the 2022 Warriors Sevens team and he has played edge forward in most of his SG Ball appearances, now named at lock. There also appears to be clarity in the halves depth chart as Sefanaia Cowley-Lupo has been starting halfback all season, while Phranklyn Mano-Le-Mamea grabbed the other starting spot from William Piliu who has been the fullback in recent weeks. Without Mano-Le-Mamea, Calum Pereira started in the halves last weekend.

The NSW Cup Warriors are 5th and Knights are at the bottom of the ladder. This means that both SG Ball and NSW Cup Warriors face opponents who have just one win this season.

With Ronald Volkman starting in NRL vs Sharks and Freddy Lussick traveling as part of the NRL squad, the NSW Cup Warriors rolled out a mix-and-match line up in their loss vs Western Suburbs. Paul Roache started in the halves with Navajo Doyle at hooker and Geronimo Doyle coming off the bech. Now Roache is named at starting hooker with Volkman in the halves alongside Ben Farr, while Rocco Berry must be out injured as Moala Graham-Taufa shifts from wing to centre.

Roache is an intriguing joker, not only because he is Nathaniel's younger bro. Paul was a high pedigree footy player in Aotearoa as a NZ Schoolboys union rep out of MAGS before joining Raiders and while that didn't work out, Roache ticks all the high pedigree junior boxes. Now Roache is a consistent figure in the NSW Cup team and his development coincides with Warriors giving another smaller player in Taine Tuaupiki plenty of opportunities.

My favourite nugget about NSW Cup Warriors is the young forwards. Zyon Maiu'u, Isaiah Vagana, Demitric Sifakula and Halasima are all young forwards from Auckland who are consistently playing decent minutes against fringe NRL players. Halasima's minutes vary but he grabbed 44mins last week (!) while Sifakula is an 80min edge forward and the two props get 30-50mins most weeks.

Having covered the Key Trends Of Warriors Footy earlier in the week, here are some other notes ahead of this Knights encounter...

Warriors scored most of their tries down the right edge vs Sharks without Te Maire Martin on the left edge. Expect more balance in how Warriors attack vs Knights as Martin is a weapon in setting blokes up and his combination with Jackson Ford, Viliami Vailea and Marcelo Montoya will continue to brew.

Bayley Sironen starts in place of Marata Niukore. Expect the same Josh Curran injection as we saw last week as Ford is an 80min trooper on the left, while Sironen and Curran can share the right edge duties.

How do Warriors slow down Knights fullback Lachlan Miller? Miller was impressive in the round tahi fixture but Warriors managed to restrict him to 181m and 52 kick-return metres. In his last two games, Miller has 200+ running metres and 100+ kick-return metres. Warriors have experience against Miller, more footage of his tendencies and Shaun Johnson is finding a groove with his kicking game.

Why are Warriors slow starters? Because the game changes when Dylan Walker is deployed. Below is a game by game breakdown of how Walker is subbed in...

vs Knights: 4-6 down, Walker for Barnett at 27:02mins
vs Roosters: 0-8 down, Walker for Niukore at 16:19mins
vs Cowboys: 6-12 down, Walker for Afoa at 16:35mins
vs Bulldogs: 0-8 down, Walker for Afoa at 22:58mins
vs Sharks: 0-20 down, Walker for Afoa at 18:30mins

The last three games show a clear pattern. Walker is almost as influential as Tohu Harris in the passing style of footy and his presence changes the attacking structure, also adding a quicker bloke into the defensive line. Regardless of whether Harris plays or not, keep tabs on how Warriors are playing in the opening 15mins and how that grows once Walker enters the game.

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Peace and love.