Aotearoa Warriors Diary: Finals Preview vs Panthers (& NSW Cup vs Raiders)
NZ Warriors give NRL Finals footy a big ol' haere mai with their trip to Penrith Panthers on Saturday. Panthers are chasing three NRL championships in a row and they have an illustrious trio of Aotearoa Kiwis in their forward pack led by Northland's James Fisher-Harris and Auckland's Moses Leota with Scott Sorenson oozing Aotearoa mana at edge forward.
Panthers are the benchmark for NRL footy. Whether it's back to back championships or finishing this season first for Set Completions, Tackle Breaks, Post Contact Metres and Kick Return Metres; they do this rugby league thing the best.
Fortunately for Warriors, coach Andrew Webster knows the vibe. Webster worked as assistant coach for Panthers during their back to back premierships and there are ample similarities between Panthers and Warriors with Webster in charge. The funkiest aspect of this match up is the connection between both teams. Ivan Cleary learned his coaching mana from his time at NZ Warriors where he had a fabulous influence on young polynesians. Cleary also offered guidance to Webster in recent years and while Webster is building out the Warriors system in his own way alongside Andrew McFadden, Warriors are establishing a similar junior pipeline as Panthers.
Let's take a moment to spark one up for the other former Panthers assistant coach Cameron Ciraldo. Despite all the buzz about Ciraldo joining Bulldogs from Panthers, Webster's Warriors defeated Bulldogs twice this season and have out-performed Bulldogs in all aspects of running an NRL organisation. Better NRL team, better footy, better culture and better juniors.
All season long The Niche Cache has documenting the Warriors style of completing sets, kicking long from Shaun Johnson's boot and winning early tackles. Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad does similar things to Dylan Edwards at fullback, often taking two runs in a set before sliding out to the right edge where they offer play-making in attacking shapes. Nicoll-Klokstad and Edwards are secure fullbacks who swallow bombs, mop up grubbers and are strong enough to make crucial try-saving tackles.
Both teams have passing forwards who first and foremost, handle the physicality required to dominant NRL oppositions. Tohu Harris is just as good as Isaah Yeo, even though Harris is often overlooked in this pocket of silky/rugged middle forwards. Addin Fonua-Blake leads the NRL for Post Contact Metres and he's 100pcm ahead of Payne Haas in second, playing a similar role to Fisher-Harris as they both chime in with passing for different attacking shapes.
Panthers have an advantage with Leota offering more oomph than Mitchell Barnett and Panthers will also roll Spencer Leniu off the bench for his high-fizz impact. This may offer a wee sign of how Warriors can break down the best defence in the NRL as coach Webster has selected forwards who are less powerful but more mobile. Barnett rips in and the bench has Dylan Walker, Jazz Tevaga, Bayley Sironen and Josh Curran.
All four bench forwards are smaller and faster than most NRL benches, as well as offering versatility. Panthers power will be difficult to handle and yet Warriors will give it a crack given the effort/attitude of their smaller forwards. Tevaga's an interesting geezer heere as he had two games of 20mins before missing the loss vs Dolphins and now he is straight back on the bench against Panthers.
Prior to his injury, Tevaga stacked up three games of 66+ minutes. The Baldies (Walker and Tevaga) will probably be the first substitutes deployed by coach Webster, highlighting another theme of the season. Warriors footy changes once Walker's on the field as he offers speed and passing, both of which bump Warriors into a different style of footy. How Tevaga compliments this will be interesting, especially as Warriors will need some aggression during the middle stages of the game.
Te Maire Martin's return against Dolphins wasn't ideal but he rolled through 80mins and he is another intriguing Warrior to watch out for. Martin loves defence and while this was only on display in patches against Dolphins, defending in a full-strength team should look much cleaner for Martin. Keep an eye on Martin's efforts in chasing from marker and popping up on the right side for a kick-chase etc.
In pondering this game, I keep swinging back around to 'how do Warriors break down Panthers defence?'. Shaun Johnson will direct the shapes and unload his quiver of plays, receiving the footy from Harris, Fonua-Blake or Walker and then alternating between options outside him like a short-ball for Marata Niukore or flicking it out the back to Nicoll-Klokstad. Martin offers a point of difference because he is a short-sider who has the ability to count numbers and execute the right play in four vs four/three vs three situations.
Luke Metcalf is fast and has nice instincts. Martin is more of a play-maker who puts others into space and this could be showcased with his left edge homies Jackson Ford, Adam Pompey and Marcelo Montoya. Breaking down Panthers defence could also feature centres Pompey and Rocco Berry flexing their passing/offloading. Warriors have nifty distribution on both edges and this variety in attack will be crucial to score 10+ points against Panthers.
NZ Warriors have a must-win NSW Cup finals game against Raiders in Sydney. The team named is far strong than last round's loss to Rabbitohs with Edward Kosi, Ronald Volkman, Paul Roache, Kalani Going, Jacob Laban and Tom Ale returning to NSW Cup. This bumps a bunch of SG Ball players out of the squad but Tanner Stowers-Smith remains to join Laban as the only Under 19 lads named.
Ali Leiataua, Moala Graham-Taufa, Zyon Maiu'u and Isaiah Vagana are premier NZ Warriors youngsters also named in NSW Cup. How they perform in NSW Cup finals will set them up for their summer training block. Don't forget that Leiataua, Maiu'u, Laban and Demitric Sifakula were playing U21 finals in Queensland this time last year.
Join the Niche Cache Patreon whanau to support our kiwi sports content straight up, get a karma boost and find extra podcasts.
Every Monday and Friday we fire off an email newsletter with bonus content. Sign up here!
Peace and love.