Aotearoa Warriors Diary: The Three Young Aussies (Luke Hanson, Jesse Soric, Tallan Egan)
As the two Andys (Webster and McFadden) enter their second season overseeing the New Zealand Warriors pipelines, they have lured three young Australian halves over the ditch. Luke Hanson, Jesse Soric and Tallan Egan are all Under 21 eligible and have pounced on opportunities in the NZW system. Hanson and Soric have already dabbled in footy this year, while Egan is named in the wider SG Ball squad for their game against Tigers this weekend.
All three lads come from different pockets of New South Wales and they offer different levels of hype. Hanson is the pick of the bunch as he joined NZW from Penrith Panthers where he was an SG Ball captain before moving up to Jersey Flegg. This can be translated to Hanson playing U19s to start the season and graduating to U21s to play finals footy. Given all we have heard about the Panthers junior system and their production line of talent, Hanson was playing U21s while still U19 in the best junior pipeline in the NRL.
That alone seems useful. Hanson joins the likes of Isaiya Katoa (Dolphins) and Niwhai Puru (Sharks) who played junior footy in the halves for Panthers before moving to other NRL teams for greater opportunities. NZW have never signed a young half from Australia with the pedigree of Hanson and after a summer of mahi with the NRL squad, Hanson earned a crack in the trial vs Tigers. Hanson was then named as the starting halfback for the NSW Cup team who played a trial vs Counties Manukau last weekend.
Coach Webster would have known of Hanson during his time with Panthers as an assistant coach. Webster has earned trust in what he's doing and along with Hanson's background in a system like Panthers, if Webster was chasing Hanson then that serves as another confirmation tick of Hanson's ability. This is bolstered by Hanson's quick rise with NZW as he seems likely to feature in the NSW Cup team for round tahi of reserve grade even though he is still U21 eligible (he could play Jersey Flegg as well).
Those indicators of Hanson's talent aren't quite as evident in Soric or Egan, although both have played against men in local footy. Soric played for Byron Bay last year and he has started every game for NZW SG Ball this season in the halves alongside Wellington's Maui Winitana-Patelesio. Egan was playing for Lithgow last year and joins older brother Wayde at NZW, although he is yet to lace up for the SG Ball team yet.
The two Andys have identified the need for halves from Australia. NZW haven't paid 'overs' to bring young Aussies across the ditch, nor have they been desperate in their pursuit of these three youngsters. With a full pipeline of junior teams, NZW can provide opportunities and through various connections (Webster/Panthers and Egan bros), these three lads have moved to Aotearoa because they believe NZW is the best spot for them.
NZW are not filling their junior teams with Aussies, nor is their NSW Cup full of Aussies chasing an opportunity. Soric is the only Aussie named in the SG Ball team (top-17) and the only other Australian named in the NSW Cup trial last weekend was Ben Farr, who featured in the halves alongside Hanson.
While Farr is a couple years older than the other lads, he fits the mould of this yarn as NZW signed him from Queensland Cup footy where he was playing for Wynnum. Farr covered all backline positions in NSW Cup for NZW last year and this year he has started in the halves for his NRL trial minutes along with the NSW Cup trial. While it's unlikely that things play out this way with Hanson already stepping up to NSW Cup, NZW have an Australian half at every age bracket.
The funkiest thing about all of this is how NZW have identified the need for halves from Australia while also developing Aotearoa halves. Winitana-Patelesio is a high pedigree youngster from Wellington who played 1st 15 for St Pat's Silverstream as well as rugby league for Te Aroha. Last year Winitana-Patelesio was good enough with Wellington Under 18s to earn selection for the NZRL Clubs team and now he's played every game of SG Ball for NZW.
In the NZW Under 17 Harold Matthews team there are two local lads in Boston Krone and Deshontayne Te Wao. Krone is at Auckland Grammar School were he also plays 1st 15 and Te Wao is listed as an Otahuhu junior at Botany Downs Secondary School.
NZW are yet to name their Under 21 Jersey Flegg team and we will probably need to wait until the first team list is announced. Players like Phranklyn Mano-Le-Mamea, Sefanaia Cowley-Lupo and William Piliu all featured in the halves for SG Ball last year, before all three spent the rest of the year playing against men in Fox Memorial.
Piliu was in the NSW Cup trial squad along with Cassius Cowley. Cowley is an intriguing lad in this mix as the Pacific Sharks junior from Tokoroa played SG Ball for NZW in 2020, before the pandemic ripped all the junior teams away from NZW. Cowley picked up opportunities with Wynnum in Queensland and he now appears to have returned to NZW in similar fashion Quinnlan Tupou and Toni Tupouniua.
All of which highlights the Kiwi-NRL depth and growth of rugby league in Aotearoa. Along with all the lads named above in the NZW system, there is a strong crew of young Kiwi-NRL halves in Australia. With Australian clubs eager to tap into Aotearoa's footy abundance, they are investing heavily in Kiwi-NRL juniors and NZW still have local lads at all levels of the halves depth chart.
Under the guidance of the two Andys, NZW are also making the most of their connections to sign youngsters from Australia and plug holes. The fact that these young Aussies want to be with NZW is the most intriguing observation and the competition for selection will only reap rewards.
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