Aotearoa Warriors Diary: Winning Mahi Breakdown
Despite the challenge offered by the Kiwi-NRL Brisbane Broncos, Aotearoa Warriors slipped back into a groove with a 32-16 win at Mt Smart. This capped off an impressive gameday as the NSW Cup Warriors defeated Raiders in a battle of two strong reserve grade teams, their eighth win in 10 games and their fourth win in a row.
The Under 21 Jersey Flegg Warriors had a loss vs Raiders, but the 24-34 scoreline does not reflect where these two teams sit on the ladder as Raiders are at the top and NZW are 13th. The most important note for all NZW U21s footy is how this team is now made up primarily of Under 19 players and the winning NSW Cup team has lots of U21 lads. Don't stress too much about Jersey Flegg results as all the young talent at Mt Smart is flowing upwards to help teams win.
To reinforce that, here are a few young NSW Cup Warriors and their mahi in the win over Raiders...
Luke Hanson (19/20yrs - halfback ): 80mins, 11 runs - 58m @ 5.2m/run, 1 try assist, 4 tackle breaks, 17 tackles @ 89%, 13 kicks - 278m
Makaia Tafua (19/20yrs - hooker): 57mins, 6 runs - 56m @ 9.3m/run, 1 tackle break, 34 tackles @ 94%
Leka Halasima (18yrs - edge): 73mins, 15 runs - 155m @ 10.3m/run, 2 offloads, 22 tackles @ 100%
Taine Tuaupiki also deserves a salute for his mahi on an epic day for Taharoa:
2 tries, 16 runs - 188m @ 11.7m/run, 1 linebreak, 1 try assist, 10 tackle breaks, 3 tackles @ 75%
Taharoa's Xavier Willison started at prop for Broncos and there will be plenty of Kiwi-NRL coverage in our Monday newsletter. Te Maire Martin led the way for NZW in the NRL win as the halfback who played on both sides of the ruck and calmly steered NZW around the park. This is evident in Martin's try involvements as he threw a cut-out pass for Chanel Harris-Tavita's first try with both lads lining up on the left of the ruck. Then Martin crept over from dummy half and this was on the left side of the field as well.
Harris-Tavita showcased his mana with big hits and desperate efforts for the footy, most notably when he came from nowhere to pounce on a grubber from Martin to score his second try. Martin made that kick on the right side of the ruck, but left of the posts and he followed it up with a grubber for Roger Tuivasa-Sheck on the right as well as a chip for Dallin Watene-Zelezniak to score in the right corner.
Martin didn't play a role in Freddy 'the half pakeha, half palagi' Lussick's try as he was right of the ruck, with Harris-Tavita on the left in a basic example of how these two operate. Lussick didn't need either of them and he rolled through a crisp move with Mitchell Barnett to score.
This was Martin's third outing with at least three try assists in the last six games. In these six games Martin also has three tries, four linebreaks, 10 tackle breaks and five forced drop-outs. Martin has played seven NRL seasons and this is his first season averaging over 70 kicking metres per game (155.2) as well has his first season with over nine try assists (12). Last season Martin had 63.6 kicking metres per game, two try assists and 43 running metres per game; all of which have had big boosts as Martin's averaging 74m/game this season as well.
The Martin/Harris-Tavita halves combo allows a glorious balance in kicking mahi for NZW. Martin finished with 11 kicks for 220m and Harris-Tavita had eight kicks for 283m. Not only does that highlight how Harris-Tavita did plenty of midfield kicking with his left boot to pin Broncos down their end, Harris-Tavita had no grubbers while Martin had three which lays out their kicking roles further.
With Martin shining as the chief play-maker, Harris-Tavita adds a strong kicking game as well as natural footy instincts. Harris-Tavita had seven runs for 73m @ 10.4m/run and made 11 tackles @ 100% as another example of how he is a fabulous all-rounder, balancing out the clinical mahi from Martin.
Prior to this game it seemed like coach Andrew Webster was sticking with the same lads to flip the horrible 666 outing around. Coach Webster made some major changes just before the game started and the vibe switched with coach Webster showing that he can tweak his team, adapting to the situation.
Mitchell Barnett moved from edge forward to prop, with Kurt Capewell starting at left edge to bump Jackson Ford to the bench. Dylan Walker also started ahead of Tohu Harris and this is a sneaky mana pocket to highlight as the skipper Harris played just 25mins. All NZW players put the team first and don't seem to kick up a fuss when things like this happen, especially not someone like Harris who played his role well.
Harris only had two runs for 21m but he was efficient with 10.5m/run and more importantly, he had 27 tackles @ 100%. Harris clearly had a defensive focus as he made more tackles than Dylan Walker who grabbed 18 tackles @ 85.7% in 55mins. Harris also had more tackles in less minutes than Jazz Tevaga (18 tackles @ 100% in 29mins) and Jackson Ford (15 tackles @ 93.7% in 35mins).
This could be the best way for the NZW forwards to line up. Capewell appears to be more effective on the left edge and Marata Niukore was at his brutal best on the right edge, which allows for Barnett to lead through the middle. Coach Webster tends to prefer Barnett on the left edge but his combo in the middle with Addin Fonua-Blake and Dylan Walker is ideal, with coach Webster keeping an open mind about Ford's role.
Last season Ford stayed on the left edge and he started in that position this year, before a brief stint on the right edge and a few games as starting prop. Ford is fairly useful as a bench forward as he provides energy, mobility, effort and the ability to cover edge/middle. When Ford is starting in the middle, NZW feel too small but with Barnett in the starting mix and Harris coming off the bench, there is a better blend of forward styles.
NZW play their best footy when engaging defenders around the ruck. This is evident in Wayde Egan having five dummy half runs for 49m @ 9.8m/run, as well as more inside passing when NZW are moving down the field. Stinky NZW footy features opposition defences sliding sideways as they have all scouted how NZW attacking systems work and NZW countered this against Broncos by engaging defenders around the ruck, along with early shifts that made the most of space out wide.
Early shifts haven't really been part of the NZW style and they don't have the speed out wide to make linebreaks out wide, but NZW ate up metres in those wide shifts. Most of the complex shape from last season was not on display vs Broncos and coach Webster showed his class in tinkering with the attacking system, which included more variety in how NZW challenged Broncos' defence.
This wasn't a massive game for some of the outside backs and yet it's exactly the type of outing that NZW needed. Keep in mind that those early shifts require passing from the outside backs (especially when Capewell gets the footy on the sideline) and this is evident in Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad having 19 passes, as well as Marcelo Montoya having three passes as a winger.
Adam Pompey had a few bump-off runs and the others popped up to score tries, but it didn't feel like any of the outside backs were overly busy. Nicoll-Klokstad had 17 runs, Watene-Zelezniak had 15 run, Tuivasa-Sheck had 14 runs and Pompey/Montoya had 11 runs though. Montoya was the only lad here to average more than 10m/run which was boosted by the early shifts, further amplifying the feeling that the outside backs weren't as dynamic as they often are.
Along with some key defensive plays (Nicoll-Klokstad and Tuivas-Sheck combined to stop Selwyn Cobbo scoring in the corner), the outside backs for NZW had to grind for every metre and slither of space. Broncos did well to limit the outside back mahi, but these lads kept showing up to play their roles and NZW finished with most of their forwards averaging over 10m/run.
NZW had more footy which leads to higher output stats, but the foundation of the outside backs churning out tough mahi set the tone. NZW had 201 kick return metres and Broncos had 94. NZW averaged 40m per set, Broncos averaged 29.8m. NZW had 615 post contact metres, Broncos had 327 post contact metres.
Like the mahi from the outside backs, on the surface this looks like a regular NZW win under coach Webster. The outside backs were all mahi no flash though, just like coach Webster made some low key drastic changes to the starting team and roles played. All the headlines from the NSW Cup game are about a lime green bully but don't overlook how the NSW Cup Warriors won again with a young team and they have a habit of welcoming any niggly battle from NRL-calibre forwards.
During the two Andys era and tracking the NSW Cup Warriors closely, these young forwards have had numerous battles against older, more fancied forward packs. Usually the NSW Cup Warriors get the upper hand in these battles and while we all learn about discipline as we get older, the fact that these young lads usually win these battles with a splash of agro is an undercover storyline to follow. These youngsters are ready to explode, but the two Andys have them simmering like a Matariki boil up.
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