Aotearoa Warriors Diary: Returning To Townsville vs Cowboys
New Zealand Warriors play against North Queensland Cowboys on Saturday night in a crucial contest to sort out finals contenders. Cowboys are a few spots ahead of NZW in 10th and along with Roosters who are eighth, they are the only teams ranked ahead of NZW (13th) who are yet to win the bye.
This means that Cowboys and Roosters have easy mahi points waiting for them over the next few months. NZW slipped up against Roosters and now they head to Townsville where they need to rectify their away form. The winning phase against Panthers and Dolphins was covered in depth here, along with notes about the big crowds and a thriving junior pipeline.
Now NZW have some of their best players returning to the team. Given their previous performances under adversity and more interestingly, lots of losses with a full strength crew, no one should assume that NZW can stroll to wins with top-17 lads available. Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad is named at fullback, Rocco Berry at centre, Addin Fonua-Blake and Tohu Harris are back in the forward pack.
Kurt Capewell is also named on the bench and coach Andrew Webster seems likely to play shenanigans with how his forwards line up. They could roll out the team that has been named and as covered after the win over Dolphins, Jackson Ford has already played as a middle forward so him being named at prop isn't as crazy as it seems.
All sorts of changes could take place in the forwards. Ford may line up on an edge and this middle/edge flexibility also features Marata Niukore, Mitchell Barnett and Kurt Capewell. Barnett will join NZW after State of Origin and Capewell's returning from injury, so aside from their palpable mana there is some uncertainty around their roles. Maybe Freddy Lussick and/or Bunty Afoa are late inclusions from the extended bench.
However NZW line up, this appears to be a nice match up against Cowboys. NZW had two wins over Cowboys last year which includes a win in Townsville to balance out their struggles in Australia this season. NZW also have a hefty advantage in set completions as they are ranked third in the NRL (per game) while Cowboys are 17th, which means NZW should have ample opportunities to score points.
Another stat pocket is kick metres and kick return metres. Cowboys are also 17th for kick metres per game and while NZW are third in that stat, they are also second in kick return metres. Cowboys have the fewest kicking metres per game in the NRL and NZW join Panthers as they only teams averaging 200+ kick return metres. Nicoll-Klokstad is back to bolster this and NZW should enjoy a territory advantage, especially if they are able to limit how many metres Cowboys get working out of their end.
NSW Cup Warriors have a bye after dragging themselves up to seventh on the ladder. Ponder how awesome the wins over Panthers and Dolphins were with a severe test of NZW depth, which flowed down the grades. During that phase, the NSW Cup Warriors had two wins and a loss as part of a seven game stint with five wins, one draw and one loss. The Jersey Flegg Warriors were just as impressive with five wins and a draw in their last six games, after losing their first six games.
NSW Cup Warriors went up to NRL to plug holes and Jersey Flegg lads went up to NSW Cup, with a hearty crew of Under 19 SG Ball lads filling the Flegg teams over the past month. Despite the depth being challenged, NZW won lots of games and this points to the quality of young talent coming out of Mt Smart.
This week the U21s travel to Fiji where they play the Kaiviti Silktails and a sneaky thing to stash away for your sporting yarns is how rugby union neglects the pacific islands, while rugby league is rolling out more teams across the region. Papua New Guinea have a Queensland Cup team and may enter the NRL soon, while there are teams like the U21 Silktails gathering momentum.
The Silktails aren't winning games though and the biggest challenge for the NZW U21s will be playing in Lautoka on Saturday. Similar travel as the trips to Australia though and the benefit of having a full buffet of junior teams competing in NSWRL competitions is that they learn how to travel for footy games at an earlier age.
The backline for NZW U21s is full of funky talent, but the forward pack to play in Fiji is the latest example of how the talent on offer. Harry Durbin, Toby Crosby and Kayliss Fatialofa have all played NSW Cup and are the starting middle forwards for Jersey Flegg this round. Alvin Chong Nee and Augustino Filipo are the edge forwards, with Presley Seumanu-Tigafua, Rodney Tuipulotu-Vea and Francis Tuimauga rolling off the bench.
Fatialofa, Chong Nee, Filipo, Tuipulotu-Vea and Tuimauga all played U19s earlier in the season. Every player in this forward pack has size, power, mobility and skill. That's the ideal recipe for NRL forwards and NZW have an abundance of forwards with NRL upside that you'd be wise to learn about.
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