Checking In With New Zealand Warriors Women Ahead Of Their Hamilton Chapter
New Zealand Warriors Women have won two games in a row and this Saturday they play the first of three games in Hamilton against Canberra Raiders who are yet to win an NRLW game this season. Not only have NZW won back to back games, both games were in Australia and they didn't have Michaela Brake or Shakira Baker in those wins while playing their best footy of the season so far.
In their two games at Mt Smart, NZW had a win vs Eels and a loss vs Titans. Now they start the Hamilton chapter with another game against Sharks to follow this Raiders fixture and a third game in Hamilton against Broncos a few weeks later. This is extra funky because the team named to play against Raiders features Harata Butler and Capri Paekau who are from Waikato.
There is a strong Bay of Plenty connection in the team to play Raiders as well. Payton Takimoana and Matekino Gray have been part of the top-17 for most of the season, while 19-year-old Tyra Wetere has joined Takimoana on the wing in recent weeks. Takimoana is one of three NRLW players with at least seven tries this season and Wetere has adjusted to her opportunity coming as a winger after brewing as a play-maker prior to the season.
Five of the 17 players selected to play in Hamilton are from Waikato and Bay of Plenty. Auckland isn't far away either and there are eight players in the team who joined this NZW squad from footy in Auckland. There is also a wave of young players led by the Bay of Plenty crew who have stepped up to contribute to winning footy.
Takimoana (21yrs), Gray (20yrs) and Wetere (19yrs) are the BOP crew. Aussie centre Emmanita Paki is 22-years-old, the same age as Patricia Maliepo who has already been a phenom in rugby union and now playing a crucial role in the halves alongside Aussie Emily Curtain who is 24-years-old.
Both halves are younger than 25-years-old and both edge forwards are 23-years-old with Kaiyah Atai and Maarire Puketapu playing full games (70mins) on either edge in back to back wins. Lavinia Kitai (20yrs) and Ivana Lautiiti (19yrs) have been powerful in the two wins, while the youngest of the squad that has played this season is 18-year-old Ashlee Matapo and she has already played four games this season.
Dummy half Paekau is 24-years-old and this rounds out to 11 of the 17 players named for this round being younger than 25-years-old. Of the five players selected on the extended bench to play Raiders, Shakira Baker is the only one who is older than 25-years-old; Kalyn Takitimu-Cook (25yrs), Lavinia Tauhalaliku (25yrs), Makayla Eli (23yrs), Avery Rose-Carmont (24yrs).
15 of the 22 players named in this round's squad are 25-years-old or younger. Metanoia Fotu-Moala and Lydia Turua-Quedley are just above that mark at 26-years-old, but tweaks to their roles have coincided with two wins.
Fotu-Moala came off the bench in her first game of the seasons which was a loss vs Titans and coach Ronald Griffiths switched her to starting prop, with Fotu-Moala starting in the two wins. Turua-Quedley came off the bench in her first three games as a dummy half/utility, then she plugged a hole in the halves vs Titans. She was the starting hooker for wins vs Cowboys and Bulldogs.
While all the younger players have made significant contributions to winning footy and snapped up their opportunities, the leadership and class of senior players can't be overlooked. Apii Nicholls and Tysha Ikenasio are the leaders of the backline, while Laishon Albert-Jones and Harata Butler are doing tremendous mahi in guiding the young forwards through the grind of an NRLW season.
Here are some quick stat zones and notable wrinkles about how NZW play their footy...
Dummy half running is a clear foundation of NZW footy. They lead NRLW for dummy half runs with 124 and the next best is Sharks on 78. NZW average 20.6 dummy half runs per game and Sharks average 13, while Raiders average 8.5.
This starts with the dummy halves as Capri Paekau is sixth in NRLW for dummy half runs and Lydia Turua-Quedley is 19th. Ikenasio leads all NZW for dummy half runs though (fourth in NRLW) and along with Maliepo (ninth), NZW have three players in the top-10 for dummy half runs.
Against Cowboys there were eight dummy half runners and against Bulldogs there were nine players who had at least one dummy half run. NZW have plenty of speed and power in their backline so when this is dummy half running is combined with the brutality of their forward pack, there is a recipe for how NZW roll down the field.
Fotu-Moala and Kitai laid foundations in the last two wins as starting middle forwards along with Albert-Jones. Then there is the injection of the bench forwards, especially Butler and Lautiiti who have steamrolled their opposition in the last two wins...
Harata Butler
vs Cowboys: 11 runs - 134m @ 12.1m/run
vs Bulldogs: 14 runs - 143m @ 10.2m/run
Ivana Lauitiiti
vs Cowboys: 11 runs - 106m @ 9.6m/run
vs Bulldogs: 8 runs - 117m @ 14.6m/run
NZW usually carry three middle forwards and a hooker on their bench, with Matapo and Gray filling the other bench spot in the last two games. This means that NZW always have fresh runners ready to burst through tired defenders, which is only made possible by the low key mahi of the edge forwards in Atai and Puketapu.
Atai has emerged as the best player who no one knows about, playing all 70 minutes in every game this season and it is her first season of NRLW. She does all the hard mahi required on defence and is an excellent hole-runner, especially when hitting short passes from Maliepo on the left edge. Atai had a linebreak vs Bulldogs and two of them in her last three games as her combination with Maliepo grows.
Wellington's Puketapu came off the bench to play through the middle in the first three games and with Baker out injured, she then slotted into the 70-minute edge forward role. Puketapu has an offload in each of the wins and bounces around more than Atai, giving NZW different styles of edge forwards on either side of the field.
Another detail that from the two wins is a change in the kicking mahi for the two halves. Maliepo had over 160 kick metres in her first three games, then she dropped below 140 kick metres for her last three games including the back to back wins. Curtain only played the full 70mins in one of her first three games but she was still well below 140 kick metres in those first three games.
Curtain missed the Titans game and then had over 200 kick metres in each of the back to back wins. While Maliepo was the dominant kicker she only had one game over 200 kick metres and didn't hit the 300 kick metre mark, then Curtain had 304 kick metres vs Cowboys followed by 220 kick metres vs Bulldogs.
Maliepo seems like the better kicker and that stems from her rugby union background. Curtain has more rugby league experience though as she is in her third season of NRLW and her ability to weave grubbers between defenders as well as kicking for territory has helped NZW control the flow in their last two wins.
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Peace and love.