Diary Of An Aotearoa Warriors Fan: More Trials, Less Insight
The second NRL trial is always a wee bit more important than the first, although I must stay straight up and remind youz that trials are trials.
The second NRL trial is always a wee bit more important than the first, although I must stay straight up and remind youz that trials are trials.
Having only recently truly explored how important Issac Luke could be to Aotearoa Warriors this season, Parramatta Eels apparently explored an avenue to snap up Luke prior to the start of this season.
Aotearoa Warriors reserve grade coach Nathan Cayless has dropped his first team list for 2019 as the reserves head down to Christchurch where they will face Canterbury Bulls on tomorrow (Saturday).
I'm not going to offer any great insight into the trial performances of Aotearoa Warriors, nor will I try spot any trends in how the various trial squads are selected. The first trial squad to face Melbourne Storm over in Australia though, does present immense funk.
Regardless on your views, or mine on how silly the NRL's player market is and how it's nothing more than a year-long buffet, I low key love it because it can throw up situations like Jordan Kahu moving from Brisbane Broncos to North Queensland Cowboys in February.
Imagine going from being a promising NRL winger still sussing out this professional rugby league stuff in 2017, to then being so damn good that you are one of the few players to start all five Tests for Aotearoa Kiwis in 2018.
All Stars weekend and NRL trials mean that the NRL season is fast approaching, yet the World Club Challenge is where we'll get the funkiest #KiwiNRL insight this weekend.
Aotearoa Warriors have released all round lovely bloke Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad, allowing for Nicoll-Klokstad to move to Canberra Raiders in pursuit of more NRL minutes.
Remember when the biggest issue at Mt Smart last year was whether to re-up on Issac Luke and if so, how long for? Aotearoa Warriors took their time in dealing with Luke and everyone had a view on Luke's value, making it a fairly hefty yarn for a few weeks.
As Blake Green anchors the play-making duties for Aotearoa Warriors, there is a nice splash of clarity with regards to who his halves partner will be this season.
Even though England ended up being too good for Aotearoa across a three game series, there wasn't exactly a shortage of encouraging signs in the Shaun Johnson/Kodi Nikorima halves combo.
Yesterday via the Niche Cache's Facebook and Twitter, I posted some statistical sugar regarding Leeson Ah Mau and some rather impressive 'tackle efficiency' numbers.
While many sniff around the Warriors recruitment rumours and news for big names, the ploy to snap up solid job-doers with high ceilings has been hugely overlooked outside of the Niche Cache.
Aotearoa's Maori Ferns team to face the NRL Women's All Stars has been named and voting is open for the Maori All Stars (men's) team, where you vote who you want in your Aotearoa Maori All Stars.
Lost in all the mangroves of Aotearoa Warriors shenanigans of the past few months has been the shifting sands of salary cap management.
As Shaun Johnson explores his new surroundings, Aotearoa Warriors move forward in their summer preparations without their starting halfback.
Such is life when you're from Aotearoa, let alone coming from Aotearoa Warriors, that everyone and anyone assumes that you will be more successful at an Australian NRL club.
While the standard dramas go down, there have been numerous pieces of #KiwiNRL business that have flown under the radar recently.
The strangest thing about Shaun Johnson's Facebook post regarding his contract situation with New Zealand Warriors is that it didn't really clarify anything. In fact, here we are even more confused than we were 24 hours ago.
I hate to bore you with these beautiful Aotearoa Warriors staff recruitment moves, but Aotearoa Warriors have made yet another slick play in luring Greg Boulous across the ditch to take up a role as head coach of the Future Warriors Programme.