No Foran, no cry?
Replacements for Foran and Johnson have big job to do
The absence of Kieran Foran today will be hard to counter — but the Warriors have enjoyed occasional success with ‘green’ halves combinations in the past.
Foran was a late withdrawal from this afternoon’s clash with the Raiders, after failing a fitness test on a shoulder complaint during the captain’s run yesterday.
It’s hoped he will be back for Friday’s game against South Sydney, but will leave a significant void today.
With Foran (171 NRL games) and Shaun Johnson (142) sidelined, 20-year-old Ata Hingano and rookie
Mason Lino have the responsibility of guiding the team around the park. That’s a daunting assignment. While Foran has had a mixed campaign, he provides a steadying influence and a toughness on defence that will be hard to replicate. Hingano was solid in his threegame stint alongside Johnson at the start of this year, but will be making only his second start since round three.
Lino has been a fixture at halfback since Johnson’s injury against Penrith last month, but has only six NRL games under his belt.
But it’s not the first time the Warriors have been forced to field a highly inexperienced halves duo, and it hasn’t always been a negative. In 1995 Stacey Jones — in his first season — and 21-year-old Gene Ngamu (who had only played 10 first-grade matches in the previous three years) were thrown together when the misfiring Greg Alexander was moved to fullback. The Warriors just missed the playoffs on points differential — mainly thanks to the points deduction from the notorious interchange mistake in round three — but Ngamu and Jones featured in some big wins.
It was a similar story in 2010. James Maloney arrived at the club with just three NRL games behind him and was teamed up with 21-yearold Joel Moon, when regular half Brett Seymour was out with injury.
However, today could be a bridge too far. The Warriors already have a poor record without Johnson (0-12 in the last three years), and taking the field without Foran as well might be the final straw. But it’s also a great opportunity for both Hingano and Lino, with one of the pair set to be a permanent fixture in the halves next year alongside Johnson and they have nothing to lose, unhindered by this season’s failures.
Apart from Foran, James Bell was the other player to drop out of the squad of 21 players named on Tuesday. The final line-up will be confirmed an hour before kick-off.
V