Warriors forwards feel the heat
News that the Warriors are chasing big name players to beef up their pack hasn’t been lost on the current group, who now have just two weeks left to audition for their spots in 2020.
The Warriors have underachieved massively this season. The players know it, and so do the club’s higher-ups who have been vocal about their intentions to improve the current roster ahead of the next year.
Recent attempts to lure Matt Lodge and Tevita Pangai Junior across the Tasman suggest it’s the middle third of the field the Warriors believe needs the most attention.
The club has sent a message to the rest of the NRL that they are cashed up and on the hunt for some marquee players after the 2019 pack was dominated on more than one occasion this season – a message not lost on the playing group.
As far as middle forwards go, they don’t come much tougher than utility Jazz Tevaga, but even he is feeling the heat.
The 2018 Dally M Interchange player of the year said the group has been hearing all the buzz around potential player signings, which only serves to add to the overall feeling of frustration.
‘‘We see it and hear it, and it falls on us. Your spot is never guaranteed especially if we’re losing so if you want to have a career here at the Warriors you have to perform. Period,’’ he said.
‘‘As a collective, bar probably Roger [Tuivasa-sheck], we haven’t been good enough this year so it’s only natural for that kind of noise to start.’’
A noticeably emotional Tevaga was still reeling from his side’s poor last month of football, which has seen three extremely one-sided scorelines put on the Warriors.
‘‘It sucks, we put a lot of pressure on ourselves to make the finals this year and it’s hard to talk about because it’s just so frustrating. We know we are better than where we are at,’’ he said.
‘‘All the talk about bringing in other guys hurts because I know there is a side here that can go deep and win it all, truly. But we’ve let ourselves down and the fans this season and there’s no hiding from it.’’
Tevaga’s frustration is understandable, especially when considering some of the Warriors’ better performances this season – and how different the year could have been had they got up in those matches.
‘‘You look at some of our efforts this year, we just lost to Melbourne who are obviously the bench mark, and the Bunnies the first go around,’’ he said.
‘‘We had close games with the likes of Penrith and the Broncos and then beat Manly. So there is a winning side here, just no consistency at the moment and it’s really frustrating after all the hard work in the pre-season.’’
When the Warriors have come unstuck in games. it has been largely through the middle third.
The Warriors are 10th in the NRL for total run metres and for the forwards it doesn’t make for great reading, especially when considering two of the side’s outside backs in Tuivasa-sheck and Ken Maumalo lead the competition in that department.
Tevaga and the rest of the forward pack know they have just two more weeks to prove their worth to coach Stephen Kearney and his staff, ahead of what’s shaping as one of the biggest offseasons in the club’s 25 year history.
‘‘We are focused on putting some pride back in our jersey, because there hasn’t been much of late, and we want to send off 2019 with a bang at home.’’
The Warriors take on South Sydney at Mt Smart Stadium in Auckland tomorrow.