Warriors’ Vete still learning on the job

In a season where the positives were few and far between, Albert Vete’s emergence as a starting NRL front-rower somewhat slipped under the radar as the Warriors finished another campaign out of the finals.

But in a promising sign heading into 2017, the former schoolboy rugby union star says he is only now beginning to feel comfortable in the 13-man game.

‘‘I do have a fair idea of what my roll is as a front-rower but I still feel like I’m still developing and still learning,’’ Vete said.

‘‘Obviously having a rugby background has been a bit different and it has been pretty difficult to make that transition but I feel like I’ve got the hang of things at the moment.’’

There may be a couple more weeks until the new year but, for the most part, the Warriors are done with 2016 and have been for some time.

It’s not that the pain of another failed campaign has been forgotten, but more than six weeks into pre-season under new coach Stephen Kearney, the focus is all about what lies ahead rather than looking back.

For some players, at least, last season was not a complete writeoff and Vete is one of those who can be relatively pleased with his progress.

The 23-year-old had a slow start and learned a big lesson as one of the six players stood down over the prescription drugs saga.

But he bounced back to start the club’s last 11 games, keeping test prop Ben Matulino on the interchange bench and taking his overall tally to 36 appearances.

Having only made his NRL debut in 2015, Vete is now a crucial cog in the club’s forwards rotation, so much so that it is easy to forget that he only started playing league three years earlier.

Vete grew up in union and captained Saint Kentigern College to victory in the Auckland first XV competition before being lured to the Warriors’ NYC programme.

Vete has considered going back to rugby and may do so further down the track.

But he is loving his time at the Warriors and is focused on impressing the new coach, who he’d never previously met.

But the former Kiwis boss made an impact.

‘‘To be honest I was nervous, I think a lot of the players were,’’ Vete said.

‘‘He was pretty fiery but I sort of expected that.

‘‘I thought that whoever was going to come in as head coach they definitely needed to lay down the law in terms of what his expectations are for us and maybe what the perceptions of our team are at the moment."