‘Saviour’ Walker set to add spark for Warriors
Warriors skipper Tohu Harris quipped that returning impact player Dylan Walker has been jokingly “calling himself the saviour’’ – and he might well be this week.
Walker – out since round three with an ankle issue – is back on the interchange bench for the Warriors’ Anzac Day clash today against the Gold Coast Titans in Auckland.
No-one will welcome him back more than Harris and fellow middle forwards Addin Fonua-Blake and Mitch Barnett, who have had to play big minutes in the Warriors’ early-season injury crisis.
The versatile Walker, who can play in the middle, on the edge or even in the backline, will join prop Tom Ale and NRL debutant Zyon Maui’u on the pine.
They could all offer Andrew Webster the chance to spell Harris, Fonua-Blake and Barnett if the Warriors can get an early ascendancy against the winless Titans.
Harris said Walker’s return would be “a huge boost” with “his change of pace and the leg speed he brings and just the energy he has around the team”.
The captain claimed Walker “was calling himself the saviour’’ when the side – still smarting from its drubbing by the Dragons – resumed training on Tuesday.
“He’s certainly a character, and I’m glad to have him back in the team.’’
The Dragons defeat was Harris’ fourth 80-minute performance of the season and he also turned out for 82 minutes of the extra-time golden-point draw with Manly.
The Warriors leader is third in the NRL for most tackles (294) and is averaging 147 minutes with the ball in hand.
Fonua-Blake has played for more than an hour in the last three games – 74 minutes against Manly – and is third on the overall charts for most post-contact metres (502).
Barnett (217 tackles, 147m average, eight offloads) has also been busy since injuries to Walker, Jazz Tevaga and Bunty Afoa depleted the middle forwards cover.
Harris isn’t complaining about playing big minutes, saying training and game loads are “for the smart guys to think about’’.
“That’s not our job. While we are on the field, we’ve got to keep going and make sure we are performing.
“If we aren’t doing that, that’s when Webby needs to do something about it.”
Webster said in Harris, Fonua-Blake and Barnett, the Warriors had some of the best middles in the game, but he would “have to be smarter with our interchanges”.
“I have full faith in our bench, they are going to do the job.”
The Warriors aren’t taking the bottomof-the-table Titans lightly, with Harris insisting “we don’t want to be the team they get their first win against’’.
Gold Coast are led around the field by veteran Kiwis scrumhalf Kieran Foran, who will be keen for a season-first win over his countrymen. They also have Gisborne-born ex-Queensland State of Origin front rower Moeaki Fotuaika and David Fifita in the pack and plenty of speed out wide in fullback A J Brimson, wings Alofiana Khan-Pereira and Jojo Fifita, and centre Brian Kelly.
The Warriors haven’t had a win since round 5 and lie in 10th place, but they are still hot favourites in their first Anzac Day home game since 2015.
The NZ Defence Force are the Warriors’ matchday partner and there is set to be plenty of pageantry and pyrotechnics.
Meanwhile, Warriors fans must be beginning to really love Wednesdays.
A week after the club announced the signing of Kiwis captain James Fisher-Harris from Penrith, the Panthers SG ball halfback Jett Cleary has now joined the club for three seasons, from 2025.
Cleary, 19, is the younger brother of NRL superstar Nathan Cleary and the son of former Warriors coach and player Ivan Cleary.