Warriors reveal post Johnson plans
The Warriors are looking for one of their young players to take the place of Shaun Johnson at halfback and haven’t gone shopping elsewhere.
While Johnson has signed with the Sharks after his acrimonious split with the Warriors, the club’s brains trust have been contemplating what their next move is.
The Warriors have been linked with players like Corey Norman, Te Maire Martin, Ata Hingano, Kodi Nikorima and Luke Brooks as a big money replacement from elsewhere.
However, in his first interview since the Johnson saga erupted, Warriors general manager of football Brian Smith said they were looking to promote from within and were not chasing other halves.
‘‘Steve [Kearney, Warriors coach] is certainly comfortable with the concept [of staying in house], ‘‘ Smith said. ‘‘With Blake Green in our group, he’s such an experienced campaigner and has great communications skills.
‘‘Without that, it would be difficult to contemplate a rookie player, but since we’ve got an experienced guy there, we’re certainly contemplating that.
‘‘We’ve actually got three or four guys there on the board. There’s Hayze Perham, Chanel Harris-Tavita, a boy called Paul Turner and also Adam Keighran.’’
While not ruling out that they may have to look elsewhere for a partner for Green, that is the backup option and Smith says they’re not talking to any other NRL clubs about signing one of their halves.
Smith said there’s no chance of Roger Tuivasa-Sheck moving into the halves from fullback, but the versatile Peta Hiku could be looked at as a short-term option.
If it works out with one of the young halves, Johnson’s departure could be a blessing in disguise, because they’ve not only brought through a player in a key position, but also have a spare $1.1 million in the salary cap.
‘‘At this time of the year you’re almost always in the position where you’re trying to work out a way to pick up $10,000 here, to put it with the bit you’ve got there, or you might be able to swap a player you want, but you’re $100,000 short,’’ Smith said.
‘‘It can be a really tough time to do the inevitable things you’d like to have to complete your squad.
‘‘Now we’re in the opposite position to that, where we can take our time, sit back and look at what’s available.’’
It could be that the Warriors mix and match players with Green in the halves during the season, to find out which is the best combination.
Smith believes an important factor is that the young halves will be coming into a stable team.
‘‘The guts of the same team are ready to go again,’’ he said. ‘‘It’s not like we’re throwing a young guy into a team that’s previously been unsuccessful and unstable with lots of changes going on.
‘‘We’ve got the same coach, pretty much the same staff and the same key players in the same key position.
‘‘So when putting a young guy in, it’s not far off being the perfect scenario.’’