HowCovid hurt the Warriors’ strategy
The year 2025 looms as a significant one for the Warriors, by which time the club hopes the makeup of its squad is very different to what it is now.
With the departure of Kodi Nikorima and arrivals of Ronald Volkman and Freddie Lussick this week, the Warriors’ ratio of Australian to New Zealand clubs swings further to the former
However, an often forgotten factor of the club being stuck in Australia for almost three years is that it’s been harder for them to develop their own players than any other NRL team.
The Warriors’ time in Australia is coming to an and, with their return game against Wests Tigers being on July 3, and while away there’s been a trend of replacing Kiwis players with those from Australia.
In the current squad there are 15 players who could class themselves as New Zealanders and 13 who could say they’re Australian.
Only six players in the Warriors’ 30-man squad have been solely developed by the club, having not switched codes or been in other NRL club’s systems – Chanel Harris-Tavita, Shaun Johnson, Bunty Afoa, Jazz Tevaga, Taniela Otukolo and Edward Kosi.
The Warriors have done a good job in recent years picking up talented players such as Addin Fonua-Blake, Matt Lodge and Reece Walsh, but the key to any club’s success comes from developing its own players.
The Covid-19 pandemic forced the Warriors to scrap all their teams apart from the NRL side.
Some young Warriors chose to move to Australian clubs, because they saw a clearer pathway. Some of those who stayed were encouraged to play first XV rugby to increase their game time in a quality competition, even if it was in a different code.
A few Warriors players played for Redcliffe Dolphins in the Queensland Cup, but the damage caused by the pandemic will last for a couple more years.
However, Warriors owner Mark Robinson is determined that the club becomes a development one again and has thrown plenty of resources at it. With Covid restrictions lifted, it’s full steam ahead.
Chief executive Cameron George says it was imperative the Warriors recruit well over the past few seasons and that will continue over the next couple, but by 2025 he wants the make up of the club’s NRL squad to have changed.
‘‘Craig Hodges [Warriors general manager football] and I had a really good discussion at the start of the year about where we’re at, where we need to go, how we’re going to get there and when we’re going to get there,’’ George said.
‘‘Surprisingly to a lot of people, we’ve invested more time, energy and resources into that space over the last couple of years than probably what we’ve ever done.
‘‘We know where our pool of juniors are age-wise and that’s starting to build from that 16, 17, 18 age group. So next year we’re applying to go into the NSW competitions. We’re looking at the SG Ball and NSW Cup.’’
The Warriors have been strategic with their acquisitions, picking up older players who’ll take them through the next couple of seasons and signing younger ones they believe in to longer term deals.
Currently, Mitch Barnett, Fonua-Blake, Marata Niukore, Vailea, Volkman and Dylan Walker are signed for 2025 or beyond.
‘‘When we’re recruiting, we are doing so that by 2025 you’ll see a transition of recruited players, to a lot more development players in our squad,’’ George said.
‘‘There’s a strategy for every player we sign, around how long we sign them for and what type of player he is. It’s to complement what we’ve got coming through our system, in terms of development and homegrown talent.
‘‘At the moment, the squad is probably balanced 70% towards recruited players. By 2025, we want it to be the other way round.’’