Jones gambling on Volkman change
Stacey Jones is willing to take risks.
In his first full week as head coach of the Warriors, Jones unveiled a huge surprise in their squad to take on the competition-leading and defending champion Penrith Panthers, with teenage half Ronald Volkman getting a debut.
Volkman, who joined the club from the Sydney Roosters last month, will line up at five-eighth alongside Shaun Johnson for the match in a move that Jones hopes will inspire his team.
For the past six weeks it’s been a grim state of affairs for the New Zealand outfit. They haven’t won a game in that span, while having to go through the highly publicised exits of prop Matt Lodge and coach Nathan Brown.
The team’s frustrations with their performances have been made clear in several post-match interviews, and Jones said Volkman coming into the side this week gave them that extra incentive to step up to the challenge Penrith pose.
“It was a tough call to make, but we needed to do something,” Jones said. “We’d been planning on Ronald getting some game time for a few weeks now, but he needed to get some game time at the lower grades. Now he’s got some confidence in his game.
“I know we’re coming up against a very good team, but this is the NRL — every team you come up against is going to be tough.
“When you give someone a debut, I reckon he’ll play with a lot of adrenaline; it’s not going to faze him. If I asked a player if they wanted to play NRL against Penrith or any other team, I’m sure they’re not going to turn it down, and he was fizzing.
“What it does do, though, coming up against a team like Penrith, is we’re relying on the other players in the team now to make sure they support him.”
While plenty has been made of Johnson’s dwindling form of late, Chanel Harris-Tavita makes way for Volkman’s entrance. Harris-Tavita — who will step away from the game at the end of the season for personal reasons — will instead be used as a utility off the bench in a move that Jones said brought more balance to the squad.
On Johnson, Jones said the pair have had conversations around the level his game is at right now and was imploring the star halfback to seize the opportunity to help guide a young player who is just starting out his first-grade career.
“With Shaun, we know he’s been struggling,” Jones admitted.
“He’s struggling off the field with a couple of things.
“I’ve spoken to him and a big focus is to get through this week, then he can see some light at the end of the tunnel and get home.
“I really want Shaun to be a part of the first game when we get home but, for Shaun, let’s just focus on this; then he can focus on getting home,” said Jones.
“I had a good chat with Shaun this week, and he’ll be right to go.
“He’s excited to get home but knows what he needs to do now.
“He’s got a really good opportunity to help a young kid out and establish himself as a footy player. You shift a bit of other stuff off him to drive him to make a kid start off a good career.”
The Warriors will get a week’s break after tonight’s game against the Panthers due to the representative round, during which the Kiwis take on Tonga at Mt Smart Stadium.
In that match, only three Warriors have been selected in the wider squad of their nations (Dallin Watene-Zelezniak for New Zealand; Addin Fonua-Blake and Eliesa Katoa for Tonga), though there may be other members of the squad called upon to represent Fiji, Samoa and the Cook Islands for their tests in Sydney.
The following week will see the Warriors return to Mt Smart Stadium against Wests Tigers, which will be the team’s first match in Auckland since August 30, 2019.