New Zealand Warriors under the radar, on cusp of greatness
Roar Guru By Curtis Woodward, 17 Jan 2012 Curtis Woodward is a Roar Guru
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Anonymity in the National Rugby League is a beautiful thing. The chance to fly under that ever-present radar and go about your business. Despite playing in the 2011 NRL grand final, the New Zealand Warriors are still well out of sight and well out of mind.
2160 kilometres away from the bright lights of Sydney and the hub of the rugby league world is Mount Smart Stadium in Auckland. The home of the next juggernaut to sweep through the NRL. Make no mistake about it, the Warriors are on the cusp of a scary dynasty.
The ingredients to a successful rugby league team haven’t changed. You still need a star playmaker. The Warriors have the biggest thing since Benji Marshall, in young halfback Shaun Johnson. A fearless hot-stepper who can embarrass you with feet quicker than a bullet.
Following in Marshall’s footsteps, Johnson is a young man who leads by example and knows that only form and victory keep you at the top.
A successful team needs a silky backline with size and speed. Manu Vatuvei, Kevin Locke, Krisnan Inu and James Maloney can hurt you from anywhere on the field. But the main thing about a backline is depth. The Warriors finally have it.
But forget about just how goddamn potent their backs are or could be. Ladies and gentlemen, here stands the most impressive forward pack in the game. Young, tough, brash and most importantly talented. This forward pack demands respect.
A game plan can’t be followed without the big men doing their job first. Rolling forward over the advantage line and dominating their foes for eighty torturous minutes.
Imagine lining up against these guys at a cold and windy Mount Smart Stadium for a second.
Russell Packer charges into you first with his socks around his ankles and his legs pumping. After finally wrestling him to the ground you look up to see Sam Rapira roaring directly at you. Then comes Ben Matulino and Jacob Lillyman and Ukuma Ta’ai.
Don’t worry about Mount Smart Stadium. These guys can win away from home now too. Just ask the Melbourne Storm.
You’re scrambling and scratching and fighting to repel them. They then move the ball two wide to Feleti Mateo who jinks and props and shoves his massive hand into your face before offloading to a flying Simon Mannering. Its too late, they’re away again.
You finally get the ball back and look for a break in the chain. You see five-foot-eight, 85-kilogram Nathan Friend and you charge at him. Friend drives his shoulder into your stomach and the air rushes from your body. Before you have time to react, Michael Luck has finished the tackle by grabbing the back of your knee and driving you into the dust.
Pain is a rugby league player’s best friend. Whether accepting it or giving it, a player is only as good as his work rate. The worst part about all this for opposition teams is the New Zealand Warriors still don’t know how good they are. When they finally realise, there will be no stopping them. They won’t be wondering what the fuss is about. They’ll be the fuss.
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January 18th 2012 @ 1:22pm
Jaceman said | January 18th 2012 @ 1:22pm | Report comment
They play a good brand of footy so deserve some success but their adventuous spirit sometimes brings them undone. The NRL have given them a leg up by forcing Manly to travel to Auckland for the first game (GF replay) 8 days after they get back from the WCC in the UK.
January 18th 2012 @ 2:01pm
Tom, Sydney said | January 18th 2012 @ 2:01pm | Report comment
The key to the Warriors will be Bluey Mclennan and how he takes to the coaching capper in the NRL. Lots of pressure in the NRL that he would not be use to in the Super League in the UK. He has plenty of talent at his disposal and plenty of accolades for achievements so far but lets see what happens when they start to string a few losses together and people start calling for his neck – does he panic and start to reign in the natural instincts of his attacking players or goes on the complete defensive and drop them all together! Personally I hope Bluey and the boys do well just for the fact they are an outpost team doing well for rugby league!
January 18th 2012 @ 2:13pm
ScottWoodward.me said | January 18th 2012 @ 2:13pm | Report comment
Curtis,
You sound a very passionate Warrior and you are correct that every successful rugby league team needs a star playmake.
The Warriors problem, and the reason why they were outclassed by Manly in the GF, is because they do NOT have a playmaker.
Manly had Daly Cherry-Evans who took control and called the shots, before implementing clever passes and tactical kicks.
The Warriors 6 and 7 went missing off Nobbys, nowhere to be seen in the initial crucial 40 minutes when the game was being won.
Johnson is much better, like Benjy, playing second reciever, as he is a brilliant individulist. Maloney is also a brilliant player but not the organiser the Warriors need. Both Johnson and Maloney are also two of the worst defenders in the NRL.
They need to find another Stacey Jones if they are to go one better.
January 19th 2012 @ 6:45pm
ScottScottScottScottScott said | January 19th 2012 @ 6:45pm | Report comment
Mate are you on repeat, your opinion of the Warriors halves two months ago was as wanted as Willie Mason as it is now and just repeating it doesn’t make it credible. For his first year/half a year Johnson showed vision, ability and an extremely cool head for a young player, all outstanding attributes necessary for a good half. He has the ability to be as good as Stacey Jones if not better, the former who struggled to lead his team to points inside the opposition 20 when on attack towards the back end of his career. I don’t know if you’ve seen the Warriors play apart from the 1st half of the grand final but Stacey would not have been able to pull of the play to put Lewis Brown over in the corner the previous week.
Unfortunately for your arguement halves aren’t made on the back of miss tackle stats. Maloney on the other hand was outstanding last year, sure he takes the ball to the line more often than a traditional half and his support play is second to none and he is a good talker, aggressive on the kick chase, a good kicker of the long ball…hang on those are all good traits. Maloney is a good half as the 7 or 8 clubs that were chasing him would attest. If i was a warriors fan i would much rather have a Maloney/Johnson combo than another Stacey Jones…especially that one that made an NRL comeback…awful.
That is all.
January 18th 2012 @ 3:28pm
CurtisW1908 said | January 18th 2012 @ 3:28pm | Report comment
@ScottWoodward .. No Warriors fan here mate .. Just an admirer of their style.
January 18th 2012 @ 10:49pm
Johnno said | January 18th 2012 @ 10:49pm | Report comment
SBW should offers his services to the warriors, they would sign him in a heartbeat it would be great for the promotion of rugby league in NZ.
January 19th 2012 @ 10:59am
James31 said | January 19th 2012 @ 10:59am | Report comment
what makes the warriors look even more dangerous is there juniors from lastyear. the toyota cup team looked bigger then there first grade team when I was watching them lastyear…
January 20th 2012 @ 11:27am
MJNewzealndwarriorsFan said | January 20th 2012 @ 11:27am | Report comment
I Love New zealand Warriors