NRL: No room at club inn for recruit

Matt Allwood hopes to find a home at the Warriors. Photo / PHOTOSPORT

When a group of young Mt Wellington flatmates advertised for a new addition to their house, they didn't expect an NRL player to come knocking.

But that's exactly how new Warriors signing Matt Allwood came to settle in a share house close to Mt Smart Stadium.

NRL clubs regularly provide new players with assistance in finding accommodation, together with other players in share-house situations, or in upmarket high-rise inner-city apartments.

However, when Allwood arrived in Auckland last month the 22-year-old found the 'no vacancy' sign hanging outside the Warriors' various share homes.

"Unfortunately all of the boys had all of their houses full at the time so I just ended up finding some flatmates on the internet," Allwood explains. "My flatmates are pretty cool and really chilled out. They've been really awesome with helping me out. They were a little bit [surprised when I turned up] but were pretty good. They'll be hitting me up through the season for a few free tickets here and there but that'll be all right."

Allwood hopes he can find a home at the Warriors. His acquisition further bolsters the Warriors midfield, a troublesome department for the club over the past three seasons.

A long list of players have been used at centre in that time, to varying degrees of success, including Lewis Brown, Krisnan Inu, Carlos Tuimavave, Jerome Ropati, Dane Nielsen and Ngani Laumape, yet the search continues to find the right man to complement the destructive presence of Konrad Hurrell.

Allwood is regarded as a tough, skilful and speedy player. Like fellow new recruit Jonathan Wright, he can play on both sides of the field and is comfortable at centre or on the flank.

Originally hailing from the small New South Wales town of Scone, Allwood, who has Aboriginal heritage on his mother's side, signed on with the Raiders while at high school, before advancing through the NYC ranks and making his NRL debut in round one of the 2014 season.

He went on to make 11 appearances in the top grade but was dropped after announcing in May he had signed a three-year deal with the Warriors.

He was then cut by Canberra, reportedly after an alcohol-related indiscretion in the lead-up to the round 20 clash against the Rabbitohs.

By the time the Raiders end-of-season awards night rolled around, Allwood had put Canberra in the rear-view mirror and was enjoying a fishing expedition in the Northern Territory.

"I was pretty settled in Canberra but I just thought it was a good opportunity to see something different in a different part of the world," Allwood explains of his reasons for coming to Auckland.

"I've always really admired the Warriors as a team. I just thought it was a great opportunity to give it a go and try something different."

Having known Warriors coach Andrew McFadden during their time together in Canberra, Allwood says it was an easy decision to take the chance to play under the former Raiders mentor but realises he has a challenge to make the first-grade team.

"He [McFadden] was good when he was there and a lot of the boys I know from Canberra spoke very highly of him so that was really encouraging to move here for that reason as well.

"It's like with any team, you don't expect to be put straight into the run-on team. It's just a case of working hard and doing my best on and off the field and, when it comes time to getting in the team, hopefully I can deliver."