Steve Deane: On fast track to Warriors top team

Glen Fisiiahi. Photo / Richard Robinson.

A playerwith raw pace and freakish ability, Glen Fisiiahi will produce plenty of highlight reel plays when he breaks into first grade in the coming seasons.

For now, though, the most popular clip of the extravagantly gifted Junior Warriors fullback is one he'd probably rather not watch.

The first link that pops up when you Google the name "Glen Fisiiahi" is a YouTube video of the young Aucklander making one of the all-time great blown try gaffes. It's compulsory viewing.

Playing against Souths in round 20, Fisiiahi swoops on a chip kick 30m out from his line, carves through the defence and races clear. It all goes wrong when he gets to the posts. He slows down, kisses his wrist bandage and points to the sky. By the time he attempts to plant the ball it's too late and a Souths back rower swats it from his grasp.

The clip will probably get a run at every club every year when coaches hold their "why you don't showboat before you've grounded the bleeding ball" lectures.

Given his blunder came in a match against the table-topping Rabbitohs, Fisiiahi could well have expected a decent-sized bollocking from coach John Ackland.

He didn't get one. "He actually smiled at me at halftime," Fisiiahi said. "He just said 'stuff happens'."

Not any more it doesn't. Fisiiahi has sworn off premature celebrations for life. One of a small handful of Junior Warriors awarded a first-grade contract for next season, Fisiiahi is one of the club's brightest backline prospects. The Souths blunder is a lone blot on an otherwise impressive copybook.

His 26 line breaks are the most by any player in the NYC this season, while his 18 tries have him tied with teammate Siuatonga Likiliki for third on the scoring charts.

His biggest asset is that most bankable of qualities - blazing speed. It's something he didn't know he had. In his final year at Wesley College he entered the school's 100m championships on a whim and won it. That qualified him for the Counties Manukau championships, which he also won.

He was to have raced in the national final but pulled out because it conflicted with a First XV rugby game. He doesn't recall his best 100m time and doesn't know how fast he is. NYC defenders know - faster than them, usually.

The bigger stages await but, with interest in the Warriors now confined to the NYC team, Fisiiahi and his teammates have a chance to write their own little slice of history in the club's books.

Standing between them and a grand final appearance is a scalding-hot Bulldogs side that has posted a remarkable run of 17 wins from 18 games after starting the season with seven straight defeats.

A Warriors side that stormed home to finish second on the ladder and then defeated Manly in week one to earn a second week bye is bristling with talent. Likiliki and Fisiiahi provide much of the strike, Shaun Johnson and 18-year-old Carlos Tuimavave form a livewire halves combination and 107kg monster Elijah Niko is a Matu Vatuvei-clone wing. Captain Ben Henry is the standout forward, while Nafe Seluini, the team's player of the year, lights things up from dummy half.

Boasting the core of last year's SG Ball Championship winning team, the Bulldogs are also stacked with talent.

"There are good match-ups all over the field," says Ackland. "They have got solid forwards and so have we. They have got big backs and so have we."

But only the Warriors have Fisiiahi. If he does break away he almost certainly won't be caught. And you can guarantee he won't mess around putting the ball down.

THE MATCH:

Junior Warriors v Bulldogs

Preliminary final, Suncorp Stadium, September 24 7.15pm