Play nzherald.co.nz's rugby Pick the Score competition - go to: pickthescore.nzherald.co.nz
KEY POINTS:
It's a tough game league and it's a tough life in professional sport.
Even when you are the club's biggest-ever star, the man who has played more games than any other for the team, the only one to score a try in a Grand Final, you are never guaranteed a walk-up start.
That's how it is for Warriors legend Stacey Jones as he makes a comeback to the playing ranks of the NRL after a season helping the coaching staff.
Jones is absolutely committed to the team ethic and will not be too disappointed if he doesn't get a single run in the top side this season.
"The competition for spots is a healthy thing. I think that's why this team will do well," he said after training at the Ellerslie Eagles club this week.
Jones has been alternating with Nathan Fien at halfback in training and in the two pre-season trials against Melbourne and Gold Coast and will do so again against the Gold Coast Titans at Lismore tonight.
The halves spots are still to be sorted, coach Ivan Cleary said this week. There is desire to run Broncos buy-in Joel Moon at five-eighth as a ball carrier who can cut holes or make half-breaks then stand and off-load. Moon, 21, is yet to prove himself there and so Fien has also been running at five-eighth. Jones will not be used there, Cleary says.
"Fieny is obviously the main chance [for halfback] at this stage and there is Isaac John and Aaron Heremaia in the under-20s," Jones said, acknowledging the competition he has for the seven jersey. "It makes for a strong squad.
"I'm going to give it my best shot and, if I do make it, I'll be determined to give my all to the team.
"If I don't get picked, I'm happy just to have had the chance."
Jones has looked comfortable in his four 20-minute spells in trials. He clearly still has the accurate passing game and the ability to pick the right man to deliver to, frequently setting away backline raids and delivering the last pass for tries.
"There's room for improvement," he said, judging his own game.
He reckons he's lost a bit of pace and perhaps some of the startling acceleration he had off the mark. "The pass wasn't as crisp as it could be."
But he is pleased he had no trouble keeping up with the pace of a game that is faster now than what it was when he left for French club Les Catalans in 2005.
"It's being able to make two tackles and back up, or make a break and be fresh and ready to back up and make another one.
"I was happy with how I went. The body feels good. I've got over some niggling injuries. You can do as much training as you want but there is no test like a game. I was happy to come through injury-free."
Jones came into the Warriors as a teenage star in the club's inaugural year in 1995 but was soon its go-to man - at times in the Warriors' history the only go-to man. It was hard work some seasons, he admits, being the main target for the opposition defences.
Now, instead of the need and expectation that he will take the line on himself, there are others who are bigger and faster - and there are several of them. Jones' role can change to one of ball distributor - his main job will be to decide whether to pass or kick. He need only run when the opposition tacklers go too wide too early in anticipation of the strike from international centres Jerome Ropati and Brent Tate and wing Manu Vatuvei, or from boom fullback Wade McKinnon. The Warriors halfback, be it Jones or Fien, now also has delivery options around the ruck with the intended five-eighth Joel Moon a strong runner and out of the forwards via Jacob Lillyman and Simon Mannering. It's an attack that brims with potential, if structured and engineered correctly. The veteran has noted the difference. "The Warriors game has changed but so has everyone else. All the teams have plenty of options - look at the Storm or Manly. We have big, strong players out wide. It's up to myself and Fieny to distribute the ball quickly."
Whatever happens in the selection process, Jones will take great heart from the help he has been able to give the club's other halves and field kickers. "It's good to be around the young boys, they ask me questions and that's part of the reason I wanted to come back to the club. I'll enjoy my season whatever happens."
