Photos: NRL trial matchesKEY POINTS:
Every so often, players are tagged as possessing great potential. They are seen as something special. Some fulfil it, others don't.
The Warriors have a handful of players among their ranks with potential and top of that list is second-rower Sonny Fai.
It's surprising to discover he's still only 19 because it feels like he's been at the Warriors for ages. He joined the club as a 14-year-old, was named 18th man when only 16 - a role he has now filled nine times - and set the club's bench-press record of three repetitions of 185kg when only 17.
He's been a Junior Kiwi for the past four years and was also in the New Zealand Residents team in 2005 and 2006.
There's still one thing, though, he's not ticked off: his first-grade debut.
"He will play this year," coach Ivan Cleary declares.
"I would have liked to have blooded him last year but when you lose six in a row, you need to win every game.
"Last year was strange because we didn't have that many injuries. I'm not sure he was quite ready but this year he will definitely play."
Cleary, though, in his cautious and understated way, warns against expecting too much and especially too soon. After all, there's a big difference between junior and first grade.
"Physically, he's pretty gifted but sometimes kids like that are so dominant at the junior grades, they get through on physicality alone," Cleary says.
"In last year's trial against the Cowboys, I think it was a bit of an eye-opener for him.
"Physically there's absolutely no doubt he's got it and if you wanted to build someone to play rugby league, you would build him like Sonny. But he needed to learn how to use his size. That's why we wanted him to play Premier League last year. That level was a really good stepping stone for him.
"I don't know what everyone says about him. From what I've heard, I think some of the labels are a bit unfair. I don't think it helps because he's only 19.
"It also doesn't help that his name is Sonny because people expect him to do the same things [as Sonny Bill Williams]."
Fai was effective but not startling in Friday night's 22-14 trial loss to Newcastle at North Harbour Stadium but it was another step on his rugby league education.
He still has a number of players standing between him and a first-grade spot.
Louis Anderson might have departed to play in the UK Super League but Simon Mannering is moving from the centres into the forwards, while Wairangi Koopu, Logan Swann and Epalahame Lauaki are also in the frame.
He will add natural flair, something Warriors fans have been crying out for in a second-rower, as well as pace and power.
Fai, though, is in no hurry.
"I didn't want to get in there and people think I was ready and then discover I wasn't," he said. "I want people to wonder when I might play and then when I do, I play to my potential and people say 'he was ready ages ago'.
"Last year, once the season started, I really wanted to play the whole Premier League [for the Auckland Lions] and get the feel of it, to see what it feels like to play against guys who have been there."
It must have felt all right considering he picked up the club's Player of the Year award and scored 14 tries in 21 games.
The question now is whether he can do it at the top level.
* Leg injuries to fullback Wade McKinnon and Epalahame Lauaki picked up in Friday night's 22-14 trial loss to Newcastle are not thought to be serious.
Both came off during a match in which the Warriors dominated in the first half as they raced out to a 14-point lead.
Warriors coach Ivan Cleary wasn't too upset by the loss as the second half was mainly about giving inexperienced players a run.
"It's a bit strange when you use 25 guys. The side that finished the game was a lot different than the side that started," he said.
"The last half was pretty disappointing, mainly because we couldn't finish a set of six but there were a lot of young kids out there who got experience for the first time. When we had the majority of who we want out there, I thought things went pretty good."
The Warriors take on an Auckland Vulcans selection in Otahuhu next Saturday before rounding out their pre-season campaign against Manly on the Sunshine Coast the following weekend.
* Former Australian skipper and NSW coach Tommy Raudonikis and former Australian prop Steve Roach will be guest speakers at the Warriors' season launch at a luncheon at Sky City on March 12.
