Warriors players look on following a Titans try during the Round 25 NRL match between the Gold Coast Titans and New Zealand Warriors. Photo / Photosport.co.nz
Warriors players look on following a Titans try during the Round 25 NRL match between the Gold Coast Titans and New Zealand Warriors. Photo / Photosport.co.nz
OPINION:
In 2022 the Warriors might start to look like an Australian team.
They might start to feel like an Australian team.
But they can't become an Australian team.
That is one of the biggest challenges for the Auckland club, as they consider another year offshore.
The NRL has longdesired to have a second team in Brisbane; it's a large metropolis, it's league mad and not everyone is a Broncos fan.
Thanks to the awful quirks of Covid, they've got their wish, with the Warriors based out of Redcliffe in 2022.
The decision is a smart one. For performance and human reasons, the Warriors couldn't go through another year like 2021, with the constant uncertainty and instability, and the flickering hope that they could go home, which was eventually crushed.
It wasn't workable, particularly for the players and staff but also other aspects of the club.
And the die was cast in late June, with the Bondi cluster, which quickly extended to NSW and killed the trans-Tasman bubble. Any faint hopes or returning to Auckland for 2022 were done, especially with pre-season beginning on November 8th.
The 'Redcliffe' Warriors could go well. The Brisbane base ticks a lot of boxes, and players will enjoy normality with their living arrangements and a permanent, purpose-built training base, after two seasons of using council facilities.
But retaining the club's culture and identity won't be easy, as the franchise has never felt more Australian.
Almost all of the senior management and football roles are filled by Aussies, whereas in the past there has always been a Kiwi here or there.
That's doesn't necessarily matter, as it is about the best person for the job, but it wasn't something that could have been imagined when the Warriors was first conceived in the late 1980s by the Mt Albert Lions.
Warriors players look on during the Round 25 NRL match between the Gold Coast Titans and New Zealand Warriors at CBus Stadium on the Gold Coast. Photo / Photosport.co.nz
The situation is even more pronounced on the playing side. In the last two rounds of this season the Warriors' starting pack didn't feature a single Kiwi, an unthinkable scenario in the distant and recent past.
Almost half of the current first grade squad (13) are Australian, which is surely a record and there could be one or two more coming, depending on recruitment.
It's not an easy situation, as local pathways have been closed for more than two years, but it's crucial to find the right balance.
The Warriors at their best have always been built around a Kiwi core, with critical Australian influences.
Think of the 2002-2003 team, with backline dynamite (Clinton Toopi, Frances Meli, Stacey Jones, Lance Hohaia) and a bullying forward pack (Joe Vagana, Jerry Seu Seu, Awen Gutenbeil et al), complimented by Kevin Campion, Ivan Cleary and PJ Marsh, among others.
The 2007-2011 era was mostly a similar mix; local boys like Manu Vatuvei, Simon Mannering, Ben Matulino, Ruben Wiki, Logan Swann etc, mixed with the influence of Steve Price, Nathan Fien, James Maloney and Micheal Luck.
The veracity of that recipe was proven again in 2018, with Kiwis as the cogs (Roger Tuivasa-Sheck, Shaun Johnson, Issac Luke, Tohu Harris, Adam Blair, David Fusitu'a etc) and Blake Green a key import.
Aside from the output on the pitch, it's crucial for development, as young kids from Auckland, Northland, Rotorua, Wellington or wherever thrive with role models that can relate to.
The 2022 Warriors need to retain a New Zealand heart and soul, and a Kiwi identity, both in the way they operate and the way they play.
The former is complex but achievable, while senior men like Harris, Johnson, Jazz Tevaga and Kodi Nikorima will be key in driving the latter.
