NRL: No quick end likely to reserve grade role

Wade McKinnon's form has been topsy-turvy since arriving at the Warriors. Photo / Getty Images

Wade McKinnon's future at the Warriors has come in for scrutiny as he spends another week in the Auckland Vulcans reserve grade side.

Despite being one of the franchise's best paid players with a contract until the end of 2011, McKinnon has missed selection in the Warriors 17 for the second week in a row.

He last played at fullback in the round seven trouncing by the Storm. He started in the No 1 jersey for rounds five and six and played off the interchange in rounds two, three and four.

A number of reasons have been put forward for McKinnon's fall from favour. Since his return from a serious knee injury in 2008, some argue he has regained his strength but not his pace. This is evident in his tackle break statistics.

In 2007 - his first with the Warriors - he was second in the NRL with 176 from 22 games, backed up by 21 line breaks and 30 offloads.

The following year he was injured and last year slipped to seventh with 113 tackle breaks from 21 matches. This year he is 73rd with just 20 from six matches.

The situation is not helped by Steve Price's injury. The hard-running prop often bent a defensive line with McKinnon the perfect foil, lancing through the line by running off Price's shoulder.

Should McKinnon be doing the same off the likes of Sam Rapira; playing more of a sweeping role and getting involved in set pieces rather than just mopping up kicks and gaining metres from the back?

Former Kiwis captain Richie Barnett says the loss of McKinnon from the starting line-up is a sticking point.

"Wade was exceptional in 2007 but there are probably better ways of utilising him. There is pressure now, because he's not the same player since his knee injury. Teams seem to have worked out how he plays, so I would encourage him to get more widely involved to generate more second-phase football.

"It's not helped by the Warriors getting into a rut.

"It is a hard situation to gauge fully until we see more of their top-line players [Brett Seymour, Simon Mannering, Manu Vatuvei and Steve Price] back regularly. Seymour might be the player to create more space for him," says Barnett.

McKinnon's position is not helped by the signings of Krisnan Inu and Feleti Mateo from his former club Parramatta. Inu can play centre, wing or fullback, while Mateo could be brought in as a five-eighth or back-rower. Kevin Locke can also play fullback.

One option could be to find a buyer to pay a percentage of McKinnon's salary, estimated to be in excess of $200,000 when he arrived and likely to have been increased when he re-signed. That would free up further spending money under the cap.

Having such a well-paid player turning out for the Vulcans creates an issue, but Warriors chief executive Wayne Scurrah says there's no suggestion of moving McKinnon on.

"Wade's on a two-year contract and we certainly expect to see him on the [first grade] field again in the future. We haven't considered getting rid of him and he certainly hasn't asked us to change clubs."

Coach Ivan Cleary says there is no way he can look beyond Lance Hohaia as the form fullback who also gives them interchange options with his abilities at five-eighth and hooker.

"Wade is not making the side because Lance gives us better balance. That's the realities of professional football. You just have to get on and do your job. Wade knows where he stands."

The Warriors also stand to bolster their forwards.

The sport's equivalent of a fire sale at the Melbourne Storm raises the prospect of Adam Blair coming across even though he has another year left on his contract.

As with McKinnon, the Warriors could pay the Storm a percentage of Blair's salary to free up cash for a less well-known replacement.

"We've still got to shore up the front row with Price retiring," Cleary says.

"Those other guys [Mateo and Inu] had been targeted for a while, then in the meantime the Melbourne situation hit. As a result, there have been regular meetings to sort out where we are with the cap."

The chances of Jesse Royal and the injured Jacob Lillyman being retained in the pack seem remote, especially with Upu Poching being ushered through to debut at prop against the Cowboys and the likes of Jeremy Latimore, Ukuma Ta'ai and Russell Packer probably seen as more financially viable at this stage of the season.

Recruitment manager Dean Bell acknowledges it's handy having money in the wake of the Storm rort.

"There is a little bit of room but we won't really know anything until the latest NRL audit of the Storm has been completed in about a fortnight. Clearly the Storm can't keep everybody, so if Adam [Blair] does become available, we'd be interested.

"The trouble is the situation is quite a new one for the NRL to deal with. Because the Storm aren't playing for points, I'm not sure they feel like they have to do anything this year.

"Still, Parramatta didn't want to get rid of Feleti or Krisnan but it was forced on them. It's a delicate operation."