Warriors star Shaun Johnson celebrates his try against the Bulldogs. Photo / Getty Images
The Warriors are breaking new ground with their development strategy.
Off the back of a record number of junior teams this season - with three squads competing in Australian competitions - the club have started new academy programmes in Waikato and Dunedin. It’s a significant step, especially in the South Island city, given the historical lack of a league footprint in the Otago region.
It means the Warriors now have five academy programmes nationwide. Aside from their Auckland base, by far the largest, there is a presence in Wellington and Christchurch, along with the two newer programmes. It illustrates their commitment to finding and developing local talent, rather than having to rely on recruitment.
“It’s important that we are a development club,” Warriors recruitment, development and pathways general manager Andrew McFadden told the Herald.
“All of the great Warriors teams of the past - including the two Grand Final teams (2002 and 2011) had the highest percentage of locally bred players [around 70 per cent]. Obviously that has taken a hit over the last few years, through no fault of the Warriors, as Covid hit and decimated the pathway and the connection to the community and everything, because they were living in Australia.”
“But our owner Mark [Robinson] is committed, as is [chief executive] Cameron George. Webby [coach Andrew Webster] understands the landscape, I understand the landscape being here before and we are on board with it because we know what the opportunity is if we get it right.”
The academies complement the new junior teams. After entering an SG Ball Cup (Under-19) team in the New South Wales competition last season, the club added Harold Matthews Cup (Under-17) and Jersey Flegg Cup (Under-21) teams this year, so for the first time the club have the full stable of pathway sides, equivalent to any Australian NRL operation.
But it’s not cheap. George couldn’t put an exact figure on the cost of the teams plus the satellite academies but said it was in excess of $3 million. That’s not including the investment in the new gym facility, which opened last December adjacent to the club’s Mt Smart base, specifically for junior players.
“It’s a lot of money but we are committed,” George told the Herald. “We have a big responsibility to help grow the game in New Zealand and we take that very seriously.”
The ultimate goal is more local heroes, like Shaun Johnson, Chanel Harris-Tavita, Rocco Berry, Bunty Afoa, Jazz Tevaga and Marata Niukore, the club juniors involved in Sunday’s 20-12 NRL win over Newcastle.
The current squad have a significant Australian contingent - with almost one third of the NRL roster (nine of 28) - but there is hope that will change in time.
“We want to provide a clear pathway to the Warriors for local kids,” said McFadden. “Our whole philosophy when we came back [after Covid] was ‘we want to get our backyard right’.”
McFadden said there are almost 200 players involved in the academy programmes. Dunedin is the smallest (around 15), but it’s a start.
“It’s a connection to the club and a connection to that community,” said McFadden. “It’s important to have exposure in different regions.”
The Southern Zone rugby league had been a driving force behind the initiative, which McFadden said could also have hubs in Timaru, Greymouth and Invercargill, depending on requirements. Across the academies, most of the players are young [aged from 14 to 17] and once their talent is identified, the purpose is to keep them at home, so they can finish school and have family support around before they take the next step.
A major focus is strength and conditioning, more than training, given a lot of kids are playing multiple sports already, between schools and clubs.
“I am all for that,” said McFadden. “There is so much to go into being an NRL player at that point in time, being with family, finishing school is a priority and we don’t want them to take them out of there.”
The Waikato academy is mostly privately funded, the initiative of a group of league enthusiasts who approached the club, wanting to provide opportunities for local youngsters.
“They just want to help kids stay in New Zealand,” said McFadden. “They are acutely aware of the pull to the Australian NRL clubs, some succeed and some don’t and they want to help us to build an opportunity for kids to develop on home soil. It’s challenging when kids go away from home. We get calls every week from agents wanting to bring kids back, sometimes we can’t fit them in.”
There are promising signs. Before the round-three NRL clash in Christchurch, the big crowd was entertained by a clash between a South Island selection and a Warriors academy team. Some players from Christchurch and Wellington have been flying up for Harold Matthews games, though not every week.
“It’s a juggle between immersing themselves in the team, their school work and other commitments,” said McFadden. “We work closely with the schools.”
In their first season, the Harold Matthews team qualified for the finals (sixth) last weekend, with the likes of the Panthers, Roosters, Rabbitohs and Storm all missing out. The SG Ball squad didn’t make the cut while the Jersey Flegg season is ongoing.
McFadden sees a bright future in the development space and doesn’t rule out more satellite academies.
“That’s just the start, really. I’m not sure how much we will expand in the next 12 months - because it has been a big undertaking already - but we have the core areas and it will come down to organisations wanting to work with us.”
More importantly, the Warriors are becoming a club of choice for local talent.
“In my first two or three months back here we lost three junior players, who broke their contracts to go to Australian clubs because we couldn’t provide them the same opportunity,” said McFadden. “That’s part of the contract terms - that you can provide opportunity and we couldn’t.”
“We don’t want to lose players that are in our system, that we rate highly, because of that circumstance and that won’t happen any more. We have the same opportunities as every other team. It’s been a big undertaking but if you are a talented young kid and want to have a crack, someone will pick you up and you have the opportunity to do it here.”
Michael Burgess has been a sports journalist since 2005, winning several national awards and covering Olympics, Fifa World Cups and America’s Cup campaigns. He has also reported on the Warriors and NRL for more than a decade.
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