Warriors Season 2018 Preview:

Trust The Process

It is that time of year again already the NRL season is one week away from
commencing and that means our Mighty Vodafone Warriors are about to
begin another season of their 23 year oddysey to bring the Holy Grail, the
NRL premiership trophy over the Tasman sea.

This offseason 2017-18 began as more of a relief than anything for most
diehard New Zealand rugby league fans. The Warriors last NRL campaign
and the Kiwis shock early loss at the World Cup on home soil breaking the
spirit of many a dye in the wool leaguie.

Once everyone had a month or too to digress and forget about the pain of
season 2017 and the Warriors campaign for the season ahead started to
gather steam it has become clear the faithful are ready to rock and roll
again with another 26 rounds of the greatest game of all one week away.

To begin my preview I will state the obvious. Last season was a disaster!

What started as a season with so much hope couldn't have ended any
worse. The signing of the hyped up saviour of the Warriors Kieran Foran
joining up with an all Kiwi spine was supposed to guarentee success.Right?

Wrong! The highly rated 1,6,7,9 never did click for the Warriors behind a
well bullied and under sized forward pack. Foran was a shell of his former
self and appeared to be going through the motions after picking up a deal
with the Bulldogs. The team never looked to be at their peak all season with
a win over the Roosters at home in Round 9 being one of their very few real
highlights.

There seemed to be severe lack of fitness both physically and mentally at

times with a real inability to close out games bringing a similar theme from
previous seasons.
Combine that with our fair share of injuries all over the park, our usual
amount of rubbish calls from the referees and the departure of a club icon
in "The Beast" Manu Vatuvei and it made 2017 a season of pain for
everyone at the club. The players, coaching staff, head office and the legions
of Mighty Vodafone Warriors fans all made to endure a nine game losing
streak with many wondering when will be our year.

Alas that was then, this preview is about now, it is no longer 2017.

Season 2018 is upon us and with that brings new ideals of hope for our
great club.

Lets start with the best news the club has had in a long time.

RTS has re-signed for four years!!!

In a real boost for the club to start the season club captain and 2017 player
of the year Roger Tuivasa-Sheck has re-signed with the Warriors for four
more seasons. His signing was a huge relief for Warrior fans ending months
of speculation that Roger was going to swap codes and sign with the
Auckland Blues. Whilst hopeful that Roger wouldn't leave the club it was
welcome news to see his contract a long term deal with Roger very keen to
ensure our great club has success in the near future.

Whilst the signing of Tuivasa-Sheck is very positive there has been plenty of
soul searching done this offseason at Mt Smart.

Changes afoot at Mt Smart:

In any proffesional sport organisation when a club endures a poor season

the whole club is under examination.

It starts at the top with the running of the club in the head office.

Owner Eric Watson decided to move on from his chariman role and Jim
Doyle who must have had plenty of sleepless nights since becoming the
club CEO in 2014 was moved into the executive chairmans role.

Cameron George a somewhat unkown quantity became the club CEO last
September. George who comes from a racing background stated "his top
priority will be returning the club to a junior powerhouse to ensure long-
term success but he also knows results are needed much sooner." He
promised a thorough review of the club and knew recruitment was very
high on the agenda after some very high profile departures from the club
after season 2017.
The mercurial Brian Smith was brought in to fill a role as General Manager
of football last November with CEO George saying "The general manager
will drive all aspects of football operations and leave no stone unturned in
ensuring we have our system right and a very strong enforcement of
standards and accountability."
Smith the highly experienced NRL first grade coach who took many a team
to the big dance but couldn't quite get the premiership victory will bring
plenty of football nous and his over 600 games experience will be
invaulable.
As Jim Doyle had always stated Head Coach Steven Kearneys job was never
under question.
Cameron George echoed those statements stressing stability is of an utmost
paramount importance in getting the club back to winning ways.
Kearney will still be the man trusted with the hardest job in New Zealand
sport in taking the Warriors to the promised land again in 2018 and his
assistants remain the same in Stacey Jones and Andrew McFadden.
The Warriors pulled a masterstroke in their next addition to the staff in
aquiring strength and conditioning coach Alex Corvo.
Corvo who has a no nonsense, all work ethic approach has worked at the
very highest level and with the best talent in the game having previously
worked with the Storm, Broncos, Queensland State of Origin and the
Australian Kangaroos.
By all accounts he has been absolutley ruthless in ensuring the Warriors
side will be hitting the ground running this season and the players have all
bought into what he brings to the table.
New signings:
Recruitment is also essential after a poor season. The Warriors deserve an A
Grade for the additions they hace made to the roster for season 2018.
The Warriors playing roster has changed a lot since 2017 with the
departures of Jacob Lillyman, Ben Matulino, Ryan Hoffman, Bodene
Thompson, Manu Vatuvei, Keiran Foran, Ata Hingano and Charlie Gubb.
There is a lot of experience in that group which has left a hole but I think
the club has recurited well enough to cover their losses.
Tohu Harris will be a superstar in the second row in both attack and
defence. He is highly experienced and will be a pillar of strength to the
team. His versatility will be a great asset with his ability to cover centre and
the halves. The pressure will be on Harris from Warriors fans after other
notable signings from Melbourne underperforming at Mt Smart however
Harris will take all this in his stride.
The two Titans Leivaha Pulu and Agnatius Paasi are both astute signings.
Pulu is a big body and versatile enough to be a middle forward or play on an
edge. Paasi had a quiet season last year compared to his 2016 form
however if he rediscovers his form from two years ago he could become
one of the buys of the season and really provide impact off the bench in a
pack that was often on the back foot last season.
Adam Blair is a seasoned campaigner who will provide great leadership. He
too is versatile enough to cover multiple positions in the forward pack and
his controlling the ruck will be an asset. He has had a career revival of sorts
at the Broncos after some poor form as a Tiger. Here's hoping his strong
form continues for the Warriors.
Gerard Beale and Peta Hiku are both really good signings to bolster our
outside back stocks. They are not cut from the cloth of the modern day
flashy entertainer centre and wings, however they are both solid
professionals that perform well in both attack and defence and have got the
job done both at club level and internationally in the past. It is great to see
Hiku return to Mt Smart as it was always apparent when he left the club as
a junior he would develop into a good performer. The addition of these two
will really put pressure on our incumbent outside backs with hot
competition for every spot.
The late addition of Karl Lawton from the Gold Coast is a timely one with
the release of Ata Hingano. Lawton has played 13 NRL games and can cover
many postions with hooker where he has featured in first grade the most in
his young NRL career. His preffered natural postion is five-eighth however
and should we get another injury in the halves Lawton and Mason Lino will
be showing their wares to get the role.
Anthony Gelling and Matiu Love-Henry will both boster our depth at the
club this season and will all be aiming to make a name for themselves at
some point when they get a chance at NRL footy.
All the above signings are great and will all find a role at our great club
however the best player recruit for this season is the five-eighth Blake
Green. Green is a winner wherever he goes in a well travelled career. He
has been one of the form halves in the competition the last two years in
stints at Melbourne and Manly respectively. Manlys loss is the Warriors gain
with Green ticking all the boxes for the solid stable halves partner to play
beside Shaun Johnson. His game management and kicking game is of the
highest quality and Green appears to be relishing a leadership role at the
club. It's his signing which really puts the recruitment class over the top this
year and and with Green onboard the Warriors may yet surprise many
Sydney pundits and challenge for a top 8 spot this season.

The Pre-season Documentary:

The Warriors have filmed a two part documentary about their preseason
which has aired the last two monday nights. Im sure it was a real eye
opener for the Warriors faithful. It was great to see all involved with the
club raw and uncut. The players were really open in showing their
disappointment with the season that transpired last year and all involved
with the club look eager to right the wrongs of past seasons.
Now I've read reports the documentary was only aired as a last ditch
attempt to garner support for the club and bring their membership
numbers up which have been on the decline this offseason. I don't believe
this to be true, I believe it is a great tool to show all the hearty Warrior fans
that this club does mean plenty to all involved. The first episode was
absolutely riveting and I'm sure the second episode will be must watch TV
for all the faithfull this Monday night.
The Trials:
The Warriors played two trials to prepare for the season ahead firstly
playing a well understrength Melbourne Storm team in Roturua. The
Warriors side featured a lot of the up and coming players and new signings.
It was satisfying to get a win 20-14 but hard to gauge much other than the
players look very fit compared to this time last year. It was disappointing to
lose Paasi easrly in the match with an injury putting him in doubt for Round
1 selection.
Next up the Warriors played The Gold Coast Titans on Sunshine Coast with
the boys getting another victory 20-14 with Kearney naming a side which
won't be too far off our Round 1 team to play the Rabbitohs. Takeaways
from the game were the under pressure left edge of Ken and Sol performed
strongly and Blake Green is cleary going to take a lot of pressure off Shaun
Johnson this season. It was also pleasing to see Sam Cook and Hayze
Perham performing strongly with both players rewarded with upgraded
contracts this week.

Predictions:
What started as a pre-season of kicking stones and not expecting much out
of the team in season 2018 has turned 180 degrees and I'm predicting a top
8 finish this season. I think the team will surprise many of their opponents
with how direct and fast they are going to play through the middle. The
coaches have learnt from last season that having just a high completion rate
doesn't win you football games. They are prepared to throw more at the
opposition in attack which hopefully will spark a return to the razzle dazzle
Warrior football of old.
Blake Green is going to take ownership of the team and in doing so will
bring the best out of both Roger and Shaun this season with who i suspect
will both be high up in the Dally M leaderboard during the season.
So here are my fearless predictions for season 2018 at Mt Smart:
- Warriors to finish 6th and will host a Mt Smart final week one of the final
series
- RTS will be in top five at seasons end for Dally M
- David Fusitu'a to score 20+ trys
- Isaac Luke to recapture career best form
- Simon Mannering to play his 300th game
- Steven Kearney to finally have a winning season in the NRL

So I guess there's only one thing left to say.........

UP THE MIGHTY VODAFONE WARRIORS!!!!

Written by Paul Smith

WarriorsHQ