Has he got a shot as FG FB in the future? Seems to be improving fast these days
Recruitment Warriors 2026/2027 Recruitment & Retention
- Thread starter WahsaurusRex
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Has he got a shot as FG FB in the future? Seems to be improving fast these days
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Agreed. He had a decent game but Kennedy is usually the weak point of that side.
Their strength is definitely their forward pack and outside backs, which massively covers for Kennedy’s deficiencies.
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Kennedy would be a step backwards from anything we have currently.
Kennedy has some really bad moments and at times can have a real shockers, but I think overall he'd provide big improvement attack wise.
On attack Kennedy seems willing to throw the ball around and try and find his winger. Would be a great attribute if we had AKP on the wing to capitalize on that.
Charnz had a try rate of 0.2 per game, 0.2 try assists and 0.2 line break assists where combined, Kennedys stats for those were 0.3, 0.5 and 0.5. Which works out to 4 extra line breaks/tries/try assists every 5 games.
I'm not saying he's the difference between us winning and losing a comp, but imo he's better than what we have available right now, AND he's available next year. Wouldn't command huge money either.
Maybe for one year, then he starts his decline, becomes CNK mark II and we are stuck looking for another FB
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We should be looking for kids with huge potential to play first grade quickly, iongi, Woods, and Talagi types.
We are developing them aren't we??
Identifying them is part of the puzzle too. Iongi was highly rated but was stuck behind Dylan Edwards. Interesting it’s come to light in last few days that when Luai signed with tigers, Galvin’s management reached out to panthers. Panthers apparently weren’t interested and pursued Talagi with him being the one they wanted. It’s often the players stuck behind others and looking for an opportunity somewhere else, Chevy Stewart obviously in this situation too
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Iongi pumped out over 50 NSW Cup games before he got a debut. We're more likely to follow that path
But thats what recruitment should be all about.
The reality is good players don't hit the market. They just keep extending. You have go looking for these young guys that need opportunity.
Instead of talking about hidden gems, we're talking about Will Kennedy and AKP....
Iongi was easily best player yet to debut for a good couple years.
Amazing that he bided his time at Penrith for as long as he did.
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I know some people don't think much of that grade but we are seeing the benefit of time in that grade with a few of our first graders now. Halasima, Laban, Vaimauga, Ieremia-Toeava have all debuted a lot more seamlessly then some Warriors in the past. They look fit and are matching the opposition physically. This also comes back to the coaching staff.
Hanson looks to have improved a lot after another season in NSW Cup.
I went to a game early this year when Cleary only just started playing Cup. There was a big improvement a month or so later. I'm not saying rush him into first grade. More give him time pushing the Cup side around the field and assess him at the end of 2026.
I've always though CHT would have benefited from a year or another year running the Cup side around the park.
Even identifying players that still have something to add. Can recall as the cool you weren’t at all sold on the Marcelo Montoya signing, but it turned out a great one and we really brought out the best in him. Interesting he’s largely gone back to what he was before he came over so I think environment plays apart. The fact we identified AKP tells me we’ve got plans around how we would use him. The same for Gannon, we’ve identified him as someone that has what we’re looking for. The best thing about our recruitment I find is that it seems very deliberate and we don’t just chase the latest names to hit the market
Absolutely agree!
I do have a bit of a giggle when people say we should be looking at X, Y and Z when they're some of the best up and comers in the game.
Of course, it makes sense to keep tabs on them incase there's an AFB situation, but when have we ever signed young, promising stars in the spine? Up until very recently we just haven't been able to do it. Why move to NZ when you have 4 or 5 clubs in Sydney chasing you?
Aside from the occasional piece of luck with AFB and JFH, we largely struggle to get big names over here too.
The moneyball signings seem to be the way to go - players that have something we want (speed) but are out of favour, or have been injured recently, or have other issues in their game that we hope we take a punt on and can hopefully iron out.
Kennedy for 2 years would be another one of these - lots of upside and does many things that were looking for, but also has a lot of deficiencies. If we were able to iron out even 25% of Kennedys issues he'd fit really well into our team. 50m a game less than Charnz, and probably not as good on defence, but then have a 75% improvement in our full back creating and scoring tries.
Something to consider anyways. He's certainly not a long term project but I do think that if we had AKP and Kennedy starting the year over CNK and DWZ I think we convert a few more tries and create a fair few more. Probably the difference between finishing 6th and 4th or 3rd
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And here I was thinking we were a development club now? We have the foundation (finally). We need an attacking FB, 2 X wingers who can finish well, a decent 6.
I think if Kali is not coming up this year then AKP can be the stop-gap until he is.
On the other wing I think DWZ is on his last year, so Norris or Pasikala could replace him on his next injury instead of Pompey (hopefully). Pompey's job is to cover Berry and Leiataua. Norris and Kali play centre also, so there's a possibility.
I think when it comes to 6, CHT and TMM will cover while Linnane gets a few cup games under his belt. Then hopefully the following year we ditch the duo.
Imagine a Warriors team with KL Iro, Katoa , Nikorima and Papali’i still there ?
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Good case in point, having good people around him and nurturing his talent and not throwing them in the deep end too quickly.
So much pressure to be a superstar or established first grader by the time they turn 22.
Warriors have 2 year window of external signings to better the team before the production line of pathways is in full swing in my view.
