Prop should be at the forefront of any Warriors recruitment and development discussion.
New Zealand in the past was called the big dude factory by the GOAT Joey Johns.
That has become somewhat of a joke of late, Blocker Roaches 'the big Warrios are tiring' is an NRL in joke. It shouldn't be, given that Prop is a position our talent Scouts have failed miserably with when you look at honest cold hard truth that the best NZ Props all play for Aussie clubs.
Worse still, Prop has become the most valuable player in salary cap terms in the NRL. Over taking fullback.
At the moment New Zealand is still the hotbed for loose forward, back rower types. Which pretty much means our future props end up being converts from their non specialist schooling in the back row.
How I would love to see the Warriors scout young props who stay props.
Tom Ale is a great recent example. A thirteen prospect, dominant in NSW cup, forced up to propping in the NRL.
People are already talking about converting
Laban to Prop because of his size (I do not hate the idea, but it is more of the same...more of the Warriors scouting idiots unable to find the best young props in the country.... this is pure lazy ignorant Scouting nonsense.
Flooding your Scout book with backrowers is the lazy safe way to say your portfolio has utility....this a cop out borrowed by Scouts from econmics 101...signing backrowers is akin to diversifying your portfolio in the stock market.
The real recruitment stars are able to pick the next best thing in the hot market space....the NRL propping investment game.
hey kients, how about signing specialists from the craddle. Rather than playing it vanilla and using non Props to plug a propping gap, a lack of specialization in that role).
I think the message is clear. The Scouts need a massive kick up the arse and to be charged with finding the next NAS,
JFH, Tapine, before every other club finds them.
The biggest blight on our scouts is that Prop is the number one target for all clubs NRL wide, and they have failed a generation of talent to take even one of the best from the local scene.
Things locally are so bad scouting wise, that the Warriors coaching staff have to consider Jazz Tevanga as a middle utility, that should never happen at top four organization that knows what it is doing.