Team List NZ Warriors v Cronulla Sharks - [Round 5, 2026]
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I'm really uncertain whether LM can take the ball to the line and still have shape like Boyd does therefore 6 or fullback maybe his natural position. Broken field and backing up seem to be his forte.
Hands on the ball at 1st receiver will be interesting tomorrow.
Time will tell I guess but I sure as hell hope this is not a destructive ego thing
Unfortunately the number 7 is the magic number in our sport and no matter how fans try to re frame game lore it doesn't work that way for the players.
7 is the Quarterback, always has been and always will be, and most of these wannabe halves grow up idolizing a player wearing that number, their Dad's did the same, and their Grandads.
It is only natural to aspire to be the overall controller, the lynch pin of the team for these halfback types.
Fortunately there are plenty of people in life that like to be the good lieutenant the or 2IC, dudes that want to run free.
Shaun Johnson in his younger years looked like, smelled like and played like a stand off - but we entertained his dream of being a seven. His hero Andrew John's would go on to call him the most talented player in the code but lacking in organizational skills, of course when the Warriors took his toys away the Sharks said 'not here sonny you are a five eight'.
Which in Johnson's case saw him focus heavily on his seven skills (long kicking especially) while wearing the six, which of course saw him eventually viewed as a half back. You really have to admire Shaun Johnson for making that transition and earning the right to wear the number in their team through dominating the fundamental roles of a seven and coming back to the Warriors a different player.
Metcalf then, has a clear model in SJ of how to get to where he wants to go, play stand off, work on kicking, do the seasons, see what happens - take the seven when Boyd is unavailable through injury or form or departure from the club.
I presume Metcalf asked Webster what he should say when asked about where he wants to play, they would have had a sit down about managing the media, and Webster being Webster would have told him to be honest.
Bottom line, Tanah has earned that number 7 in spectacular fashion and as such he deserves to hold it, this is not hard for Webster, if he sticks to the 101 of sports coaching, reward effort and achievement.
7 is the Quarterback, always has been and always will be, and most of these wannabe halves grow up idolizing a player wearing that number, their Dad's did the same, and their Grandads.
It is only natural to aspire to be the overall controller, the lynch pin of the team for these halfback types.
Fortunately there are plenty of people in life that like to be the good lieutenant the or 2IC, dudes that want to run free.
Shaun Johnson in his younger years looked like, smelled like and played like a stand off - but we entertained his dream of being a seven. His hero Andrew John's would go on to call him the most talented player in the code but lacking in organizational skills, of course when the Warriors took his toys away the Sharks said 'not here sonny you are a five eight'.
Which in Johnson's case saw him focus heavily on his seven skills (long kicking especially) while wearing the six, which of course saw him eventually viewed as a half back. You really have to admire Shaun Johnson for making that transition and earning the right to wear the number in their team through dominating the fundamental roles of a seven and coming back to the Warriors a different player.
Metcalf then, has a clear model in SJ of how to get to where he wants to go, play stand off, work on kicking, do the seasons, see what happens - take the seven when Boyd is unavailable through injury or form or departure from the club.
I presume Metcalf asked Webster what he should say when asked about where he wants to play, they would have had a sit down about managing the media, and Webster being Webster would have told him to be honest.
Bottom line, Tanah has earned that number 7 in spectacular fashion and as such he deserves to hold it, this is not hard for Webster, if he sticks to the 101 of sports coaching, reward effort and achievement.
Wahs_Ultras
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Actually cup games today 5pm
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Noitall
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Sometimes combinations just don’t gel and I don’t think Metcalf would sabotage games to get the role off Boyd. Boyd had the whole preseason just as Metcalf did last season and to me CHT is the one who deserves to be disappointed doing everything asked of him, we searched for halves partners for him under Kearney for an age with the likes of Nikorima and Adam Keighran. He’s actually one of the better performing five eighths over the past season and a bit
on your 'search for halves partners' point i'm reminded of this article (which obviously cursed metcalf last year as it was published before he went down, it states the metcalf pairing was to equal CHT's longest halves pairing combo)
"After debuting alongside Blake Green against the Titans in round four in 2019, Harris-Tavita dramatically became the senior playmaker the following week when Green was ruled out during the warm-up to the match against South Sydney. Gerard Beale came into the side and was listed in the halves but it was Peta Hiku who partnered Harris-Tavita.
With Green still injured, Harris-Tavita then had Tohu Harris in the halves for round seven. It made for an eventful start to first-grade football before Green returned.
Apart from two games paired with Hiku and one with Harris, Harris-Tavita had a total of nine games teamed with Green in 2019-2020 followed by 15 with Nikorima, three with Sean O’Sullivan (2021), one with Chad Townsend (2021), one with Ash Taylor (2022), 11 with Shaun Johnson (2022 and 2024), one with Daejarn Asi (2022) and seven with Te Maire Martin (2024)."
Add his few games with Boyd into the mix and it's a bit insane in my opinion, no wonder he's a pretty versatile player himself having to adapt to so many halves partners over the years
Noitall
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I’m no body language expert but I thought he looked a bit dejected when cameras were in the changing sheds at halftime and I made a post mentioning it after the game to see if anyone else felt that way. My view was he and RTS had formed a good combination on the left and his support play was good without having speed to burn. My personal view on what I think they will perhaps do is that if a Boyd/Metcalf combination doesn’t work that it will be Metcalf back to 7
that's sad but I reckon he's a team guy (as we hope most players will be) but as others have said he hasn't really done anything wrong other than get knocked out, as for me as the self-proclaimed president of the CHT fan club and I'll say I want him at 6, but can see why we're trying the metcalf/boyd combo
have seen comments saying webby is loyal to players and won't change but that isn't really the case here? I'd be nervous if this combo didn't work this week and we reverted to chanel at 6 against a very pissed off storm.. give them a bit of time (still think chanel should actually get some game time though)
Oh I thought Gannon had categorically overtaken Marata and didn’t have to work his way back through cup
according to someone in here anyway
Run straight FFS chanze
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