General Warriors Junior Pathways

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What historic pathways expansion means for the Warriors​

AuthorCorey RosserNRL ReporterTimestampSat 27 Jan 2024, 06:01 AM

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On the side of a field in Auckland on a winter morning prior to the pandemic, a talent spotter aligned to the Warriors could be overheard lamenting the loss of a young prospect to a rival NRL club.
In this case the player lived on a road bordering the club's headquarters at Go Media Stadium and their backyard had, almost literally, been robbed in front of them. Yet again.

It's an issue that has plagued the Warriors throughout their 30-season history, with the lack of a high-quality and complete junior pathway meaning they were always at a disadvantage compared to clubs located in New South Wales and Queensland.
It left some local teenage talent with a fairly simple equation: go to Australia and play with and against the best of your peers each week in age-group teams that sit under an NRL club's banner, or stay in New Zealand and risk missing out on those valuable development opportunities.
History shows plenty opted for the former.
But now things are changing thanks to the biggest pathways development the Warriors have ever undertaken, which will see them field teams in the New South Wales Rugby League’s renowned Harold Matthews Cup (under-17) and Jersey Flegg Cup (under-21) for the first time.
It adds to their existing involvement in the NSW SG Ball Cup (under-19) and NSW senior reserve grade competitions and finally gives the Warriors a complete pathway from the early teenage years through to the NRL.
Andrew McFadden, who has the experienced the aforementioned struggles both as a coach of the Warriors and now as the manager of recruitment, development and pathways, tells NRL.com it's a game-changer that will give the Kiwi club parity at junior level.
“We are on the same playing field as all the other clubs now,” McFadden says.
“We were losing kids because other clubs could provide better opportunities. We actually lost players that we had contracted because we couldn’t offer them what other clubs could.

“But that’s all gone now, we have got exactly the same pathways as other clubs. [Strong pathways] probably hasn’t been something we have been noted for, but it is definitely something we want to change.”
Attracting and keeping talent is just the start of course, and ultimately it needs to contribute to the club enjoying sustained success in the NRL and winning premierships.
With that in mind McFadden and co have set targets for the future which are aligned to what has worked for the Warriors in the past.
"We recognised that in 2002 and 2011 [when the club made its only two grand final appearances to date], those two teams were made up of nearly 70 percent New Zealand born and developed players," McFadden says.
So what it should look like down the track is that our NRL side is predominantly homegrown and developed. We think that’s our best chance of success."
Andrew McFadden
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"It will take a few years – maybe five years or more – but we are also ambitious about how quickly we can increase that NZ flavour in our squad.
"We are doing very little scouting in Australia and it’ll be very targeted if we ever do. Predominantly we want to look after our backyard.
"You’re always more connected to home, aren’t you? It’s a really important part of our philosophy and plans.
"We have got the players here in NZ, we have just got to get our pathways programme right."
The Warriors 2011 grand final team was made up of a stack of homegrown talent including Shaun Johnson, Elijah Taylor and Lance Hohaia.
The Warriors 2011 grand final team was made up of a stack of homegrown talent including Shaun Johnson, Elijah Taylor and Lance Hohaia.©NRL Photos
The growth in teams means this pre-season period has been much busier than usual in Auckland, with a glut of players from various age groups and a range of new staff members passing through the doors each week.
It's seen the club set up new sites for some of their activities, which has included forming a partnership with neighbouring high school One Tree Hill College, where they have a full-sized pitch to train on and are able to use classrooms for video analysis and presentations.
An additional off-site gym has been set up near Go Media Stadium too.
Warriors coach Andrew Webster addresses a group of young players.
Warriors coach Andrew Webster addresses a group of young players.©Supplied
Outside of Auckland there's plenty of activity happening when it comes to the new teams as well, with satellite training programmes being run in Canterbury and Waikato and further plans in place to have a presence in Wellington and Otago.
These are significant moves for a club that for the most part has only run two teams at any given time in Australian competitions and it's only become a reality thanks to Warriors owner Mark Robinson's willingness to reach into his pockets.

"There are lots of hidden costs when you are setting up these teams, so we are lucky our owner has elected to invest in these areas," McFadden says.
"He is a New Zealander and a rugby league man, and he knows what this club means to people.
The club's new off-site gym was officially opened at the end of 2023.
The club's new off-site gym was officially opened at the end of 2023.©Supplied
"In terms of us having any [NRL] success and being able to sustain it, this is very important."
The historic season for the club begins on the first Sunday of February, with the Harold Matthews Cup team lining up against the Eels at Eric Tweedale Stadium, ahead of the SG Ball side facing Parramatta at the same venue later in the day.
 
Five&Last said:
That Boston Krone looks an impressive prospect, been a while since we've had a gun halves prospect in our junior system. Last one people were genuinely excited about was Paul Turner pre-covid, then CHT before that.
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First time I've heard his name, is he part of the Harold Matt's squad?

Edit: whoops, didn't read the above article, thought it was the same one as posted earlier.
 
Interesting the two grade’s announcement so far on their captains, two joint captains in both grades. Wonder if this is something the club is going to implement in all grades?
 
Does anyone know where I can find a list of all the players signed to the junior teams and the cup team for 2024?

Keen to see how they all stack up, particularly the Cup team. We could be fire this year with so much competition for NRL spots
 
Tony Martin said:
No squad announcements just yet. NSW cup doesn’t normally have any sort of announcement either, sort of just have to wait for round 1
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Of these are the guys who played Cup last year. Anyone who won’t be back out of the guys with the question marks? Guys in bold are back (at least I believe so).

Full backs:
Taine Tuaupiki
Geronimo Doyle?

Wings
Moala Graham-Taufa?
Sanele Aukusitino
Ed Kosi
Sio Kali
Setu Tu
Dallin Watene-Zelezniak*

Centers
Patrick Moimoi
Rocco Berry
Ali Leiatau

Halves
Ben Farr
Te Maire Martin
Luke Metcalf

Props
Zyon Maiu’u
Bunty Afoa
Tom Ale
Tanner Stowers-Smith
Tahi Baggaley?
Paterika Vaivai?
Solomon Vasuvulagi?

Hookers
Freddy Lussick
Eteatu Fukofuka
Paul Roache
Michal Sio?
Navajo Doyle?

Edge Back Rowers
Leka Halasima
Jacob Laban
Eddie Ieremia-Toeava
Nicholas Holalilo?
Mosese Faeamani?
Matthew Whyte?

Lock
Kalani Going
Maia Sands?
Demitric Sifakula

Loses
Eiden Ackland?
James Gavet?
Ronald Volkman
Viliami Vailea
Brayden Wiliame
Isaiah Vagana
 
The big unknown for me is where the Matts and Ball players go after these short comps are finished. Some Ball players will go into Flegg and Cup but where do the rest go? Especially the ones that have just finished school. Same goes for the older Matts boys, club footy is thin in the u17s, the school comp is only strong for a small number of schools and Nationals are at the end of the year.
 
Viking said:
The big unknown for me is where the Matts and Ball players go after these short comps are finished. Some Ball players will go into Flegg and Cup but where do the rest go? Especially the ones that have just finished school. Same goes for the older Matts boys, club footy is thin in the u17s, the school comp is only strong for a small number of schools and Nationals are at the end of the year.
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Agree

This is where NZ2 would be a godsend, you could play your Jr squads off against eachother in series to help fill the gap between the Aussie comps and our rep tourneys.

MIght make sense to shift the timimg of the SJ/Dean Bell comps now too?
 
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