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RNZ News
2 days ago
- Sport
- RNZ News
NRL: What we learnt as NZ Warriors overwhelmed Cronulla Sharks
Chanel Harris-Tavita and Sam Healey celebrate a try against the Sharks. Photo: DAN HIMBRECHTS/AAP Despite their 9-3 record through the opening half of the NRL season, NZ Warriors had not exactly dominated opponents. Resilience had become their trademark, with many of their successes built on dramatic late-game feats or gritty defence to hold charging opponents at bay. Their points differential had been in the negative through most of the campaign and sat at just plus-5 entering their contest against Cronulla Sharks. They had lost co-captain Mitch Barnett for the season , veteran second-rower Kurt Capewell was covering at centre and they lost star hooker Wayde Egan to a hip complaint before kickoff. At Shark Park, the Warriors finally took their game to another level that must now have the competition on warning, outscoring their opponents 28-0 after halftime. Here are a few takeaways from their breakout 40-10 victory . Already reeling from the lose of Barnett for the season, the Warriors also had to deal with Egan's late withdrawal. While Barnett is a big loss, Egan is arguably a bigger one - and especially against the Sharks. After 13 rounds, he led the competition in dummy half runs and tackles, heading off Cronulla counterpart Blayke Brailey in both categories. His grip on the Warriors No.9 jersey is absolutely ironclad. Replacement Sam Healey was unproven, after logging 14 minutes off the bench in his NRL debut against North Queensland Cowboys last month. Jackson Ford reverted back to his favoured interchange role. Photo: David Neilson/Photosport The other change saw Marata Niukore shifted from second row to prop, with Jackson Ford - initially handed Barnett's No.10 jersey - slipping back to an interchange role he has made his own this season and Jacob Laban promoted into the starting second row. This was an entirely predictable change, probably inevitable. Healey's elevation into the gameday squad completed his journey to the top flight, after leaving the Sharks to search for a first-grade opportunity. Dad Mitch played 222 games for Cronulla from 1989-2000, so gaining his first start at Shark Park would have been an emotional moment for Sam. He played 47 minutes, running eight times for 71 metres and making 27 tackles, without looking out of place. Brailey went the distance for the Sharks, making a game-high 53 tackles in his 150th NRL outing. The other one that got away from the 'Shire' was Warriors halfback Luke Metcalf, who inherited the No.7 jersey from Shaun Johnson at the start of the season and has made every post a winner since, leading the Dally M standings when they went behind closed doors last week. He had seven appearances for Cronulla, but found his career path blocked by the arrival of Nico Hynes from Melbourne Storm, and has instead found a home at Mt Smart. Metcalf outplayed his much-vaunted rival, kicking 6/8 off the tee, making a linebreak and providing two try assists, while likely putting some ground on Sharks fullback Will Kennedy, one of his closest Dally M rivals. Perhaps the most eagerly anticipated head-to-head match-up of the night saw former Warriors prop Addin Fonua-Blake take on the man that replaced him at the club - James Fisher-Harris. Fonua-Blake was back-to-back Dally M Prop of the Year during his last two years in Auckland and is compiling a similar case this season, leading the league in metres after contact. Inspirational Kiwis skipper Fisher-Harris spent a few weeks sidelined by a pec injury and then copped a suspension in his first game back, but with Barnett out of the picture, his team will now depend on him in the trenches going forward. They battled each other to a standstill - Fonua-Blake had more running metres and they both made 34 tackles - but Fisher-Harris scored his first try in a Warriors uniform to start the second-half avalanche of points. A feature of the Warriors season has been the emergence of the next generation of young forwards, led by teenager Leka Halasima. After grabbing tries in three consecutive games earlier in the season, he has now scored in back-to-back games against South Sydney and Cronulla to continue his meteoric rise. Laban let no-one down in his starting role and now provides another option for coach Andrew Webster, with Capewell currently deployed in midfield. The revelation was Demitric Vaimauga , who started the campaign slowly, but has started to show his ability in recent weeks. His 40-minute shift produced 11 runs for 106 metres, 21 tackles and a try, but the highlight may have been his short pass for Fisher-Harris' try after halftime. Demitric Vaimauga scores a try against the Sharks. Photo: David Neilson/Photosport Halasima, 19, and Laban, 21, are signed through 2029, while Vaimauga, 21, is committed through 2028, so they have plenty of time left with the Warriors. Healey, 22, showed he is worth long-term investment, while Tanner Stowers-Smith, 21, also recorded his second game at his level off the bench. "The pleasing thing is the effort of our young guys, off the back of really strong leadership this year," Webster said. "We spoke about trying to be Barney , but be better at what they're doing, and I thought they stood up. "This place has changed and you see young kids feeling comfortable in their skin, feeling safe to be themselves, and then go out on the field and express themselves." This will be how the Warriors cover the absence of Barnett this season. "I didn't know when it was going to come, but at halftime, I said to the boys, 'We love being in these tight games, these kind of battles', so I was rapt they got the rewards late." Warriors coach Andrew Webster The Warriors are now 7/7 this season, when they lead at halftime and continue to lead the competition in set completion on 83 percent, after converting 92 percent (36/39) against the Sharks. The Warriors take their second bye of the season, which guarantees two points on the table. The week off is timely for Egan, who is obviously a bit nicked up and will enjoy some extra rest, as will others in the squad that have probably been carrying niggles into games over the past couple of months. In two weeks, they'll host four-time defending champions Penrith Panthers, just three days after Origin II in Perth. That's a long trip for players hoping to back up for their club. The Panthers have struggled this season and uncharacteristically sit near the bottom of the table. No-one is fooled by that and they are surely not far from a run at the playoffs. That said, the Warriors lost to Melbourne Storm off their first bye of the season, so they will need to turn that around. Since March 21, they will have played just once at Mt Smart in 12 rounds, but now face five games in the next eight there, as well as a third bye. They are now entering a very favourable phase of their schedule. Don't look now, Warriors fans, this may yet be your year. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
RNZ News
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- RNZ News
NRL: NZ Warriors young gun Demitric Vaimauga ready to shine in Barnett's absence
Demitric Vaimauga is signed with the Warriors through 2028. Photo: David Neilson/Photosport About half-an-hour after losing co-captain and kingpin Mitch Barnett for the season, NZ Warriors fans got a glimpse of how their team might fill that void this year and into the future. Barnett hobbled off with a ruptured anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee after 20 minutes against South Sydney Rabbitohs, and - although nobody knew it then - his 2025 NRL campaign was over . Soon after halftime, hooker Wayde Egan ran from dummy half inside Souths territory and found young second-rower Demitric Vaimauga on the 30-metre line. He fended off one tackler and rolled away from another, before offloading back to Egan from his knees. Fullback Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad sliced towards the posts and passed back to Egan - his third touch of the ball in the same movement - before teenager Leka Halasima propped off his right foot and found a yawning path to the tryline. The NRL proclaimed the sequence 'Try of the Week' and it was certainly reminiscent of the entertaining Warriors of yesteryear, when Stacey Jones and Ali Lauiti'iti were in full flight. His contribution only lasted a couple of seconds and gained about five metres, but this cameo by Vaimauga suggested he had far more to offer his team in their moment of need. "I think they gave Leka the try," he deflected. "I don't really like to look into it, but it is good to see us on the Instagram page, I guess." A common thread through the Warriors 9-3 start to their season has been 'next man up'. Another has been harnessing a fresh wave of talented young forwards to provide the nucleus of the roster moving forward. While Halasima, 19, has captured the headlines and - along with Jacob Laban - earned a contract extension through the 2029 , Vaimauga, 21, has quietly come off the bench for every game this season and is starting to pick up momentum. In 29 minutes against Souths, he ran nine times for 83 metres, offloaded three times and made 17 tackles - good for 43 fantasy points, if you're that way inclined. Last month against St George Illawarra Dragons, he was even better, logging 39 minutes, running nine times for 108 metres and making 29 tackles. That's 45 fantasy points and, at this point in the season, he may be worth a quick pick-up while his price is still right. Coach Andrew Webster has been at pains to stress no one player can make up for Barnett's loss and it will take a collective effort . Still, the skipper's absence leaves a gaping hole in the rotation and Vaimauga seems best placed to take advantage of the opportunity, as Halasima did when NZ Kiwis captain James Fisher-Harris went down earlier in the season. "I feel like I'm going well, but there's a lot more to come," he reflected. "I've just scratched the surface. "I'm still adapting to game speed, still a bit raw and new to it. I'm trying to build my minutes and my engine for NRL. "I feel like my understanding of the game is there and my physicality, but adapting to the game speed... "I'm just happy to be on the field. The coach has put trust in some of the young boys and I'm glad to be one of them, so I want to put my best foot forward whenever I can." Vaimauga played the first seven games of his Warriors career as Demitric Sifakula, but adopted his mother's surname during this past off-season, when he re-signed through 2028, so he has at least three more seasons alongside Halasima and Laban. "It's good to have a crop of boys that I grew up playing with and to be on the big stage with them," he said. "It's a lot for our up-and-comers, especially at grassroots footy as well… giving them someone to look up to." This is the perfect time for the young guns to learn from hardened veterans like Barnett, Egan, Fisher-Harris and Origin veteran Kurt Capewell. "I think their footy brains… to be so young, but mature in footy sense," lock Erin Clark enthused. "I'm pretty blown away - when I was that age, I had no idea. "With Leka, you see his footwork and strength, but we see out on the field how smart he is and Demitric as well. Good to see them doing well, and Demi and Leka played good games on the weekend, "They're going in the right direction, and hopefully, they'll just get better and better as games go on." Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
