Todd Payten pays tribute to the effort of his squad this season as the Warriors enter their final days together before heading home. Video / NRL
COMMENT:
The Warriors have assembled perhaps the most fearsome looking set of forwards in their troubled 26 season NRL history.
Despite the club's reputation, they have often been overshadowed by bigger opponents in the middle of the field, and thus developed a system - starting with the great Manu Vatuvei- of using giant wings to compensate.
The irony is this: have the Warriors finally ventured into the land of the giants at precisely the wrong time?
It's not a question easily answered now, but it feels as if the NRL may be overseeing a radical re-shaping of the game.
The Warriors' ability to stay in the fight in every game they played during the last couple of months gives me more confidence than ever that they can drive deep into the top eight playoffs in the coming years.
But they will be among the first teams to play under the latest rule adjustments, experimental at this point, and ones which could work against their re-designed squad.
The NRL will trial changes in two "dead" final round games: the Broncos v Cowboys on Thursday, and the Warriors v Sea Eagles on Sunday.
1) Using the six again rule for 10-metre infringements; 2) Handovers instead of scrums for kicks into touch; 3) Only nominated forwards can pack in scrums; 4) Bunker changes to reduce stoppages.
New Warriors recruit Addin Fonua-Blake. Photosport
One of the major aims is to increase the fatigue factor and thus open up more attacking opportunities, something I would argue is hardly needed, and risks turning the game into a field full of young whippets, greyhounds and gazelles.
Personally, I love a few grizzly bears out there.
The game needs character and different body shapes, while trying to retain the veterans who add so much on and off the field.
The Warriors' recruiters might also be scratching their heads a little nervously, hoping they've got the squad balance right for next year.
These experimental rules, coming on the back of changes already made this year, were announced just a day after Addin Fonua-Blake - who is certainly no whippet - confirmed he was moving from the Sea Eagles to the Warriors from next season.
Fonua-Blake can be one of the best middle forwards in the NRL, and it is his explosive power rather than work rate which stands out. At 118kgs, he is built to blast not last although he averages a good amount of hit ups per game.
Another recruit for next year is the hard-to-miss figure of Ben Murdoch-Masila, who is shaped like Fonua-Blake. The rising Jamayne Taunoa-Brown - still finding his way in the NRL - is also around the 118kg mark.
Ben Murdoch-Masila in action for Warrington Wolves. Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWpix.com
New second rower Jack Murchie, a great target for crossfield kicks, is pretty big by second rower standards, as is their rising rookie Eliesa Katoa.
(Kane Evans, signed from the Eels, is a leaner type of prop but has hardly been setting the world on fire since leaving the Roosters.)
When interviewed a few weeks ago by the Herald, incoming Warriors coach Nathan Brown said the new rules already in place, designed to make the game faster, would certainly change some of his recruitment ideas. That was before the additional potential changes were known about.
The great news for the Warriors is that Roger Tuivasa-Sheck has put speculation around his whereabouts for 2021 to rest, although it emerged that he has an option for the final year of his contract in 2022.
This Warriors are now designed to give Kodi Nikorima the best chance to shine at five-eighth, the big men up front giving him the space to unleash his running game.
The less Nikorima thinks and strategises, the more he runs, the better. Young Chanel Harris-Tevita, who has a great kicking game, must take the reins, unless the Warriors have a shock signing up their sleeve.
More than that, Tuivasa-Sheck should no longer have to do so much of the hard work, and can become an even more lethal attacker from fullback, and maybe extend his career out.
It shapes a sensational formula, and the thought of a big Warriors pack trying to rule the roost is exciting. But big may not be better anymore, with the NRL now apparently run by fatigue inducing ideologues.
