NRL: Rookie plays big part in taming of Sharks

Warrior James Maloney falls agonisingly short of the line at Mt Smart Stadium on Saturday. Photo / Getty Images

James Maloney came to Auckland from Melbourne hoping to crack first grade. He couldn't have dreamed that just two weeks into the NRL season he'd find himself the main man at the Warriors.

But with a broken thumb having ruled Brett Seymour out for up to eight weeks, that is precisely the position the 23-year-old rookie finds himself in.

"Obviously with Buster [Seymour] missing out I really had to step up," Maloney said after Saturday night's victory over the Sharks. "I back myself to do the job."

It's no surprise he backs himself. In two games with his new club he has done enough to suggest the Warriors may have unearthed a gem.

Through necessity the Warriors have a decent record of scouting fringe Australians and turning them into first-graders.

Brent Webb tops the list of successes, while Grant Rovelli and Michael Witt were more recent near misses.

So far Maloney appears to be Rovelli-Plus.

He might lack Rovelli's out-and-and pace, but is a vastly superior kicker and defender.

Whether, after just six first grade games, he is ready to be the primary playmaker remains to be seen.

Saturday's effort was encouraging although, to put it in context, future visitors to Mt Smart will be hard-pressed to play worse than the hapless Sharks.

"He is certainly capable," coach Ivan Cleary said of Maloney.

Losing Seymour's 102 games of experience was a big blow, Cleary said.

"But Maloney is a halfback. He has played that position most of his career.

"The thing with Brett is he had been there and done that.

"He has been assuming that [primary playmaker] role in our team but James is just going to have to step up and do it."

Having polished off the Sharks thanks to a Manu Vatuvei hat-trick and a solid second half display, the Warriors will see the foxing over Seymour's injury - suffered against the Titans last week - as justified.

Whether that decision to keep it secret was a factor in the victory is impossible to tell. It was, however, a card that could only be played once.

The Broncos will know what is - and what isn't - coming their way on Sunday.

Without Seymour the Warriors started Joel Moon at five-eighth. The results were mixed, with the team functioning better when Lance Hohaia slipped into the role when Moon went to the bench to make way for the return of fullback Wade McKinnon.

Regardless of who joins him in the halves Maloney is, for now at least, the main man.

He already plays well above his 81kg weight, now the Warriors need him to play above his experience level.

Switching from seven to six wouldn't be hard, he said.

So far Maloney has done everything but score a try.

Against the Titans he came up just short after supporting a long-range break, while on Saturday a sizzling linebreak was halted only by a collision with a post.

"I can't buy a try at the moment," a grinning Maloney said. "I'm still filthy about it too. I think the posts are bigger than regulation, that is what I'm blaming. But we have got our first two points are we are stoked."