Jazz Tevaga and Dylan Walker are both making an impact from the bench for the Warriors. Photo / Photosport
Jazz Tevaga and Dylan Walker are both making an impact from the bench for the Warriors. Photo / Photosport
Jazz Tevaga’s time as the Warriors’ do-it-all option off the bench appears to have come to an end.
Instead, head coach Andrew Webster has brought some clarity to how the 27-year-old will be utilised.
Tevaga has personified utility value in his time with the club, having been deployed at hooker,lock and prop, but most commonly being injected wherever needed from the bench.
The first recipient of the NRL’s interchange player of the year award, introduced in 2018, Tevaga has played more than half of his career games in that role.
Barring injuries in the squad, that spot in the matchday side is unlikely to change when selected under Andrew Webster’s regime, but the role itself is.
Andrew Webster during a Warriors training session. Photo / Photosport
In last weekend’s win over the Cowboys, Webster made the unconventional decision of naming two utility options on his bench, with Tevaga and Dylan Walker used to great effect from the interchange.
Walker is in his first season with the Warriors after spending time at South Sydney and Manly, and while he’s familiar with the interchange role, he has also had starts in the halves, centres, fullback, lock and hooker throughout his time in the NRL.
Speaking about the combination being injected into the game from the bench, Webster said it wasn’t as unusual a selection as people may think.
“I don’t see Jazz as that versatile anymore,” he explained.
“I say ‘anymore’ because when Dylan’s in the team, Jazz doesn’t have to worry about playing nine and back row and lock and those different positions. When Dylan’s in the team, he can just focus on playing a middle-forward role.
“I feel like everyone thinks ‘why would you play two utilities’? But I don’t think of Jazz as that anymore. I’m not saying he won’t have to do it one day, but not at the moment. Dyl is going to come on and play 13 if there’s no injuries; if there’s an injury he could play wing, he could play centre, that’s how capable he is.”
The pair will again take up two of the four interchange spots in the Warriors’ squad to meet the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs at Mt Smart Stadium on Sunday afternoon, in an unchanged bench alongside Bayley Sironen and Tom Ale.
Webster has, however, been forced to make changes to the starting side with Wayde Egan ruled out because of the NRL’s new 11-day stand-down rule for players who sustained a category one head injury during their last outing.
That gives Freddy Lussick the start at hooker, looking to carry in his fine form at reserve grade, while an injury to Mitch Barnett brings Jackson Ford back from a head knock straight back into the starting side.
Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad also makes his return at fullback after missing last weekend’s win.
Webster will go head-to-head with a familiar face this weekend, with both himself and Bulldogs coach Cameron Ciraldo in their first season leading an NRL team after being assistant coaches with the Penrith Panthers.
“I learned a lot off Cameron and watching the way he operated at Penrith,” Webster said.
“We’re going to have to be ready. You can see fundamentally how good [the Bulldogs] are at the moment. We’re going to have to be on our toes.
“He really knows how to get the players to buy into his messages. He’s all about the fundamentals and getting those things right. If you get those things right first, he believes they win games, and he’s right.”
Warriors v Bulldogs
Sunday, 4pm, Mt Smart Stadium
Warriors: Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad, Edward Kosi, Viliame Vailea, Adam Pompey, Marcelo Montoya, Te Maire Martin, Shaun Johnson, Addin Fonua-Blake, Freddy Lussick, Bunty Afoa, Jackson Ford, Marata Niukore, Tohu Harris (c).
Interchange: Dylan Walker, Bayley Sironen, Jazz Tevaga, Tom Ale.
