NRL: Warriors role great for Manurewa boy

Aaron Heremaia. Photo / Dean Purcell

Standing in the fortified city of Carcassonne in the south of France when he was plying his trade in England, Aaron Heremaia thought: 'How good is this for a little Maori boy from Manurewa?'

Now he's starting for the Warriors in the number nine jersey, filling the role of dummy-half. He's thinking that's not bad either.

Heremaia has taken a different route to most players in reaching the NRL premiership and signing a contract until the end of next year.

He was with the Warriors as a 17-year-old but admits he took it for granted and let his teenage dream slip.

Ten years later he's been on a substantial OE including stints playing in Australia and then England with the Leigh, Widnes and Halifax clubs.

Heremaia says travelling the world from the age of 18 has enabled him to exert some balance over his life which has seen him travel to France, Spain, Portugal and Ireland as well as play in England and Australia.

"The flights were so cheap. My girlfriend (now wife) and I could pop across to Europe at will, enjoying the lifestyle and the football. The culture, the food, the weather, the cobblestone streets and the buildings were a complete change from New Zealand.

"I've still got a lot of mates who have barely left Manurewa, so I knew to appreciate it.

"It means the second time around at the Warriors I'm older, wiser and train harder."

Playing in the north of England did have its trying moments though, some of which Heremaia is unlikely to strike Down Under.

"Initially I was excited by doing something new with Leigh, then I got over it and became homesick. One game we played was against a Russian team. Snow and ice covered the field but the organisers wouldn't call the game off because of the distance they'd come.

"The coaching staff were bringing on hot water bottles but I just walked off the field midway through the second half. We were winning by 60 points so I said 'I've had enough of this"'.

In contrast, Heremaia, now with 13 NRL caps to his name, is looking to stay on the field as long as he can for the Warriors to enhance his value.

"Against the Titans was the first time I had played a straight 50 minutes in the middle [he played 65 minutes total]. It's a goal of mine so we can free up another spot on the bench.

"I've got to give Ivan [coach Cleary] no reason to drop me, especially when Hendo [Ian Henderson] comes back from injury. I'm hoping Ivan's going to have to make a hard call."

Cleary has no reason to doubt his hooker selection yet: "I think he's played well to date. He's got a few things he needs to work on defensively, but he's been dangerous and busy. It's not like he's missing tackles but it's a case of getting used to the pace of the game."

One area that has been identified for improvement is his pass at the ruck. Former Kiwis hooker Duane Mann says it can be sluggish.

"He's got to be able to pass the ball quicker, especially to his right. I was pleasantly surprised with his ability to feed the ball as the forwards come onto it.

"Defensively, he's courageous enough to throw himself into one-on-one tackles but I'm not convinced he can play 80 minutes with the faults in his game. That's his downfall at the moment.

"But Aaron is coachable because he's mature and been through a few clubs. He's also playing for his livelihood so I'd like to see him have a decent run and feature in the bulk of this season's games."

"My pass is something I identified for improvement with Ivan last year," says Heremaia.

"I've placed a big emphasis on that. Last year I had it on my mind that 'this has got to be a good pass, don't stuff it up', whereas now I'm doing it a lot more naturally without thinking about it.

"I've also taken time to look at some of the better hookers like Cameron Smith [Storm] and Robbie Farah [Wests Tigers] to analyse what they are doing to be smart around the field because they're both 80 minute footballers."