Morgan Gannon might be armed with a thick West Yorkshire accent, but a myriad of links to the New Zealand Warriors makes his shift to Auckland seem more like a rite of passage than a leap of faith.
The 22-year-old second-rower had never been to New Zealand before he arrived in November on a three-year deal from the UK Super League’s Leeds Rhinos.
Gannon is set to become the fifth English-born player to represent the Kiwi NRL club, following Andy Platt, Denis Betts, Sam Tomkins and Ian Henderson.
Warriors coach Andrew Webster has been instrumental in luring Gannon away from a substantial offer at Leeds, not only in the recruitment process itself, but because of his history with Gannon’s Australian father, Jim Gannon.
The New South Welshman was coached by Webster at Hull Kingston Rovers in 2007, where he played alongside Warriors pathway coach David Tangata-Toa. Jim Gannon was also at the Balmain Tigers when Webster played for their S.G. Ball Under-18 side in the late 1990s.
Warriors assistant coach Richard Agar coached at Leeds until early 2022, overlapping with Morgan Gannon from when he debuted there in 2021.
Gannon racked up 60 games for the Rhinos and has had conversations with Webster and recruitment manager Andrew McFadden over the last year.
Webster and McFadden even had a separate Zoom call with his parents and partner to discuss the potential shift.
Gannon said those relationships played a key role in his decision to leave his home.
“It was just something that I thought, a challenge that might not come up too often and an opportunity that I couldn’t turn down. Really glad that I’ve taken it and no regrets with that.
“There’s a few family links and connections. There were people that we trusted, and that was a big part in it.”
Gannon is primarily a lock and second-row hybrid, but he even has some experience in the halves.
“When I’m playing lock, I’d be a bit of a ball player, still like a runner first, but I did a bit of like six as well, a couple of years ago. So I’ve got that ball-playing style. And then as a back-rower, I like to hit a strong line and defend pretty physically.”
The 22-year-old will have his work cut out to get NRL game time in the back row. He will be competing with Dally M lock Erin Clark, Kurt Capewell, Leka Halasima, Marata Niukore, Demitric Vaimauga and Jacob Laban for minutes.
“I’ve got on with Capewell quite well, and he’s sort of taken me under his wing a bit with some of the learnings off him. I’ve been doing a bit of lock as well, so I’ve been trying to pick Mitch Barnett and some of the middles’ brains about how to play that 13.”
Gannon adds another flavour to the Warriors’ melting pot of youth. Halasima is 20, Vaimauga 21, Laban 21, Ali Leiataua 23, Eddie Ieremia-Toeava 21 and Tanner Stowers-Smith 21.
The Englishman has been impressed by the pedigree of the young guns.
“It shocked me getting here how mature they all are. They all seem like they’re 25, 26, but they’re mature beyond their years. That was one of the big pulls of coming here as well, that Webby said how exciting the young crew is coming through, and it’s been good seeing that live in action in training – the energy that they bring and the enthusiasm as well.”
Gannon said he has had a couple of “welcome to the NRL” moments so far in pre-season.
“We were doing some slide D [defence], and Demitric just ran straight at me and knocked me on my arse. So that was a “whoa”, like yeah, they run pretty hard over here, so that was a good wake-up. It’s been good just how physically and how competitively we train. I feel like I’ll be prepared for that going into the season.”
The 22-year-old expects the NRL to be faster than the Super League, and noted the pre-season is much longer.
“Back in Super League, you’d probably do six or eight weeks of pre-season, and then you’d be into games. So this one now, doing 14 to 16 weeks of pre-season, I can feel that in myself, in my body, how much more preparation you get for the season coming.
“I definitely feel like the speed of it’s going to be a new thing, something that I’ve felt in the arm wrestles that we’ve done so far, but it’ll take some getting used to.”
Gannon said he is creating his own style, but takes inspiration from another Englishman who dominated the NRL.
“Someone I looked up to when I was growing up was Sam Burgess, and how he came over to the NRL and his playing style. But at the minute, just picking up good traits from a fair few players.”
The Leeds local admits the difference in accents has created somewhat of a language barrier.
“Sometimes they can’t understand me, so I have to put an Aussie twist or something like that so it gets across to them. Some of the stronger accents and stuff, it does sound like a different language sometimes, but I’m getting used to it now.”
Nathan Limm has been a journalist with Newstalk ZB and the NZ Herald since 2020. He covered the Netball World Cup in Cape Town in 2023, hosts The Big League Podcast and commentates rugby and netball for Gold Sport.