Unpacking the Warriors’ two major NRL selection headaches - The Big League Podcast

One of the Warriors’ original players has provided solutions to a couple of selection headaches coach Andrew Webster will be thrilled with.

Halfback Tanah Boyd and prop Jackson Ford produced commanding performances in the Warriors’ 38-12 victory away over the Newcastle Knights.

The pair each picked up five Dally M points from the contest, meaning Ford now leads the race on 17, five clear of Penrith Panthers’ Nathan Cleary and Dylan Edwards. Boyd is on 10.

Luke Metcalf is considered the Warriors’ premier halfback and is expected to return from an ACL injury in either round seven or eight.

Should Boyd remain in this vein of form, Metcalf could slot into five-eighth. The 27-year-old has plenty of experience in the six jumper, having played second fiddle to Shaun Johnson.

Willie Poching told The Big League Podcast that Metcalf and Boyd could be the ideal halves combination.

“Tanah Boyd’s been up there as one of their best, along with Jackson Ford. It’d be very, very tough. It depends on the conversations that Andrew Webster’s had with them. If some of those conversations are built around, ‘hey, you give us your best performances, and you hold on to the jersey’, then he’s got to keep his word to that.”

Co-captain and prop Mitch Barnett’s return from his ACL injury came earlier than expected after Morgan Gannon suffered a head knock on debut against the Knights.

Barnett produced 11 runs for 121m – including 53 post-contact metres – and made some eye-catching tackles.

With Barnett, Ford and James Fisher-Harris all available as starting front-rowers, interchange options Demitric Vaimauga or Tanner Stowers-Smith could find themselves pushed out of the first-grade squad.

Poching said Barnett went full bore into the action from his first carry.

“Mitch Barnett, there’s no doubt in what he brings, and it could work as a good thing for Andrew Webster to have the ability to bring someone like Barnett off the bench for a couple of weeks, just to add that punch and ease him back into building up his minutes.

“He showed the comp that he’s ready to go, and he’s putting some pressure on Jackson Ford, who has been the standout player for the league, not just the standout front rower.

“Ford’s topped the stats in so many metrics, the carries, tackles, he’s playing 80 minutes and just full of quality. He’s not just getting by for those 80 minutes, and scored himself a try as well. So he’s put some pressure on the coach for that selection.”

The Warriors have found themselves top of the ladder at the end of the weekend for just the fifth time in history.

They had previously been top after rounds 23 and 26 in 2002 - the year they won the minor premiership - after round two in 2009 and round one in 2019.

Poching warned Warriors fans against getting over-excited.

“It’s round three, there’s so many twists and turns to come over the course of the season. The Warriors were flying last year and they lost their starting halfback and their starting front rower, their co-captain, and the demise of their season started, their slide started there. So I’m not going to get too carried away right now with how they are.

“But what they’re showing is they are capable of beating some good sides, and it’ll be about consistency and staying fit throughout this year, but geez, they’re making everyone confident.”

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.