Warriors lose final trial to Manly

Well its been a fairly lacklustre trial campaign with the only win vs a non-NRL Auckland side, the Warriors going down on Friday night away to the Manly Sea-Eagles 24-16.

As always one can't read too much into trial results as the teams try out a lot of subs and combinations and generally don't always play to win.

There little to add other than that this was Tate's first game in a Warriors jersey and Aidan Kirk and Hohaiha split duties at fallback.

As for me - I am doing a 10k run down at Clapham Common on Sunday so that should be interesting - and immediately following that I shall be flying out to Cairo for a series of meetings on Monday and Tuesday. Hope you all have a pleasant weekend - only two weeks to go until Warriors kick off Cleary Year III vs the Storm on a Monday night.

For a guide as to the Storm's current form (and latest squad) I note that the Storm are in the UK tonight to play in the world club challenge vs Leeds Rhinos. Strangely the NRL champs typically lose this game because of the jet lag and the timeing at the begining of the new NRL season but mid-way through the British season. Its a bit of a non-event actually as far as the NRL concerns, but that does not mean I don't I long for the day when the Warriors play in this game.

New Era for Hiho - or another false dawn?

Well the Warriors have strolled home in their second trial, winning 50-0 against an Auckland selection.

One of the talking points is clearly the fullback position and Cleary has opted for Hohaia to take the reins and he appears to have impressed, scoring two tries, albeit against half assed opposition who aren't at NRL level. So that is encouraging, but Hiho is a tough one to rely upon - inconsistent form is his hallmark. At his best, e.g. in his breakthrough early seasons he was unstoppable on attack and impressive on defense, a real star. However where has he been the last few years?

Several tries for players who are yet to acheive an NRL start including Kevin Locke which is a name which is started to turn up more and more. Maybe this guy can be the Warriors rookie sleeper for Cleary Year III?

Anyway the media is clearly of the view in Australia and NZ that the loss of Wade Mac seriously damages the Warriors chances this year. Check out this SMH season preview of the Warriors which has been carried by some NZ papers as well where Brad Walter generally says that "the Warriors boast perhaps the best pack in the NRL" and look improved by the addition of Tate but that the absence of Wade is a season killer.

Wade Mac out for the season

Well you may have heard by now that star Warriors fullback Wade McKinnon is most likely out for the 2008 season with an ACL injury. These injuries are career killers as they typically require reconstructive knee surgery to overcome. This type of surgery has a decent success rate but the recovery time is long and the chance of full recovery is not 100%.

This is pretty serious news for Cleary Year III, the Warriors do not have great cover at the fullback position. Has anyone heard of untried squad fullback options Ray Wallace, Nafe Seluini, Arden McCarthy, Kevin Locke, or Howie Matthews or will Cleary opt for a utility back like Aidan Kirk or Patrick Ah Van to plug the gap?

We all know how rudderless the Warriors looked initially upon Cleary's retirement. Bring back Brent Webb!

Warriors lose first up trial match to the Knights at North Harbour

Well the Warriors lost their trial tonight at North Harbour stadium to the Knights, 22-14, however if its any consolation its noted that the Warriors were up 14-0 whilst playing their number one side in the first half, and only fell away in the second when they made a significant number of substitutions, including giving a number of the junior Warriors a run who had already played a game as the curtain raiser that evening.

If anyone attended the game, let us know your thoughts.

Tea Ropati cleared on all charges

Yes its true - not guilty on all charges.

I was thinking about the case this morning and the question that popped into my head was, would the Whiskey bar be happy about the case or unhappy? On the one hand no one could ever dream of this much free publicity, on the other hand, do people want to go and drink at a crime scene? I think I have been to the Whiskey once and it struck me as an extremely tiny but extremely trendy place where the punters did not seem overly impressed with my presence. That was over five years ago now, I have no idea what it is like these days. In fact if anyone would care to comment on the Ponsonby scene generally these days I would be interested.

The Warriors are in their midst of their now familiar brutal summer training regime, including beach runs at bethels beach, a training trip to Te Kaha on the east coast, and a cross training exercise from Takapuna beach to Rangitoto island. This is good stuff and the Warriors as always should be aiming to be the fittest as well as one of the biggest teams in the NRL. Its a fast game these days and recent years have shown that having a giant pack (forward pack that is) is not going to overcome speed, skill and intelligent play at the finesse positions.

A little over two weeks until the first preseason game vs the Knights so the wait is nearly over for Cleary Year III to kick off.

fun and games

Hello everyone. The offseason continues. However there are a few matters to discuss, notably Tea Ropati and the NZRL coaching fiasco.

I think Tea Ropati's crimes have been public knowledge for some time however name suppression was only lifted quite recently. Its an ugly story and consensual or not - it is a bad bad look and your reputation is over dude. When your defence is premised on the basis that you, your alleged victim and your friends have been quote "binge drinking, taking cocaine and marijuana" so as to justify or excuse your deviance, the damage is done. Maybe you and Brent Todd can form a disgraced ex-players support group and hang out?

As for the NZRL if this was some form of farcical TV sitcom it might be ok - unfortunately the NZRL are not actually meant to be a joke and are supposedly managing the future of the national side and the game in NZ generally. Kemble has now gone - maybe Bennet can clean house and bring some sense to the madhouse?

Warriors trials start soon - three games in February - so not long to go now.

This is for all my peeps

I wonder if many of you are back at work today like me, finding the office dull and quiet and pondering those things that are a little more interesting on the web. This stikes me as a fine time to start stoking the fires of Warriors fandom as we zero in on NRL 2008 and Cleary Year III after an interminably long off-season.

With the addition of Tate at centre the Warriors shape up well after a strong finish to 2007, with the exception of a couple of lacklustre playoff performances. In fact after perhaps the worst alltime year for New Zealand sport, the Warriors may be the only feel good story coming out of 2007. In addition if anyone else like me, still feels slightly queesy at the thought of watching Rugby Union, the Warriors are the antidote.

The 2008 NRL draw has now been released. Those of you who live in Auckland should seriously consider becoming a Warriors season ticket member, you can see all the home games for as a little as NZD270. Warriors open the season Monday 17 March against the Storm, which could be a rude awakening, followed by the Eels on Sunday 23 March and Manly Monday 31 March. So an early opportunity to find out if you like Monday night football or not. I guess the only downside is having to wait all the way through the weekend for the game, and potentially having the team play two games in six days or less in a worst case scenario.

I have got Setanta pay TV at the flat now in London so I will be locked and loaded for Cleary Year III, finally able to watch the Warriors play live every now and again.

Please let me know your thoughts for the year ahead, discussion points include the potential starting line up, whether Hiho can ever recapture his form of 2001-2002 and how Tate will gel with the boys.

Hope you all had a great xmas and new year. Let the 2008 games begin.