HEAD COACH STEPHEN

WARRIORS LOOK TO SPEED THINGS UP IN 2020

THE VODAFONE WARRIORS WANT TO PLAY A MORE OPEN GAME TO HELP BRING FINALS FOOTIE BACK TO MT SMART STADIUM. Any word association game involving the Vodafone Warriors 10-15 years ago would have come up with words like excitement, flair, brilliance and unpredictability to describe the style of football they played. It was exciting to play and the fans just loved it. Win or lose the best entertainment in town was at a Warriors game. Over the seasons since there has been a move to a more structured style to the Warriors game. It has not been successful looking at results and the Warriors are not the entertainers they used to be. But things are about to change in 2020. A collective feeling at the club from players and coaches is that a more expansive game will better suit the type of players that head coach Stephen Kearney has at his disposal. Kearney played for the Warriors from 1995 to 1998 as a free-running, ball-playing second rower so coaching a more open style comes naturally to the 47-year-old. He admits they don’t have the size to crash it up the middle all day and have match winners out wide in fullback Roger Tuivasa-Sheck and wingers David Fusitu’a and Ken Maumalo. “People have always said our forward pack is big but in comparison to some other forward packs we are relatively small. We have a certain skill set which I don’t think our game model encouraged them to show what they are capable of,” says coach Kearney. “So it is about bringing them into the game a bit more effectively. It is also about taking some of the work load off Roger, particularly out of the back field, and bringing him into the game a lot more once we get over halfway so he can be really damaging. “It is really about making some subtle adjustments that help out our group of players and to encourage the skill set they have that we can play with.” Last year the Warriors had high hopes of doing well after making the top eight in 2018 but finished 13th in a disappointing result. Kearney says they missed out on making the playoffs by just two matches lost and certainly there were several games the Warriors should have won but let slip winning chances. “There were six games where the average loss was three points and you throw in there a draw. So to put it in context we put ourselves in a number of positions where By PETER WHITE

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had we been better we could have been on the right side of the ledger. Some of the officiating on occasions didn’t do us any favours either. “Certainly from a game model sense, it wasn’t good enough to stand up and turn narrow losses into wins. We have made some adjustments to it that I think will help us. But the major learning is we have to be better.” The Warriors have one of the best halfbacks going around in Blake Green with much improved younger players Chanel Harris-Tavita and Kodi Nikorima competing to play outside him. “He is a bit like the conductor to be honest. Over the two years he has been at our footie club he has helped with how the likes of Chanel has developed,” says Kearney. The likeable coach also has big wraps on Isaiah Papali’i who captained the Warriors at the NRL Nines. The 21-year-old is seen as a future leader at the club. “To see him develop into the calibre of player he has is great. He is a real durable kid, he is well brought up and what I like about him is he always wants to find a way to improve.”

VODAFONE WARRIORS COACH STEPHEN KEARNEY IS AFTER A FAST-PACED GAME IN 2020.

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