Trial v Titans @ Whangarei

[ozbash]

Luke confirmed to face Titans

Richard Becht

Wed 10th February, 10:18AM

Major new signing Issac Luke, veteran wing Manu Vatuvei and second rower Ben Henry headline the Vodafone Warriors’ squad for Saturday’s NRL trial against Gold Coast at Whangarei’s Toll Stadium (5.30pm kick-off).

After missing the Downer NRL Auckland Nines, Kiwi hooker Luke will be making his first appearance for the club since being signed from South Sydney.

Vatuvei has already had a huge week with his wife Jennifer giving birth to the couple’s fourth daughter yesterday; on Saturday he’ll make his return from offseason shoulder surgery.

Also making a comeback will be second rower Ben Henry, who missed almost all of the 2015 season after his second serious knee injury in two years.

Four players from the Vodafone Warriors’ NRL Nines squad will face the Titans with Ken Maumalo on the wing, Ata Hingano at standoff and Albert Vete and Charlie Gubb in the front row.

Two other new signings – Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad and Ligi Sao – are also included. Nicoll-Klokstad, signed from Melbourne, is set to start in the centres and Sao, who has returned to the club after three seasons with Manly, is at loose forward.

Other 2015 first graders named are Matt Allwood in the centres and Raymond Faitala-Mariner in the second row. A number of Vodafone Junior Warriors have also been picked including Erin Clark at halfback.

Among those on the bench is former Canterbury-Bankstown, Wests Tigers and Brisbane prop James Gavet, who has been on trial with the Vodafone Warriors in the offseason.

*

VODAFONE WARRIORS v GOLD COAST

Toll Stadium, Whangarei

5.30pm Saturday, February 13

*

TOMAS AOAKE

KEN MAUMALO

CHARNZE NICOLL-KLOKSTAD

MATT ALLWOOD

MANU VATUVEI

ATA HINGANO

ERIN CLARK

ALBERT VETE

ISSAC LUKE

CHARLIE GUBB

RAYMOND FAITALA-MARINER

BEN HENRY

LIGI SAO

Interchange:

VILIAMI KAVEINGA

JAMES GAVET

UPU POCHING

OFAHIKI OGDEN

JAZZ TEVAGA

BUNTY AFOA

MARATA NIUKORE

KANE TELEA

SEMISI TYRELL

*

 

[Shaun Hewitt]

To be expected really.
McFadden said on Radiosport that in Nelson we will field a much stronger team.

Gives the majority of the 9s players a rest. Those backing up are fringe players, or in Vetes case on the fringe of starting. Have things to prove.

Good to see Henry back from injury and new signings included as well (Gavet too).

A few strange points -
No Leuluai and no Fusitua' - TL not ready to come back yet? Fus from what I understood was just a niggle that kept him out of 9s. Did anyone else notice he was named on the bench for the semi? (could have been quarter final)

No Lino as well.

No Lousi either. Not Lauititi

Thought those last 3 mentioned would get a run this weekend, maybe next.

 

[ozbash]

The Titans team is made up mainly of Qld Cup players..

Bit of a non event ?

 

[KeepingTheFaith]

Lousi is injured. Won't be available for the start of the season.

TL won't be ready for the start of the season (rounds 3-4 at the earliest). Robson will likely be the halves pairing with SJ.

Luke/Henry/Manu coming back from injury/niggles, will play 30 minutes max IMO just to blow the cobwebs out. Vete probably in a similar boat seeing as he just played the Nines and with a lot of propping depth in that side.

Gavet/Sao are probably the two with the most to gain here so I'd expect them to go all out.

 

[Penrose Warrior]

Lousi is injured. Won't be available for the start of the season.

That's a shame for whatever Fox Memorial side he plays for.

Interested to see how Hingano goes, would've also liked to see Henare Wells play but if they're resting him, I guess that means there's a decent rap on him and they might see him as an FG player that needs to be managed load-wise.

 

[sup42]

That's a shame for whatever Fox Memorial side he plays for.

Interested to see how Hingano goes, would've also liked to see Henare Wells play but if they're resting him, I guess that means there's a decent rap on him and they might see him as an FG player that needs to be managed load-wise.

Wells is out for up to 8 weeks.

 

[Penrose Warrior]

Wells is out for up to 8 weeks.

Yuck. Would've liked to have seen more of him, especially in the top side in trials, although I couldn't imagine he was in the frame to start from round one.

 

[ozbash]

Team to play Warriors at Whangarei (7.30pm, NZ time):

Ali Grant (Tweed), Blake Anderson (Tweed), Jarrod Tua (Burleigh), Connor Broadhurst, Tyronne Roberts-Davis (NYC), Jamal Fogarty (Burleigh Heads), Sam Irwin (Tweed), Kurt Bernard (NYC), Pat Politoni (Burleigh), David Hala, Matt Robinson, Morgan Boyle (NYC), Sam Saville (Tweed), Luke Page (Burleigh), Jed Cartwright, Daniel Schwass (Burleigh), Dane Clark (Tweed), Will Bugden (Tweed), Hayden Schwass (Burleigh), Sam Meskell (Tweed).

 

[sup42]

Looking forward to seeing more of:

Gavet
Sao
Hingano

Hoping most of all will avoid injury:

Luke
Manu
Benry
Gubb


Looking forward to a first glimpse at:
CNK

All the others picked will be worth a good look at too.

Hoping Sipley is fit in time for the Nelson trial.

 

[TheDMC]

Its a bugger TL is still injured...is this the mid 2015 ACL injury still? Guess so. Seems to me to be the type of player that needs a good solid preparation and game time under his belt to be at his best, which is out the window with no pre-season and missing the first chunk of the season (3-4 week estimate just as likely to be 5-8 weeks I reckon based on warriors history).

Point?

Don't expect TL to be much use in 2016. Hope I am wrong.

 

[Rich102]

Got my tickets to the trial this week. $25 each in the grandstand. (Bank looks into the sun )
Then I saw the teams named - the Titans is a NSW squad at best. Turns out they are playing two trials on the same day so sent the better players to Alice Springs.
Just heard now that the trial is being televised live on Sky Sport 2.
Guess it's the price you pay for being a fan.

 

[Rich102]

BTW. Why did we re-sign Lino if Clark is going to leapfrog him into the trial?

 

[ozbash]

Got my tickets to the trial this week. $25 each in the grandstand. (Bank looks into the sun )
Then I saw the teams named - the Titans is a NSW squad at best. Turns out they are playing two trials on the same day so sent the better players to Alice Springs.
Just heard now that the trial is being televised live on Sky Sport 2.
Guess it's the price you pay for being a fan.

$25 for a trial mate,,not even FGers..... no wonder they've shown a profit...

 

[spear tackle]

BTW. Why did we re-sign Lino if Clark is going to leapfrog him into the trial?

According to Wikipedia he's still with us.

 

[Penrose Warrior]

According to Wikipedia he's still with us.

He is. He must have a niggling injury. There's no way you'd re-sign him, play him in FG then not bother at all in trials.

 

[Fufu Andronez]

Caught the last 60 minutes of this trial yesterday on fox. Few thoughts.

Ken Maumalo
Looks at peak fitness but I'm still not convinced he's a winger, dropped a bomb in the in goal leading directly to a try and fumbled a grubber which also led to a try. He is a great athlete just not sure of his best position.. has a bit of Daniel vidot about him.

RFM
Looked great and should have the bench second tower position tied up.

Charnze Nichol Klokstad (sp)
Played the second half in the halves and looked great. Will be a good utility for us.

Gavet
NSW Cup at best imo

Alot of youngsters in the team and against a q cup team too so not much else to take out of it in regards to season prospects

 

[Iron Lion]

I must of watched a different trial to you Fufu as my opinion is quite different on both Maumalo and Gavet.

Maumalo should be nowhere near the NRL wing for the Warriors. I have no bloody idea why they are persisting playing him there because he aint got the talent for the position. If you are looking for a big battering ram on the wing then jsut put Konrad Hurrell there round 1. Im not convinced Maumalo has an NRL future at all, great size, great build, great athletic gifts but hands like butter. Only position I can see him maybe cutting it at is 2nd row. Never let him play on the wing again.

James Gavet - Round 1 yes please. Brought instant mongrel to the side and not just the Charlie Gubb type. This guy wants to hurt people, very simplar in bad ass attitude as Manu Mau and a lot bigger/raw boned. Gavet is a NRL player for sure, if he plays NSW then Warriors have missed ab opportunity for sure. HARD and MEAN - YES PLEASE WARRIORS

 

[Rich102]

Agree with Lion on the Maumalo issue. Way off a starting position.
Gavet had a good game - but behind Vete, Gubb and probably Afoa on the day. Making him 5th or 6th in line?
Manu was again rocks and diamonds. Poor hands. Looking more and more a forward.
I reckon Kata and Lolohea will start the season at center.

Great conditions on the day. Cloudy overhead at main match time, dry underfoot.
Grandstand was booked out and the terraces were quite full.
We were given a programme as we entered the ground with all the squads listed but no jersey numbers. Aha thought I; the ground announcer will give the jersey numbers before the game. No.
OK so the will introduce the players as they run onto the field. No.
Luckily the Titans fielded their squad roughly as per programme in jerseys 1 to 20.
The Warriors drew a lottery for their jersey numbers.
It's easy to identify players on the TV but from some distance, after an off-season, it's not so easy.
So what did the ground announcer do? Played rap music.
Very poor for the big crowd that turned out.

Bully will make a huge difference.
The edge defence still needs huge work.

Just on the experience in their squad the Warriors should have won by 30+ points but they let in easy tries.

Hingano looks the goods. Better goal kicker than Luke and probably Johnson on recent form. Just needs game time.

 

[Fufu Andronez]

I must of watched a different trial to you Fufu as my opinion is quite different on both Maumalo and Gavet.

Maumalo should be nowhere near the NRL wing for the Warriors. I have no bloody idea why they are persisting playing him there because he aint got the talent for the position. If you are looking for a big battering ram on the wing then jsut put Konrad Hurrell there round 1. Im not convinced Maumalo has an NRL future at all, great size, great build, great athletic gifts but hands like butter. Only position I can see him maybe cutting it at is 2nd row. Never let him play on the wing again.

James Gavet - Round 1 yes please. Brought instant mongrel to the side and not just the Charlie Gubb type. This guy wants to hurt people, very simplar in bad ass attitude as Manu Mau and a lot bigger/raw boned. Gavet is a NRL player for sure, if he plays NSW then Warriors have missed ab opportunity for sure. HARD and MEAN - YES PLEASE WARRIORS

On Gavet we'll have to agree to disagree. He just seems to have those stupid penalties and errors in him that will put us on the back foot too often. If we could bottle his mongrel and feed it to the rest of the boys that would be awesome.

On maumalo that was the point I was making. He can't be a starting winger as he has too many errors. He looks to be in great shape at least. I feel that the club has invested alot of time and effort into him and will try and squeeze him in somewhere.

Would love to see Fus get an extended run in a position. Just not sure that there are any openings for hi

 

[Auckland4ever]

Will be interesting to see what kind of dynamic the reduced interchange creates for forward play this season.

Can see both sides of the argument re: Gavet. I like his pace as much as anything (forward mobility is likely going to be a lot more valuable to a side this year than "Mongrel"), but as mentioned, penalties & errors could hurt a side even more this season, as they'll probably have to deal with extra fatigue. If he proves himself to be reliable, I'd be keen to see him ahead of our other fringe forward options.