Warriors CEO Cameron George has explained why three key players at the club weren’t made available to play for the Māori All Stars next month.
Tohu Harris, Kodi Nikorima and Chanel Harris-Tavita were all selected for the David Kidwell coached team, who’ll take on the Indigenous All Stars in Townsville on February 20.
The now traditional fixture is the curtain raiser for each NRL season and three of the Warriors’ most important players were asked to play in the game.
However, the Warriors told officials that none of the players would be made available, although Josh Curran and Jamayne Taunoa-Brown will play for the Indigenous All Stars.
There has been criticism from some quarters about the Warriors not supporting the Māori team, but George says given the disruptions and issues the club has faced, which other teams didn’t, they needed to remain with the rest of the Warriors squad.
“They wanted Tohu, Kodi and Chanel and after discussions with the players and Nathan Brown, the decision was made not to play in the All Stars game,” George confirmed.
“First and foremost, we support the concept of this game, we’ve historically supported it and we’ll support it in the future.
“However, this year, being such a crazy and unusual year, every other club has gone back to normal, except our club.
“Pre Christmas, we had two training camps, one in Australia and one in New Zealand, because of the restrictions.
“Due to that, our squad wasn’t together Pre Christmas, unlike the other 15 clubs.
“We have also got a new coach (Nathan Brown), as well as a significant amount of new players and the three players that were selected are key elements to the whole functioning of our team, every minute that we have to spend post Christmas, makes up for lost time and putting us on a level playing field with the other clubs.
“So the week to 10 days they’d spend in Townsville in February is crucial for us on the eve of the competition. We need to have our have the halfback, the five-eighth and a key middle on our training field every day of the week.
“If they picked other players, like Hayze Perham or Paul Turner for example, there wouldn’t have been a problem with that and we would have supported it.
“But the three players they selected, in these unique circumstances, are crucial to our development and progression as a squad.
“This is not the club taking a stance against representative football,” he added.
“It’s just the marrying up of our very unique circumstances in 2020 and 2021.”
While the other clubs have nearly returned to normality, 2021 could be another season where the Warriors players and staff have to make sacrifices that no other club will be asked to make.
The team will be based in Australia for at least the first four rounds of the season and while they will have some of their their immediate family members with them, they will still be away from many other people they’re close to.
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“With everything we’ve done over the last 12 months, we’re still finding that we’re not on a level playing field, because of those reasons.” George said.
“It’s not about being culturally disrespectful to Māori and it’s a shame they didn’t pick other players, because we would be saying to them that this was a wonderful opportunity.”
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