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I don’t think this has any bearing on NZ2. It does make it seem like NZ2 is going to have to wait for PNG and Perth which means we’ll be waiting till 2030+ for a new team in NZ which is a missed opportunity IMO.
not as staggering a take as Bellamy can't coach...
If they were located in Glebe they would also be a bigger franchise
That's an embarrassment to the NRL in Australia then, given they have more members and a bigger crowd average than 2/3rds of the comp.
I thought you'd understand the meaning of embarrassment better by now.
If it means we get a coherent & well-funded strategy for NZ club/ Provincial competitions, it could be worthwhile.
you seem to be under the misapprehension that the ARLC has much interest in funding NZ properly. If they did they wouldn't be giving the NZRL a pittance every year.
Personally I think ARLC would want to have a say in how the money is spent. From what I have heard from Kiwi's the NZRL is not the best run organisation full of old boys etc..
The Warriors once ran around New Zealand with a pick hammer trying to chip away at rugby union’s stranglehold as the number one sport across the Tasman.
Crazy that the ARLC fund the NZRL at all to be honest. Does that happen in any other sport?
Thanks mate.The Warriors once ran around New Zealand with a pick hammer trying to chip away at rugby union’s stranglehold as the number one sport across the Tasman.
These days, the Warriors are using a sledgehammer.
“We’ve got teenagers talking to us from every part of this country that would normally have gone to rugby union without a question,” Warriors CEO Cameron George said.
Sitting next to George, Warriors owner Mark Robinson adds: “We’re already starting to make a dent. Rugby union is losing crowds, and we’re gaining crowds.”
If ever you needed an example of how the rise of the Warriors – which included every home game in 2024 sold out – is impacting the rival code rugby union, keep reading.
While Rugby Union is losing crowds in New Zealand, the Warriors sold out every single home game in 2024. Picture: Getty Images
Six months ago, News Corp first revealed the code war at a grassroots level in New Zealand.
It included allegations that students from prestigious Hamilton Boys High first XV rugby union team had been pressured into turning their backs on the Warriors’ junior system.
George called the issue “unfair” and “sad.”
A major sponsor of the school’s sporting program pulled their money.
The dictatorial behaviour wasn’t and still isn’t, confined to Hamilton.
Yet here’s the twist.
On the back of the rise of the Warriors and the elite pathway opportunities that the NRL club are providing for footballers at an under-17, 19 and 21 level and NRLW next year, Hamilton has completed a full 360.
They’ve conceded to the mass appeal from teenagers interested in joining the Warriors juggernaut.
New Zealand Warriors owner Mark Robinson (left) with CEO Cameron George (right). Picture: Getty Images
“Hamilton Boys High has three rugby league teams now,” George said.
“They’ve done a complete U-turn. They’re in rugby league competitions. We’ve made a lot of inroads, we ruffled a few feathers and it was worth it, on behalf of the game.
“It wasn’t about rugby league versus rugby union.
“It was about kids finding their best pathway.
“We’ll lose kids to union and they’ll lose kids to us, but don’t dictate to them and that’s been a blanket approach across the country for a number of years.
“It’s been dictatorial to what schools you go to for that sport.
“Now they’re (teenagers) actually asking us, asking what’s the opportunity with the Warriors, what’s the opportunity with rugby league and where can it take us?
“There’s a long way to go, but we’re heading in the right direction.”
Warriors were crowned 2024 Harold Matthews champions in their first season of the under-17s competition. Picture: Warren Gannon Photography
George and notably Warriors owner Mark Robinson, who has tipped thousands of dollars from his own back pocket into the club’s development of their elite pathways programs, believes there is an appeal in rugby league in New Zealand that rugby union can’t provide.
“We won the under-17’s Harold Matthews comp last year and that really lit a fire in the kids’ bellies right across the country,‘’ George said.
“For them to play in the best under-17 competition in Australia is a really big incentive to play rugby league.
“The reality is the first time you can wear a representative jumper with a rugby franchise in New Zealand is very limited until you actually play in Super rugby.
“Whereas with the Warriors, we’ve got 17s, 19s, 21s, NSW Cup, NRLW and NRL travelling back and forth to Australia.
“So if you want to test yourself against the best, our pathways, compared to rugby, are far superior.
“One rugby kid comes to us and wins the under-17s comp and goes back to rugby union and tells five of his mates, the next year they’re following him and it just flows on.
“As a 17-year-old, you can go so much further in our structure than what you can in most other sports in NZ. That word has got out now.
“It’s now up to us to nurture that talent and give them that chance.”
Of the players in the Warriors’ Harold Matthews grand final squad, five came from rugby union backgrounds.
Of the players in the Warriors Harold Matthews grand final squad, five came from rugby union backgrounds attending schools with little or no rugby league association.
It goes deeper.
This year, the number of rugby union players signed in the SG Ball Cup (under-19) and Jersey Flegg Cup (under-21) squads was even more significant, with 11 on the SG Ball roster and 10 in the Jersey Flegg squad.
That makes it a total of 26 rugby union signings across the three pathways grades.
George picks up the hammer and swings again.
“The pinch yourself moment for me was when the Super rugby semi final (last June) changed their kick-off time to an afternoon game so it didn’t clash with our home game at 7.30pm that night,” he says.
“That would never and has never happened before.
“Now they’re looking over the fence to look at why they can’t afford to kick-off at the same time as us.”
The insignificant and unassertive NZRL are basically leaving it to the Warriors to fly the flag for rugby league in New Zealand.
The Warriors are funding almost all of their development programs by themselves.
To the Otago Academy of Sport’s credit, they have joined the Warriors in setting up an academy in Dunedin.
“When we set-up the academy there earlier this year they only had two teams in a competition and within 12-months they now have 17 rugby league teams,” George said.
“We’ve started to get some momentum.
“We’ve got people (talent scouts) everywhere now. We’ve got people scouring the country.’’
Isn’t that under Saanzar though?
Not anymore no sa
