Warriors Open Day

[playdaball]

I went along to Mt Smart # 2 today with my 8 yr old son and had a great time. He was thrilled to be able to play touch with the players and get their autographs and have some photos taken as well.

The Warriors were very friendly, outgoing and professional in their dealings with the public - well done.

BTW ... A few thousand fans turned out in Sydney type conditions i.e. - raining off and on.

 

[Stalefish]

Yea me and a mate went to the game too the Warriors youngbucks took it out 30-22 if i recall correctly. A pretty sloppy game at times but the hits out there went all game. Most of the players in the Auckland selection side were going to be playing in the NSW cup squad.

Eddie Purcell is gona be a great player he has everything speed, footwork, an amazing offload, built low to the ground and just smashes through the defensive line all day. Very solid Unit.

Steve Rapira has the exact same tackling technique as his brother and put on countless hits in defense. Picked good moments to offload the ball and sent Angus Cameron over for a try with one of his passes.

Lance Sua-Poe is a man mountain with explosive speed of the mark. Put on great footwork at the line and was constantly bumping off Auckland players all day.

Angus Cameron was creative around the halves and showed great speed. Threw two great cut out passes today and has good support play.

Also impressed with Alehana Mara played off the bench playing between the back row and hooker. If Sione Lousi manages to control his offloads he'll be a constant threat on the fringe of opposing teams. Meli Koliavu at centre and Nopoto Tuimaualaga were strong on the right flank but the whole backline were pretty bad with there handlling skills today. Isaac John had good defence and Nafe Seluini was very quick.

Aucklands Frank Perese was good for Auckland aswell as Tui Samoa at fullback. Kelvin Wright was listed as playing for Auckland but i dont think he was out there. It was interesting to see Shaun Metcalf playing out there too...

All in all there were some impressive players out there today few sloppy errors at times but very exciting play. The hits were massive and the forward pack is gonna be very formidable for us this year.

 

[ozbash]

fantastic day, even with the drizzly rain in the morning.

The warriors all look as though they are halfway through an NRL season. the only word that comes to mind to describe them is 'hard'.

I thoroughly enjoyed the U20's v the "Vulcans" PL team. The U20's were a notch above them class wise, the auckland forwards were bloody huge and it showed in the later stages. U20,s have an awesome set of backs and their front row didnt let them down amongst the bigger aucks.

team list and pics to come...


btw, friday nights trial v the knights will have another U20 v Vulcans trial squad as thje curtain raiser. should be a good game for both teams with today under their belts

 

[ozbash]

Warriors U20's
1- howie mathews
2-nafe seluini
3-kurt mara
4-meli koliavu big powerful center
5- nopoto tuimaualaga
6- issac john a stand out
7- jody henry
8- eddie purcell
9-arron pawley
10- daniel palavi
11- steve rapira player of the day for me.
12- sione lousi
13- elijah taylor

14- constantine mika , looked about 15 kg bigger
17- ray wallace
18- angus cameron , very impressive at 7
20- sunita laiseni, good future
21- alehana mara, sign him now scurrah !
22- kurt tehira, was injured 1st half
23- donald tony, motus cuz ?
24, lance sua-poe
25- jonathon carl
26- gordon mcglaughlan


AUCKLAND SELECTION

1- tui samoa - this guy is one of the best footballers in nz.
2- mana tuipolotu
3- paul fisiiahi very good
4- dave fisiiahi dito
5- liu faleono
6- kelvin wright, awesome
7- aaron heremaia- talent
8- jaye pukepuke
9- john tomes
10- 'dirty' dion briggs, i'd love to see someone put him on his arse
11- moses tulisi
12- solomon foki
13- songi tupou

14- johnny veutibau
15- graham woodhouse
16- william stowers
17- savinata hafoka
18- shaun metcalf - arsehole.
19- damon trott
20- frank perese.

 

[ozbash]

Spacifix !!

Aucks

 

[playdaball]

I noticed that the Warriors #4 looked Fijian. Could be good for Fiji in future years.

 

[ozbash]

i was very impressed with him and the rest of his mates in the backs.

aha, i had a suspicion someone might show...

 

[Stalefish]

Can you guys believe Aucklands player on the far left of the bottom photo (first set of photos) is a winger?

 

[Stalefish]

Also forgot to mention we were sitting next to Scott Jones and his 2 kids in the stands

 

[Dr Crane]

When did we nab the Samsung sponsorship?

 

[LeagueNut]

btw, friday nights trial v the knights will have another U20 v Vulcans trial squad as thje curtain raiser. should be a good game for both teams with today under their belts

Are you sure it's on Friday Oz?? ;-)

Bloody excellent day today, our boy really enjoyed the training drills and games out in the middle. Got most of his poster signed too (where was Simon Mannering???), and Wade signed the #1 on his jersey.

 

[ozbash]

Are you sure it's on Friday Oz??


i was convinced it was saturday, now i can go to the cricket too ,,,,

 

[AliN]

Awesome day.
Crowd numbers were down on last year but still a good buzz for all. All the players were very approachable for the kids

Spacifix were as good as ever, even if they sounded like they'd had a swig of helium.

The game was not too bad for a trial.
Pity some left just as it was about to start!!

The Auckland boys were twice the size of our youngsters but that didn't stop the young guns putting on an impressive display.

Crunching tackle by both sides had a few gasps here and there in the crowd, but made us realise the footy season is just around the corner.
Roll on next Friday..