Not true, firstly, the Kiwis and Warriors are different concepts, much the same as the Roosters and the Eels primary goals are to win a competition rather than to ensure New South Wales is strong for State of Origin. Secondly, the Warriors have a long list of players who have debuted for the club and then represented New Zealand. Thirdly, the Warriors had in their first grade line up this year Evarn Tuimavave, Manu Vatuvei, Sam Rapira, Simon Mannering, Patrick Ah Van, Jerome Ropati, Epalahame Lauaki all of whom are under the age of 23 and all of whom are New Zealand eligible and debutants out of the Warriors, all had significant game time.
There is no argument there is improvement to be done, but that criticism is highly ill informed and wide of the mark. Clearly New Zealand, not just the Warriors, but New Zealand in general, has a lot of work to do to prepare the pathways for young halves in particular to come through. Ideally, Lance Hohaia would be the Warriors #7, but his form just hasn't warranted it, ideally Jerome Ropati would be the five eighth, but sadly, his form hasn't warranted it but gladly a move to the centres has been incredible for him. We tried developing Tevita Latu as our hooker, but unfortunately there were a couple of issues that grew into bigger issues later on for him. It's not as if the club hasn't tried, I would argue they could try harder, but certainly some of the comments that fly around about them are high and wide of the mark and should be qualified as being just that. For the record, next year, the club will field a first grade side, premier league side and the mandatory under 20's side, which is a first for many a year for the club. For the record, not all clubs are having this three tier system. Previously under the Mick Watson regime we operated with just first grade, fed by Bartercard. Slow progressive steps are being taken.
