Exclusive look at life inside Warriors Las Vegas camp
From bus karaoke and ice hockey games, to secret team meetings, kicking practice without goalposts and assembling makeshift cameras. MICHAEL CARAYANNIS dives into the Warriors’ Las Vegas preparations.
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Beware of Kurt Capewell grabbing the microphone if you ever find yourself on the New Zealand team bus.
Or at least prepare your vocal cords, because you are about to be initiated Warriors style.
It is more than just a song you are required to belt out though, as you need to give your life story in front of relative strangers to help break down that barrier.
Welcome to camp New Zealand, where the Warriors provided a week-long, all-access pass inside their Las Vegas set up. From bus rides to ice hockey games, team meetings and training sessions, there was very little off limits as they prepared for their NRL season-opening clash against the Canberra Raiders at Allegiant Stadium.
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THE ENGINE MEETING ROOM
The Warriors have tweaked a few things this year. Most notably, what happens inside their spine meetings. Last year, they featured middle players such as Addin Fonua-Blake, Dylan Walker and Mitch Barnett. No more.
The meeting is now exclusively for those who play in those positions. It is designed to give halves Luke Metcalf and Chanel Harris-Tavita greater control of the side.
“It has forced the spine members to own the team and take on the roll of being leaders,” Metcalf said.
“We have older guys like Fish (James Fisher-Harris) and Barnie (Mitch Barnett), who have so much respect in the team.
“It’s been really good for us to hone in on our leadership skills.”
It’s not the only adjustment the Warriors have made.
The retirement of Shaun Johnson has forced a rethink of their attacking structure. Metcalf and Harris-Tavita have been traditional No.6s in the NRL. That has led coach Andrew Webster and attacking coach Richard Agar to look over vision from rival clubs who have played with two five-eighths in recent years. Think Matt Moylan and Nicho Hynes at Cronulla, Storm duo Cameron Munster and Jahrome Hughes and Luke Brooks and Daly Cherry-Evans last season with Manly.
Well before Agar presents to the spine, he has spent countless hours looking at vision of his own side and his opponents.
The staff have their own meetings before the players appear, where they map out the next day. Webster leads this in consultation with the rest of his support staff. The topics are open ended. From ensuring times are kept tight — because four teams were using the same UFC facility — to a discussion about whether they were going to get trusted team manger Laurie Hale to buy a rake to remove the copious amounts of bird droppings on the training surface.
They opt not to.
Meetings aren’t always formal. Veteran Roger Tuivasa-Sheck saddled up next to recently retired player-turned assistant coach, Slade Griffin, at breakfast on Wednesday and hit him with one question.
“When did you want to be a coach,” Tuivasa-Sheck asked.
TRAINING SESSIONS
As for touring sides, the Warriors are best placed given the amount of time they normally spend on the road. Everyone has to pull their weight, including chief executive Cameron George – or Georgie to the team – who lines up for a warm-up drill by assisting Stacey Jones as he catch-and-throw tennis balls. George is quick on the comeback, too at the completion of the drill.
“Hall of famer, one drop. None here,” he says.
George is a favourite son of the players. They rip into him like he is more teammate than boss. But there is one who those in the team say is his favourite.
Metcalf has been dubbed “little George”.
“They say I’m one of the favourite sons of old Cam,” Metcalf laughs. “We are two north coast boys. “We have that little bond.”
Training takes on a different shape in Las Vegas. The soccer pitches aren’t quite the standard they are used to. They also can’t use drones to record sessions because of restrictions surrounding the airspace at their training base, which is about 30 minutes outside from the Las Vegas strip.
It led to a go-pro being tapped to a pole, to help give the coaching staff an eagle-eye view.
The light pole became a vital part of New Zealand’s training sessions. After holding a camera, it then became a makeshift single goalpost which was Warriors kickers used to help with their goalkicking practice.
There are no rugby league goalposts available in Las Vegas. The only option that leaves is a half-hour window at Allegiant Stadium the day before the game to practice.
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Metcalf, though, is unlikely to put boot to ball on the playing surface given it will take place after they have already completed their main session at another ground. It would mean he would have to warm back up his troublesome hamstrings after cooling down.
“Darryl Halligan sent me a plan with no posts and what to think,” Metcalf said. “He mentioned cones or finding an object. Stacey looked at the pole and said we should use that. He told me to treat it like the inside right of the pole was the right post.”
New co-captain Barnett is easily the most vocal on the field. So too Metcalf, who can’t help but take cheeky digs at his teammates during a catching drill.
When he catches a tennis ball he pokes fun at a teammate’s mental capacity, but when it’s a football he uses another name – much to the chuckle of those around him.
Metcalf has allowed his character to show more this year.
“That’s something that comes natural; the old cheeky halfback,” Metcalf said. “I feel like it’s something I have inside me. It’s been brought out a little more this pre-season. It’s not like I haven’t been myself but it’s come out a bit more with that leadership role. I can be serious and have that larrikin side.”
During the sessions, Agar and Griffin take the lead while Webster patrols with intent – interjecting only when he needs.
Agar said Webster allowed his assistants to take charge.
“Andrew is very mindful of not being the dominant voice all the time,” Agar said. “He always has a strong overview over the session. Between the assistant coaches we drive the drills as we see it. We let the session flow as much as we see it and tip on the run.”
The Sharks later pay a visit to ask to borrow four agility poles to used while they train on the nearby field. The Warriors were happy to oblige.
FINDING YOUR VOICE
It’s not just on the team bus where players need to find their voice. While Barnett and Capewell are big personalities – they aren’t alone.
“The loudest is Dylan Walker,” Tuivasa-Sheck said. “He marches everyone around. So does Barny and Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad. The young Polynesian boys are (finding their voice). When I was coming through we just sat back in the room and listened.”
You can find 20-year-old giant Demitric Vaimauga usually at the centre of the banter, according to Metcalf.
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“He is a real funny dude,” Metcalf said. “He is the one that brings energy among the whole crew. He makes fun of Fisher-Harris or Barnett in a really good way.”
And when he isn’t terrorising the captains he is taking charge of the team’s music.
Metcalf’s teammates are quick to note his shortcomings, too, after he quickly brushed the opportunity to travel to the Grand Canyon via helicopter, instead leaving it to back-rower Jackson Ford.
“Metcalf said it was one of his worst nightmares,” Ford said. “He was going ‘helicopters? Heights? No and no’. He was petrified.”
Not as petrified as a scribe who had to sing in front of a team full of footballers. As for the song? That was off the record.
* The NRL has helped fund our team’s travel expenses to Las Vegas
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