Sir Peter Leitch Club AT MT SMART STADIUM, HOME OF THE MIGHTY VODAFONE WARRIORS 31st January 2018 Newsletter #202 GO GET’EM GEORGE By David Kemeys Former Sunday Star-Times Editor, Former Editor-in-Chief Suburban Newspapers, Long Suffering Warriors Fan T THE risk of being seen to blow smoke up the you couldn’t just send a letter saying you “resign” Abum of the boss, Warriors chief executive Cam- from a contract. eron George gets my vote for having the guts to take aim at New Zealand Rugby over the Etene Nanai-Se- He has, apparently, never asked for a release, and I turo affair. am not in the least bit surprised George has thrown a wobbly, though he called it being “disappointed” with You may well never have heard of Etene Nanai-Se- the conduct of New Zealand Rugby. turo, given that pretty much no one gives a fat rat’s arse about Sevens, but he turned out for New Zea- “The Warriors would never treat another sporting land in Sydney this weekend, where the All Blacks body in the manner that we have been treated,” Sevens or whatever they are called this week, fin- he was quoted in the Herald on Sunday as saying. ished, actually I don’t know, or care enough, to both- “There should be a mutual respect between sporting er to find out,. organisations but there has been nothing like this h e re .” What is really interesting is that the youngster did so despite being signed to a contract with the Warriors. You don’t have to be a genius to know that a league v rugby legal battle is unlikely to come out in league’s Now George was not a happy camper and did not favour, given the power rugby wields in this country, hold back on letting New Zealand Rugby know it, but this stinks. calling their handling of the issue “disrespectful”, and threatening to go to court about it. “I don't care if it is New Zealand Rugby. We will do what we believe is right,” said George. Fair enough. Don’t let anyone fill your head with nonsense about it being a tricky situation or a com- And all I can say is “good on ya”. plex issue. It isn’t. Nanai-Seturo, who to be fair, is Before everyone jumps up and down and asks what only 18, is contracted to us. the difference is between the young fellah, and Ngani Now there is all this talk that he is going to play for Laumape, Glen Fisiiahi or Sam Lousi, I can tell you. the Chiefs in Super 423 or however many clubs they They all asked to be released. have playing this year to widen the game to Mongo- It was no surprise that our old mate Chris Rattue, lia. saw it differently. That’s all very well, but when he was 15 he signed a I will get to the good stuff, where he says Nanai-Se- five-year contract with the Warriors, and even I can turo was faced with “the pipeline which leads to the do that maths. world champion All Blacks...or the loser league out- I have no idea what he got in return for his signature, fit”, which he described as choosing between “fresh but I am willing to guess it was a not a colouring-in snapper or fish fingers”. Say what you like about book and a bag of pop corn, and last time I looked, Rattue, but that’s a good line. Continued on next page... Continued from previous page... Here’s the thing though Chris, he chose the fish fin- RTS Understands THe Time Is Now gers. Roger Tuivasa-Sheck is back again as captain and he Chris is kind enough to get in behind us, saying he was in the weekend papers too, with a pretty simple is “all for anyone prepared to take on the arrogant message, that this is a crucial season for him and the national rugby body”, but he soon resorts to type, Warriors. writing that it is all our own fault for being rubbish in the first place...which much as it pains me to admit it, Anyone looking for pre-season action at Mt Smart is a fair enough kind of point. would have been disappointed, with the boys all away in the bay of Plenty for some team bonding, intense “Here is my serious and heartfelt recommendation to gym sessions, and full-contact training. any outstanding young football player who is consid- ering joining the Warriors. Don't.” They stayed together at a holiday camp, an exercise designed to get them to muck in together and hope- The rest was just a litany of putting the boot in about fully find ways to win away from Mt Smart. what a lot of failures we all are, how no one ever measures up, makes it, stands up, or lives up to their I have said it many times, I don’t care if you win away potential. from Mt Smart, just win at home first please. Sadly it looks like we will never know what Nanai-Se- “I spoke about trying to get into some good routines turo could achieve on a league field. away from home, practicing the small things. We need to find good habits.,”RTS said.”We have a lot of Don’t get me wrong, I do not wish any ill for the away games.” young man, but equally, he signed a deal with the Warriors, and the club was entitled to believe it meant something. More Misery For Manu Flush that down the dunny, and what is the point of It is well-known that I have a soft spot for The Beast, contracts at all? Manu Vatuvei, now with Salford in the UK Super League. THree Cheers Poor Manu has suffered a suspected serious Achilles injury, which will be a huge blow to him, not to men- Now by way of complete departure, I am going to tion Salford, given Manu managed five tries in eight totally back something the man I so often malign, games last year, after leaving us in July. Chris Rattue. He praised World Darts for removing the walk-on girls from televised events, and said all Salford head coach Ian Watson said: "It's terribly sports cheerleaders and their ilk should go the same unfortunate Manu has sustained an injury this close way. to the start of the season. He has been terrific for us since signing and he is a massive asset for the club.” I have to say I absolutely agree. This whole SkyCity cheerleading thing gets right on my wick. Yes I know you can say they train hard, the choreog- raphy is amazing, blah, blah, blah. I don’t care. Put on some five minute games of women’s nines or something, just anything other than skimpily-clad young women waving pom-poms about. It's embarrassing. Salford Red Devils Media Day 2018 Sir Peter Leitch Club Newsletter Page 2 By Shane Hurndell Hawke’s Bay Today Sports Reporter AWESOME GESTURE FROM ABs CAPTAIN The Rugby Championship - New Zealand All Blacks Captains Run Photo www.photosport.nz READ OP MARKS to the Warriors coaching staff for inviting All Blacks captain Kieran Read to address the Tteam during their pre-season camp in Papamoa last week. And an equal amount of marks go to Read for accepting too. It’s no secret the mental side of the Warriors game left a lot to be desired in 2017. There were far too many second half meltdowns on their way to their 13th placing with seven wins from 24 games. Under Read’s captaincy and also when he was vice captain to Richie McCaw there have been numer- ous occasions of the All Blacks having to fight back or stay ahead in tight battles to secure victory and the mental fortitude displayed in these encounters has been outstanding. A long-time Warriors fan, Read, said he believed the tools to use mental strength to cope with pressure was transferable across sporting codes. “All elite level sport, it comes down to the mental side and that’s what separates the really top and those who sit just under that. “We do pretty well at the All Blacks and speaking to a few of the boys here, they’re pretty keen to get a little bit of inside knowledge and if that can rub off on them, that’d be great,” Read told media during the visit. It will be interesting to gauge the impact of Read’s visit when the Warriors NRL campaign begins in March. Just as big a concern as the Warriors second half meltdowns last year were the number of occasions they allowed opposing teams to establish big leads and there was little in the way of an acceptable fight back. Should the going gets tough for the Warriors this season they only need to think back to the November 25 World Cup semifinal at their home ground, Mount Smart Stadium, between England and Tonga when Tonga almost pulled off the most memorable comebacks in World Cup history when losing 20-18 after trailing 20-0 with eight minutes remaining. I was thrilled to hear of Read’s visit and I hope there can be more cases of the All Blacks helping out the Warriors as well as the Kiwis in future. News of Read’s visit was the start of a memorable weekend of sport in Hawke’s Bay.