Peter O'Sullivan Leaves NZ Warriors and That Cycle Ends
How will Aotearoa Warriors survive the departure of recruitment guru genius specialty wizard geezer Peter O'Sullivan? Probably the same way this Warriors club has survived the departures of various staff members since 2017 and split their operations between two different countries. No matter how you feel about Warriors footy on the field, this club battles on and that alone is kinda hearty.
Only a few months ago, I celebrated how NZ Warriors had O'Sullivan and Phil Gould on their staff. Throughout their careers O'Sullivan and Gould have been the best recruiters of Aotearoa rugby league talent, then they joined forces with NZ Warriors. Let's lay this down as the NZ Warriors curse where things break down in weird ways; Warriors link up with Redcliffe resulting in The Dolphins sealing NRL expansion and taking O'Sullivan with them.
Just as Gould's getting busy with NZ Warriors, he's off to Bulldogs. Let alone other examples of niggly curse matters and instead of trying to see through these things, figure out how or where things have gone wrong, it's much easier to process matters through the curse. With that said, O'Sullivan's departure is merely another departure since Stephen Kearney's arrival in 2017.
No one wants to think positively about NZ Warriors, yet if you can find a slither of positive vibes then view this as the end of a cycle.
We know what happened with coach Kearney. Alex Corvo came with Kearney from Brisbane Broncos as the strength and conditioning guy, before Corvo left in late 2019. Veteran coach Brian Smith joined NZ Warriors as GM of Football in late 2017 before leaving late 2019. Then O'Sullivan was appointed mid-2018 and he was joined that year by junior Warriors coach Greg Boulous who departed the club last year. Nathan Cayless came in to coach reserve grade late in 2018 and then joined Sydney Roosters ahead of the 2020 season, while Slade Griffin joined NZ Warriors late in 2019 after retiring and Griffin is the only bloke here still with NZ Warriors.
It's kinda depressing to ponder how NZ Warriors feels no different now than it did prior to hiring coach Kearney; Corvo brought with him the same 'guru' vibes as O'Sullivan and NZ Warriors fitness looked no different under Corvo's regime than any other fitness bloke. Kearney's arrival also brought the infamous agent Isaac Moses into the mix and NZ Warriors felt as though they were one of a few NRL clubs where Moses had far too much control.
That cycle is over. The good news is that these folks implemented change in NZ Warriors systems and an easy example of that is starting an SG Ball team (Brian Smith apparently made that move). During this period the 'Future Warriors' system was established to give NZ Warriors a greater presence at Under 16 and Under 18 levels as opposed to the glory days of Under 20s success.
There was also the recent announcement of NZ Warriors and Auckland Rugby League combining for new Under 16 and Under 18 competitions next year. This involves training camps, competitions and two representative teams selected to tour Australia. Don't buzz about the details, the key here is alignment and collaboration between NZ Warriors, ARL and then NZRL. The latter started up a National Under 20s competition earlier this year among other moves to better service the Aotearoa rugby league community.
The truth about the cycle we are just leaving is that many wise moves were made. Smart footy folk were brought in and they added something to NZ Warriors before departing, while the system is what remains. This feels more like a case of establishing the best system possible regardless of individuals involved, apart from owner Mark Robinson and boss-man Cameron George. If you hate those two, then this sucks for you.
If solid leadership up top was not present, I'd be far more negative about what's happening. Robinson and George are over-seeing immense change of these Warriors systems and their roles are to ensure the best moves are made for the club, while individuals come and go. Ideally there will be some stability in the next cycle and that will stem from the mahi done recently to fine-tune the junior pipelines ... let alone trying to run the organisation across two countries.
Now we enter a new cycle and I feel as insane as any other joker in the pandemic who has watched days, months and years vanish into nothingness. A few years ago I was curious about how NZ Warriors would roll forward with coach Kearney and here I am again, NZ Warriors curse tucked away, pondering how NZ Warriors enter this new cycle. At least NZ Warriors enter this cycle with better foundations laid, thus a better platform from which to build upon.
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Peace and love.