By Andrew Gourdie
The Warriors begin their NRL pre-season trials this weekend, with coach Ivan Cleary casting his eye over contenders for the contentious halves positions.
The club has signed Brett Seymour to fill the void left by Stacey Jones, but the Warriors are keen to foster a home grown talent as a solution for the future.
Steeping up to NRL first grade is a bit daunting for any 19-year-old, and rookie halfback Shaun Johnson is no different.
“Yeah that’s the one thing I had to overcome - telling players that have played 100 NRL games where to go on the field, that was a massive step for me,” he says.
But anyone at the Warriors camp will tell you the boy is special.
Highly rated by legendary halfback Andrew Johns, Johnson enjoyed an incredible debut season in the Warriors’ youth side – scoring 18 tries in a season haul of 241 points.
“I just gotta start from scratch really – I wanna make a name for myself in the NRL,” he says. “It’s all about starting here on the training field, and carrying it on to the field.”
The Warriors have bought Seymour back to play halfback this season, but he is already feeling the heat from Johnson.
“He is outstanding, a real talent. There is not much I can pass on to him – he’s pretty much got it all,” Seymour says.
Cleary sees Johnson as a potential long term solution at halfback for club and country, and after watching Johnson in pre-season, Cleary can barely contain his excitement over one of New Zealand rugby league’s hottest prospects since Jones.
“I guess now it’s time to take that practice in to games at a new level for himself,” Cleary says. “Very excited to see how he goes.”
Johnson will get his first chance this weekend in the Warriors pre-season hit out against the Roosters in Rotorua.
3 News