Warriors head of recruitment and pathways Andrew McFadden says a second New Zealand NRL team would be a major boost for the game, but only if the country\u2019s grassroots and development systems are strengthened first.<\/p>\n
McFadden, who has been with the Warriors for a decade, told Sport Nation Mornings that the club\u2019s recent success had been built on stronger leadership, investment and a clear focus on developing local talent.<\/p>\n
He believes the same focus must be applied across New Zealand if a second NRL team is to succeed, with Christchurch-based ownership groups currently vying to earn an expansion licence from the NRL.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it’d be great, but what’s more important is building up the local game,\u201d he told Sport Nation Mornings. <\/p>\n
\u201cGiven that 30 percent of players in the NRL are born in New Zealand it seems to be a fairly fruitful place to come and find rugby league players.\u201d<\/p>\n
Warriors youngsters come of age against Bunnies | Running It Straight<\/p>\n
However, he warned that the infrastructure supporting those players needs significant investment.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt the grassroots, the game is still very basic and needs an injection of support,\u201d McFadden said.<\/p>\n
He is supportive of expansion, including the possibility of a South Island-based team, but says the costs involved in developing players and moving teams between New Zealand and Australia cannot be ignored.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m pro having expansion and whatever’s best for the game,\u201d McFadden said. \u201cWe just all feel like they’ve got to work on the infrastructure underneath.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Warriors currently spend heavily taking their pathways teams to Australia, something McFadden says would also create challenges for a second New Zealand club.<\/p>\n
Cameron George makes his stance on Warriors play finals footy at Eden Park very clear | Sport Nation<\/p>\n
\u201cIt costs us a lot of money to take all our pathways teams to Australia every second week,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s an expensive exercise, and not overly effective exercise if you ask me.\u201d<\/p>\n
McFadden said the Warriors were now developing into a club capable of producing its own NRL players, with local talent prioritised ahead of overseas recruitment.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur focus is primarily on developing local talent,\u201d he said. \u201cI look after our backyard first and then if there’s holes in our system then that’s when I have to go to Australia to recruit.\u201d<\/p>\n
That approach has helped several players transition from the Warriors\u2019 pathways into the NRL, with McFadden crediting the character and work ethic of those coming through.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese guys are super hard working, not just talented but they’re real pros as well,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Listen to the full interview below:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Warriors head of recruitment and pathways Andrew McFadden says a second New Zealand NRL team would be a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":581444,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[111,43,139,69],"class_list":["post-581443","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/581443","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=581443"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/581443\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/581444"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=581443"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=581443"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=581443"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}