Gardiner backing inexperienced Māori spine to rise to the occasion

A spate of withdrawals has left the Māori All Stars facing the likely scenario of fielding a spine in which only one player will have more than 20 games NRL games to his name, but coach Ben Gardiner believes it will carry little importance come game day. 

Already without both their starting halves and hooker from last year’s game, the loss of Joey Manu and Daejarn Asi, who were originally named in the Māori squad last week, has seen Gardiner have to delve deeper into his wider squad for solutions.

That has included drafting in 10-game Titans squad member Paul Turner and hooker Sheldon Pitama, who is yet to appear at NRL level, to join a spine make-up likely to include Hayze Perham (16 NRL games) at fullback and Zach Dockar-Clay (14 NRL games) in the halves. 

Speaking to NRL.com ahead of the clash at Rotorua International Stadium, Gardiner said in a fixture carrying so much cultural meaning, experience matters far less than the way the group connects throughout the week.

“The guys are probably not as experienced as we’ve had in the past, but that doesn’t really matter,” Gardiner said.

“It’s about when they put that jersey on, can we connect them as a group? If we can do that, they’ll have no problem jumping into the role and executing on the day.

We believe in them. They wouldn’t be in the team if we didn’t believe in them.

Ben Gardiner

While the Māori spine will have their work cut out for them against an Indigenous side likely to have Cody Walker, Jack Wighton, Nicho Hynes and Latrell Mitchell calling the shots, they are set to benefit from a strong forward pack headed up by Kiwi internationals James Fisher-Harris, Joseph Tapine and Briton Nikora.

The trio were key contributors in last season’s 16-10 win, combining for 354 metres and 14 tackle breaks.

“Putting them behind a strong forward pack like we have definitely helps. Having some experienced heads running in the forward pack will help some of those younger guys in the halves feel really confident in doing their role come gameday," Gardiner said.

“Every guy knows they might have to move around too… when I told them that, every single guy said, ‘I don’t care where I have to play, I’ll do what’s best for the team because it’s that important to me’.”

With Starford To'a, Jared Waerea-Hargreaves, Nelson Asofa-Solomona and Dallin Watene-Zelezniak also withdrawing from the match, the Māori have brought in forwards Tukimihia Simpkins, Leo Thompson and Austin Dias, along with Gold Coast train-and-trialist Creedence Toia.