The New Zealand Warriors have announced the signing of former Bronco Kodi Nikorima.
The 25-year old joins the club on a reported three and a half year deal worth $500,000 a season.
Warriors chief executive was delighted for the club to add a player of Nikorima's calibre.
“We couldn’t be more excited to secure a player of Kodi’s calibre, especially at this stage of the season,” George told the Warriors website.
“We’ve been patient in watching the player market for some time. Peter O’Sullivan and our recruitment team have done a terrific job in securing Kodi, who will certainly add value to our club.”
Nikorima was equally thrilled to join the club and the direction it is headed.
“I’m really excited about coming to the Vodafone Warriors and moving to Auckland,” he said.
“It’s a new challenge after being at the Broncos for so long but I’m looking forward to working with the coaching staff and the players. I like the direction the club is heading in and it will also be good to be around a lot of familiar faces, both the coaches and team-mates.
“I also want to thank the Broncos for the opportunity they gave me to develop as a player. The club has been a huge part of my life and I’m grateful for the way so many people supported me there.”
Think the broncoes really need to make some big changes. They got hammered last night by the most in form team in the comp without Nikorima. They didn’t show any fight and looked like they wanted to leave after 20 minutes. Darius Boyd was terrible, James Roberts was dreadful, Corey Oates tried but ultimately failed. Matt Lodge was scared, Matt Gillettt and Alex Glenn don’t look like they support the clubs decisions (out with the old, in with the new). Pangai Jr was very poor also. I’d try having it look like
1. Bird
2. Oates
3. Staggs
4. Boyd
5. Issako
6. Milford
7. Deardon
8. Haas
9. McCullogh
10. Ofahungue
11. Gillett
12. Pangai Jr
13. Fifita
14. Shibanaski
15. Lodge
16. Flegler
17. Glenn/Su’a
Side note: Now Nikorima is gone (250k) maybe you throw Aiden Sezer a lifeline. Rumour has it he wants out from the Raiders, maybe the Broncoes throw him a small offer and short deal say 600k for play here the rest of the year (200k raiders pay). You then move Milford into the Fullback role and put Bird as centre over Boyd.
Boyd need to be dropped all together not just a position switch. Boyd shows no desire to run for the ball or put his body on the line at all, not even to tackle and he has offered nothing in attack for about 2 years now.
They need to move Milford to fullback and either sell jack bird or play him in the halves.
Milford need to get back some lost confidence and play in a position that’s suits his play style best which is fullback.
Milford often looks like he is overthinking the play and being very indecisive with his actions. That last game he is double pumping not because he is trying to draw defenders in but because he is double guessing himself which is why he seemed to be double pumping every time he got the ball. A change back to fullback would take a lot of the decisions out of his hands and he clan focus on what he has to do and not everyone else.
Freeing up that 6 jersey gives bird the ability finally live up to the hype he is also a lot bigger then Milford and should be better defensively also gives the broncos 2 young guns Shibasaki and Staggs to play proper starter in the right centre spot and when or if Roberts leaves the other takes left centre
At 7 I would play Sam Scarlett, Dearden wasn’t really ready for the call up and even though you could see his potential could still use a year in QLD Cup, Scarlett is Dearden’s halves partner at Wynnum and really Brings a lot of the same attributes as Adam Reynolds does to Souths and be a good fit for broncs until they can get a more nrl experienced player in
As for the forward pack I’d drop lodge all together, seems like only media rate this guy as a good player. He makes errors at crucial times in the game and gets padded run meter stats and is definitely not worth losing a young gun over.
Andrew McCullough is trying his best to be the hooker Seibold needs as he has run out of dummy half more times then he has in previous years but just lacks the explosiveness to be a running half I would suggest Harry Grant. He is Currently winning the votes for QLD Cup player of the year and is behind both Smith’s at the storm and would be good on the bench for impact gradually taking over the spot of McCullough in 1 or 2 years
1. Milford
2. Isaako
3. Roberts/Staggs
4. Shibasaki
5. Oates
6. Bird
7. Scarlett/Dearden
8. Haas
9. McCullough
10. Ofahengaue
11. Glenn
12. Gillet
13. Pangai Jr
14. Grant(Signing)
15. Carrigan
16. Flegler
17. Fifita/Su’a
Yeah I think we both agree that Milford should end up syndrome Fullback. I personally liked the look of Deardon and think at that age you have to give him a couple games to really prove himself some more. You can’t drop the dude after one game where it wasn’t his fault and his team got pumped by 30. Think Staggs should own one of the centre spots he’s a good kid and after the effort Roberts showed I’d be dropping him.
Yeah I do agree Boyd needs to go but I don’t think he should be dropped straight from being captain and playing in his 300th game. Just seems rather unfair on the guy who’s giving lots to the club. But at the same time Milford looks like he should be fullback, Staggs is 1 centre and the wingers look pretty sealed in.
I don’t think Jack Bird was ever a half, yes he is bigger than most halves and yes he can tackle and run and has real talent but when he runs you can tell he’s reading the defense and still making his mind up so much that he would struggle to plan and create for others. In the long term I can see another young half coming in and owning the other half spot (O’Sullivan, Boyd, Paix, Dargan, Scarlett).
Lastly I think Pangai Jr as talent as he is, should play in the second row, out wider. He has struggled a like playing in the middle recently and the broncoes have a lot of young props and impact players. I’d say give Fifita a starting Jersey at 13, although he’s not huge in size he will work really hard and you’ll get a lot from him.
First and foremost, James Roberts has to go, Boyd needs to be giving less responsibility and eventually leave also.
They did sign bird as a potential halves partner for Milford. I do agree that he isn’t really a half but they have dumped so much mo he into him and that’s the spot needed if Milford moves back to fullback. Not saying bird would star there that’s just the move I’d make until I could sell him off for a decent price.
Also should never really matter how many games you played or how many origins and Australia caps you can only be judged year by year and this year I would argue Boyd isn’t even Qld cup worthy
As for dearden I kinda just think he is a fill in until someone of a bigger name can arrive and you can do that to a 18 year old because of the obvious excuse he isn’t ready yet though I do think him and either Paix or Tanah Boyd will be the future broncs halves they still got a good 2-3 years of growth
Yeah I’d give Deardon like 2/3 games to settle into the game and know his worth before dropping him and hurting his confidence. Yeah they really kinda over paid for Bird. They have invest a lot in him and don’t really have a use for him. And yeah Boyd has looked woeful this year. I think it all started to go wrong for the broncoes once they let Ash Taylor leave to the Titans and then obviously Hunt left after he failed. Taylor and Milford would’ve looked pretty good especially with there young forward and backs that have come through