“He's a freak”: Breakout Warriors rookie Halasima primed to shine in absence of injured captain

Linings don't come much more silver than the startling emergence of One NZ Warriors rookie Leka Halasima during their gut-wrenching defeat to the Canterbury Bulldogs in Sydney almost a fortnight ago.

Halasima's powerhouse performance off the bench was a timely comfort for the Warriors faithful processing the anguish of that golden-point defeat, left to savour one of the most memorable NRL first-grade debuts in years.

The fearless Auckland teen was omnipresent at Accor Stadium, stamping his mark immediately with a barnstorming carry through the guts of the Bulldogs defence to set the tone for his monster day out.

The show-stopping highlight came late, when the Otahuhu Leopard set sail on a jaw-dropping run to the chalk that came agonisingly close to earning the Warriors a potential match-winning try, an effort that seemed destined to go down in club folklore - and it may well still.

Throw in some critical defensive plays down the stretch, and Halasima had stamped his mark in a fashion that sent NRL pundits scrambling for superlatives.

Warriors hooker Wayde Egan had a front-row seat for the action, and was among the many left rubbing his eyes in disbelief.

"He's just a freak," Egan told SENZ Breakfast.

"He's unbelievable. He's not scared at all.

"At 19 years old, it's incredible. I think I was about 55kg when I was 19 and he's playing NRL and running over blokes. It's pretty impressive.

"He showed glimpses at training, but he's pretty relaxed, Leks. When he gets on the field, he sort of takes it to another level.

"It was just so cool to see him carve up for periods in that game against the Dogs and I can't wait to see him play for the rest of the year."

And Halasima will be afforded plenty more opportunity during the Warriors' bid to clinch a playoff berth, given the news of Tohu Harris' season-ending surgery for the troublesome wrist that's been hampering him for the majority of 2024.

Egan identifies Halasima as one of the team's wealth of talented young forwards who will need to elevate their game in the absence of their veteran skipper.

"He's been probably our best player for the last four or five years, and losing a guy like him with his experience and leadership is obviously very tough.

"But he was battling for a few weeks with that wrist injury. He tried to push through it, but it wasn't very fair on him just to get through the games.

"Couple other boys are going to have to step up. We've got Dylan Walker there, which is pretty handy to have a guy like him. And then a few of the younger boys, like Leka and those likes are gonna have to play, which is exciting. We get to see what they can do."

The Warriors will need all hands on deck for yet another must-win encounter against the Raiders in Canberra on Friday, where defeat would almost be terminal for their campaign.

Halasima will have another chance off the interchange, while Walker slots into Harris' vacated No. 13 jersey.

The last time the two sides met, the Warriors prevailed in an 18-10 arm wrestle in Christchurch back in round three.

Egan says the bye week provided some extra time to address some of the issues with their offence, which struggled to find its rhythm against the Bulldogs.

"Obviously they're a tough team," he added.

"The Raiders showed in Christchurch that they don't go away and they're there for 80 minutes, so we're going to have to be on our game.

"Defensively, we're going to have to be similar to what we were like with the Dogs, but fix a few things in attack. I think we were a little bit clunky.

"We've worked on that over the bye week."

SENZ will have live commentary of the Warriors vs Raiders this Friday from 9.30pm - available on the SENZ app and all New Zealand frequencies.

Listen to the full interview below: