Warriors tackle NZ talent drain, set to sign recruitment genius O'Sullivan
The Warriors are set to appoint Peter O'Sullivan as the club's recruitment manager.
Fairfax Media understands the man who discovered Roger Tuivasa-Sheck, Greg Inglis, Israel Folau, Billy Slater and more recently Latrell Mitchell, has agreed terms to join the Warriors.
O'Sullivan is regarded as a genius when it comes to spotting talent and played a crucial role in the success of the Storm and the Roosters when he was working with those clubs.
But since 2016 O'Sullivan has been serving an indefinite ban from the NRL, following an investigation into his financial dealings with notorious Australian punter and former brothel owner Eddie Hayson.
O'Sullivan had to explain why a substantial amount of money had been deposited into his account by Hayson.
It's understood that the NRL will agree to lift the ban and it should be confirmed later this week that they will formally approve his registration.
It is believed the Warriors grilled O'Sullivan about the ban and his relationship with Hayson, and were convinced that it was all in the past. If the NRL was worried that O'Sullivan had ever provided Hayson any inside information, it's unlikely they'd re-register him.
A number of clubs have been trying to sign up O'Sullivan after it became likely that the NRL would let him be involved in the sport again.
Most recently, the Sea Eagles have been chasing him and he met with their CEO Lyall Gorman earlier this month. However, the Warriors appear to have won the race to sign the man regarded as the NRL's best talent spotter.
Warriors management are aware that for too long the best young players have been snapped up by Australian NRL clubs. Last month Warriors general manager of football Brian Smith said they were going to go all out to stop the Australian raids.
"Our choice is either leave the door open for the foxes to come in and take the hens, or we can fight back and do something about it," Smith said.
"About 30 players are leaving and have been leaving in each of the past few seasons, since these clubs have been raiding New Zealand for 15-year-olds.
"That's the reality. Are they getting all the best ones?
"They probably had pretty much open slather at it, so they should have been able to pick the best."
Securing O'Sullivan shows the Warriors mean business.
It was O'Sullivan who snatched Roger Tuivasa-Sheck for the Roosters, under the noses of the Warriors.
The NRL is littered with New Zealand born players starring at Australian NRL clubs, including Jason Taumalolo, Nelson Asofa-Solomona, Isaac Liu and Jesse Bromwich, while Adam Blair and Sam Tagataese were swooped up by the Storm while teenagers and have gone on to have lengthy NRL career.
With O'Sullivan on board, there's hope that the player drain will end. It won't be for a few years that O'Sullivan's work bears fruit at the Warriors, but the club's fans could feel that with Smith, Alex Corvo and now O'Sullivan, the dream team to support Stephen Kearney is complete.
Late last year in a rare interview with The Australian, O'Sullivan spoke about how he was desperate to get back into the game and how much he missed it.
"It's hard when you invest so much into it and you can't do what you're good at," he said.
"I still love watching footy and trying to decipher teams. Anyone can pick the superstars when they're hitting 17.
"You don't have to have too much of an eye to be able to do that. To pick a kid who maybe if you didn't find them would have died on the vine, that's what makes it special."
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