Warbrick well-equipped to stand heat of Suncorp's finals furnace

Will Warbrick has only been playing NRL for a year but the Storm flyer is no stranger to bright lights and big game pressure.

A rookie in rugby league terms, the 25-year-old former All Black will carry the experience that comes with an Olympic medal into Friday's Qualifying Final as he takes his spot on the wing at Suncorp Stadium.

After a year biding his time in reserve grade with the Sunshine Coast Falcons, Warbrick has enjoyed a breakout season on Melbourne’s right edge in 2023, scoring 16 tries in his first 22 NRL games, including a four-try-haul in Round 16.

“I think I can lean on that experience [in the finals]. Obviously it's two completely different codes and different environments, but I think the message is still the same and you prepare the same,” Warbrick told NRL.com.

“I think I do embrace those moments. The bigger crowds, the bigger expectations and pressures. I think you have to embrace it and take it in your stride.

“But at the end of the day it's just another game under bigger lights and in front of more people.”

Warbrick’s maiden finals campaign comes just three years since the powerful winger won a silver medal with the All Blacks Sevens at Tokyo 2020.

Storm coach Craig Bellamy has long sung the cross-coder’s praises throughout the year and Warbrick said the veteran coach has played a big part in his development to one of Melbourne's first-choice flyers.

“Craig's been instrumental. He was the one that gave me the belief in the first place that I could play first grade,” Warbrick said.

“I'm still quite inexperienced in terms of how many rugby league games I've actually played and I'm still I'm trying to learn everything as quick as I can.

There's been times where I’ve felt like I’m flying and then other times where it's a bit quiet.

Storm winger Will Warbrick

“Sometimes it's a busy day for a winger and sometimes it's not, it’s just the way the game is and I'm learning that as I go.

“In a first season there's a lot of things that you try and prepare for, but you don't know until you experience it firsthand so this year's been all about backing up, performing week in week out and finding ways to be consistent.”

Come Friday, Bellamy's wingers will line up worlds apart in terms of big-game experience with left-edge flyer Xavier Coates having played 69 NRL games and represented the Maroons in the Origin arena.

While Warbrick is a player well versed in big moments and world stages, the Kawerau product has been happy playing apprentice under Coates this season to learn the ins and outs of life as an NRL winger.

“He's (Xavier) been a big help since I first moved to Melbourne. We first started on the same day when he moved down from Brisbane,” he said.

“It's funny, he's younger than me, but he kind of took me under his wing. And I guess I was hammering him with questions on his experience.

“So not just this year, but also last year when I first moved over, he's someone that's obviously lent a hand and passed on all the knowledge he has.”