Melbourne Storm's Will Warbrick has had a unique career to date. Dreaming of being an AFL star, he would move on to the Rugby 7s where he won an Olympic silver medal. Now he can be seen on the wing, outside Reimis Smith.
Having signed to the club in 2021 on a two-year contract, Warbrick made his NRL debut this season after spending the majority of 2022 in the Queensland Cup.
During where he represented the Sunshine Coast Falcons, the Storm's affiliate club. In 14 appearances he managed to score ten tries and showed he was destined for the first-grade team.
Now onto this season, Warbrick took some time to get going but has shown his potential in the past two games against the Tigers and Rabbitohs.
With the overflow of injuries to the side, it took a toll on his adjustment but with Cameron Munster and other returning he has started to get going.
"I think it's still too early to tell if I've really adjusted. I was five games in and there's still a lot of things I've got to improve on and keep getting better at," Warbrick said on his start to the season.
"I'm happy with where I'm at but I'm not satisfied."
"I wanna sort of keep growing as a footy player there and see where I can get to."
Questioning his adjustment from Rugby 7s, Warbrick admitted that he is aiming to get better. But, it will take time.
Despite trying to get back to his Queensland Cup form, Warbrick has had a great connection with Reimis Smith down the right-hand side of the field.
His athleticism, height and strength in the attack have made him a player to watch for the opposing side.
In the five appearances this season, the former AFL prodigy has managed to score two tries (both coming in the past two weeks), average 143 running metres and had a total of 15 tackle busts and three line-breaks.
Successfully playing all the game-time the Storm has had, Warbrick has opened up on his decision to join the Storm from Rugby 7s.
Selected for the New Zealand All Black Rugby 7s team in 2019, he played three years in the code as a back and was fortunate to achieve many triumphs.
The highlight for him being able to represent New Zealand at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. It was here that Warbrick played a key role in getting his country into the Gold Medal match against Fiji.
Unfortunately, Warbrick and New Zealand would go on to lose the match but he would still walk away with a silver medal.
However, before the Olympics began, the Storm reached out to Wabrick's agent in trying to get him to sign with the team. This would end up playing a groundbreaking role in his career.
Warbrick was asked about his relationship with coach Craig Bellamy, to which he replied that Bellamy was a major factor in him joining league.
"That was probably one of the main reasons why I decided to take this opportunity to come to league," the Storm winger said.
"The town has a long history of developing players and obviously, Craig's one of the best coaches to ever coach the game."
"He's a unique character but he's really good at what he does."
The silver medalist also highlighted the 'Storm Culture' as a decisive factor in the decision.
"I've heard about the Storm culture, but when I first came over the boys really took me under their wing."
"I hadn't even met (Cameron) Munster yet and he was telling me to come out for dinner with him."
"The boys are really welcoming and I think that's one of the perks of being in Melbourne. A lot of boys have left their homes to come to Melbourne so we usually sort of rely on each other for just company and whatnot."
Still only at the early stages of his NRL career, Will Warbrick will be hoping to continue developing, whilst trying to get his first silverware in the NRL.
