Green's verdict on young Warriors halves

The New Zealand Warriors' chief playmaker, Blake Green, has given his final say on the fiercely-contested battle to partner him in the halves come round 1.

Having watched rookies Adam Keighran and Chanel Harris-Tavita fight it out all pre-season for the spot left vacant by Shaun Johnson's departure, Green said he heads into next Saturday's NRL Telstra Premiership opener against the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs convinced that either player will be able to get the job done.

"They are different personalities, they are both pretty quiet guys… [and] they have improved out of sight since they started in November," Green told pan66.com.

"I thought they did a really good job in the trial games. Last week I got to play 20 minutes with each of them and I didn't really notice any difference when we swapped over. They are both really easy to play with.

"Adam is probably a natural runner of the footy, he played a bit of footy last year in the ISP with the Panthers in the centres before he moved into the halves, but he's easy to play with, he just runs the ball, and the more first grade he plays, he's going to get the confidence to overcall the footy and take teams on.

"He's got a really big left boot on him, which is handy, and he kicks goals as well.

"Chanel has got a little bit of X-factor about him, he's got a little bit more flair and can come up with some pretty special plays as well.

"It's an interesting one, I'm not sure which way it's going to go."

While coach Stephen Kearney has remained tight-lipped over who will get first crack at partnering Green in the top side, whispers out of Mt Smart Stadium suggest 21-year-old Keighran has the edge over club junior Harris-Tavita.

After comments made by Kearney following last Saturday's victory over the Wests Tigers in the final NRL trial, in which he said Keighran had made a poor first impression at the club from a fitness point of view, the former Penrith Panther said he was relieved it hadn't cost him an opportunity .

"[I wasn't] really out of shape, just unfit, my body didn't cope, and I probably wasn't hydrated on the day," Keighran told pan66.com.

"I got through the session and at the end of it my body just collapsed, I was just sitting down against the goal post afterwards, I was in all sorts.

"Straight away I mentioned it to some of the coaches and stuff like that, I said 'it's not a good look', but they said 'mate, it's happened and now you have got to move on from it'.

"I think I've done a good job there in getting up to standard at this time now."