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‘Another position I’ve got to practise’: Hohaia lifts lid on utility-player struggle
Sport Nation • October 6th, 2026 3:47 pm
Lance Hohaia | Photo: Andrew Cornaga/Photosport
Versatility gave Lance Hohaia more avenues into the Warriors’ team, but it also meant a constant demand to learn new roles, skills and responsibilities.
Speaking with Sport Nation's Millsy & Guy on Tuesday's feature interview, Hohaia said he arrived at the club hoping to play five-eighth, where he could roam across the field rather than shoulder the demands of organising play as a halfback.
“Most of the time I played six, I didn't necessarily like the responsibility of halfback and having to run the team. I wanted the freedom to kind of be on both sides of the field and almost play a little bit like a second fullback,” Hohaia recalled.
“So that was my ambition as I entered the Warriors and I had an opportunity to play that position in my first two years.”
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But when the side encountered injuries in other positions, former Warriors coach Ivan Cleary began looking at Hohaia as an option at hooker.
“As you start training and guys get injured like ‘hey, maybe Lance can play, maybe Lance can play hooker because our first choice, our second choice hooker is out, but he's pretty talented, he's got the skill set, he can tackle, we can kick, like let's just give him a chance to play there.
“Obviously, I got there and played reasonably well in that position and that's just kind of how it happened.”
Fullback was another role he came to play after Cleary asked him to fill in.
“I do recall the one day where we had a few guys out at fullback and Ivan said to me, ‘Lani, can you jump at fullback and just have a run?’
“I jumped out at fullback and just kind of carved it up and did all these things and it looked really good and Ivan was like, 'man, I think you could be a fullback.'
“So just sort of like, ‘oh, great, it's another position I've got to practise,’” he explained.
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Hohaia said moving between positions meant more than changing the number on his back as each role brought different demands in attack and defence, and required him to learn new combinations and responsibilities.
“Just different skill sets from different positions that you have to learn and obviously the defensive workload and the understanding off 40, the kicks and the fusing bombs.
“There's so many different skill sets, like centre is a different skill set and what you have to practise defensively. Just where you are in the defensive line is completely different to hooker and then that's completely different to fullback and obviously the attacking workload is completely different as well.
“You've got to know attacking plays from nine and then you've got know your lines and the attacking plays from centre and then fullback.”
The workload could be frustrating, especially when he felt he had to master every position at once.
“Some days I would get to the end of training and I would be frustrated visibly and Ivan would have to pull me and sit me down and say, 'just have a seat and let's have a breather and like, let's just talk about stuff,’ so he could see that I was frustrated.
“He just wanted me to de-stress my game a little bit and not worry so much about being excellent at everything and all those positions.”
Lance Hohaia | Photo: Andrew Cornaga/Photosport
The coaches’ backing helped Hohaia focus on his own strengths rather than feel defined by a position or jersey number.
“The lucky thing that I had was the coaches were really supportive of me, like ‘we just want you to play how you play, like we don't expect you to be a certain player. Don't worry about the number on your back, whether you're 6, 9, 1, or, 13 or centre, we just wanted you to get out and play like Lance.'
“So that gave me a lot of confidence to just get out there and not worry too much about what number was on my back and just try to approach each game like that no matter where I was playing.”
Listen to the full interview below:
