Flying quietly under the radar are the Warrior Riot lacrosse gloves. These gloves are mainly known for their detachable cuffs, which they provide two of for colour customisation, but their features don't stop there. Single layered palm design, solid hand and finger protection, additional pinkie protection, mesh inserts in the palm and water proof exterior all come together to make a great case for these gloves.
When we first picked up these gloves they felt surprisingly light. We wondered whether this was because we got the 12" size because they felt so tight. But no, they're 13" and are supposed to be tight when you first wear them. They loosen up quick, once the elastic on the sides of the fingers starts to move. The leather initially felt soft and started to move nicely soon after. You'll not have to wait long to break these gloves in.
There's a couple of mesh vents on the palms and a larger mesh piece near the base of the thumb. These combine well together to keep your hands well ventilated. The leather palm feels very pliable and effortlessly moves with your hand.
The great thing about gloves which are tight around the fingers is that they obey the movement of your fingers. We could effortlessly curl our fingers and wiggle them, with the gloves complicity following along.
The Warrior Riot lacrosse gloves are a little short in terms of how far they run past your wrist. We don't like this in particular, but this seems to be the general trend of gloves these days. Shorter, smaller, tighter and compact. The wrist guard has the standard 3 pad protection on the back with split to allow for the backward flex of your wrist. The two outer pads nearly touch, which equates to nearly a double layer of padding on the back of the wrist.
The outer shell of the glove feels very tough. You only need to squish the big blocks on the back of the hand or fingers to feel the firmness. You're certainly not left wondering if the padding is any good.
Looking specifically at the fingers, the Riot does have the extra pad on the side for your little finger. The padding on the back of the fingers is smartly placed so that your knuckles are directly below a pad. That's great to see. Your index finger is a little exposed on the side, but no more than most other gloves. It would be good to see a brand come up with an innovative idea for this part of the glove.
And last of all on the finger protection, the tight fit of these gloves leave very little chance of your fingers flapping around and popping out from underneath a pad. So while the tight fit may be a bit awkward or uncomfortable at first (we didn't mind it), it's worth it in the long run to put up with it.
The switchable cuffs are adequate in size to protect the back of your wrist. Our concern with the removable cuff is just that; it's removable. Fixed cuffs do tend to fit the glove a little better. When stitched in they're less prone moving and exposing the back of your wrist. But these cuffs are pretty firm so there's probably not much chance of that.
The single layered palms give you a great feel of the shaft. No doubt about it. They feel really soft and at time it feels like you have nothing on. There aren’t any specific attachments to your fingers or palms for extra grip, but you don't need any.
We didn't feel there was any need to tape our bare aluminium shaft but it you like a real grippy feel, you could apply some.
The exterior of the Warrior Riot gloves is water proof and very durable. No problems there.
Single layered leather means it's fractionally thinner which can mean it could wear through quicker. But it really doesn't look like it on the Riot's. We were fortunate enough to get a look at a pair that's about 1 year old.
We were unable to find any defects in the palms at all. The integrity of the leather was still intact and hardly any signs of wear and tear. The only sign of wear we could see was some pilling around the webbing of the thumb, and even that was minor. These gloves were used by a face off guy in often wet conditions, so big thumbs up to Warrior for their work here.
Leather palms don't like the wet, so to ensure your lacrosse gloves do last, you'll need to put them somewhere where they’ll get adequate air flow to dry out. If the palms do dry out and get stiff, massaging them softly and gently will loosen them up. Grabbing your stick straight away with crusty palms is a sure way to chop them up.
What we love about our job is that every once in a while we are pleasantly surprised by the quality of some lacrosse gear. The Warrior Riot lacrosse gloves are one of these. In the past these gloves have not received widespread appraisal, but we think they're a great performer right up to the top level. If you're looking for a new set of gloves, be sure to check out the Warrior Riot's.
