After their disappointing Vegas showing, the Warriors returned home to New Zealand to host a Sea Eagles side buoyant after their dominating Round 1 victory over the Cowboys.
My lack of confidence in the Warriors' ability to stay competitive with Manly proved unfounded. After a scratchy start, the Warriors took control of the match and showed more of their attacking potential, cruised to a 36-16 victory.
What Went Down

Manly made it look like it was going to be a tough watch for the 21,212 fans watching live in the stadium, taking only 4 minutes to get on the scoreboard after Reuben Garrick sent Jason Saab into open space before he got the ball back to Tom Trbojevic who finished the play untouched, Garrick missed the conversion but added a penalty goal in the 10th minute to give Manly a 6-0 lead. The visitors then squandered a couple of opportunities via a dropped ball and a forward pass, the Warriors capitalized on these when Luke Metcalf put Chanel Harris-Tavita over in the 18th minute to level the scores. The home side then looked to take control of the match scoring two more tries in the space of four minutes, the first in the 25th minute when Taine Tuaupiki received a cutout pass from Metcalf and stepped back inside, evading several defenders to dive over near the posts, then in the 29th minute Metcalf was involved again throwing a shortball to Ali Leiataua who crashed over, handing the Warriors a 18-6 lead as both sides entered the sheds for halftime.
Manly started the second half the same way they started the first, taking advantage of some errors and poor discipline from the Warriors. They were rewarded in the 45th minute when Luke Brooks threw a long pass to Saab, who flew down the edge and dived over in the corner. It appeared that he lost control of the ball while grounding; however, the Bunker deemed that there was insufficient evidence to overturn the on-field decision. The Warriors didn't let the decision rattle them and were back on the scoring sheet after Wayde Egan scooped up a dropped ball from Taniela Paseka and sprinted down the field, he was caught, but the Warriors continued to pile on pressure. A few plays later Egan sniped out of dummy half and burrowed his way over the line in the 49th minute. Both sides traded sets for a spell before Manly reduced the lead in the 55th minute after Tom Trbojevic sent Saab down the sideline, the winger then kicked into the ingoal area where Garrick tapped the ball back to Daly Cherry-Evans who grounded the ball. It was another questionable try with the Bunker taken several minutes to review the play before once again giving the benefit of the doubt to the attacking team in a decision that showered the field with boo's from the crowd. Those boo's changed to cheers with 15 minutes left when Jake Trbojevich was sent to the sin bin after Mnaly conceded thier 11th set restart of the match. During his absence, the Warriors found the tryline again in the 70th minute after they shifted to the left before Adam Pompey threw a slick offload to Roger Tuivasa-Sheck who cut back inside and charged over the line through several defenders. In the match's dying stages, Manly saw Tom Trbojevich and DCE leave the field with injury complaints that appear to be minor, but with the game out of reach, it was not worth pushing through. With the game winding down, the Warriors finished in style with Tuaupiki intercepting a Brooks Harbour Bridge pass, he offloaded to Leiataua who then sent Metcalf away to score under the posts with his conversion securing the Warriors their first win of 2025, 36-16.
My Thoughts
Well, I have never been happier to be wrong. Last week, I predicted a 12-point Sea Eagles win. After their impressive 42-12 win over the Cowboys in Round One, I expected a similar scoreline here. After Tommy Turbo scored in the first five minutes, those fears lingered. However, the Warriors stayed composed and fought their way into the contest before taking control, it wasnt the best performance with some patchy moments, but they took advantage of Manly's ill-discipline and punished them for it.
While sticking with the same 17 did rub some of the fanbase the wrong way, the players stood up and improved from their Vegas performance, which is all we can ask for at this point in the season.
It looks like Andrew Webster took note that the changes he made an hour before kickoff in Round One did not work, and thankfully, he did not tinker and allowed Erin Clark to start. He did not disappoint, he also figured out a better way to use Mitch Barnett and James Fisher-Harris as a unit, roughly giving both 60 mins each and ensuring that at least one of them was on the field at all times. This is a must if the Warriors want to be successful in 2025 with the rest of the prop rotation either not being able to cover for both of them being off the field or Webster not trusting his young players to do that job just yet, however it was promising to see Demitric Vaimauga and Leka Halasima both get some decent stints on the pitch.
I still worry about the lack of pace the side has and they were found wanting when the Manly speedsters found open space, but in fairness, players like Saab and Turbo are elite regarding speed, but it is still something to be concerned about long-term. However, while there is plenty that the side needs to work on, it was their best performance at home since their Round 17 win over the Broncos last season, that they won 32-16 so it was good to see them win and win well and hopefully it's a confidence booster that leads to more wins on the bounce.
There were a couple of things to smile about, which brings me to my positives.
Match Positives
After being bullied in Round One, the Warriors pack looked more formidable in this match with four of the pack hitting my triple digit target, (Erin Clark 150m, James Fisher-Harris 130m, Mitchell Barnett 120m and Jackson Ford 110m), this is only one more than last week but the rest of the forwards despite not hitting the big numbers they kept the Warriors rolling forward. This allowed the Warriors more time and space to create scoring opportunities. It's not rocket science, but if the pack can get the edge in the battle in the middle, it makes winning easier, so if they can build on the platform from this performance, then the Warriors should be in the fight every week.
The Warriors' attack looked better this week but was still very clunky in patches. However, they had more ideas with the ball in hand. They heaped pressure up the middle of the field, which created gaps out on the edges, and more often than not, they turned those into scoring opportunities. There still needs to be fine-tuning as there were still a few mistimed passes and poor choices, but I think this is an attacking system that they can build on and make more dangerous, they just have to keep working on the combinations.
I was critical of Webster's interchange usage last week, but I thought he was better with it this week, ensuring that Barnett or Fisher-Harris was always on the field helped keep the Warriors in control of the battle. Dylan Walker had fewer minutes this week, but the way Erin Clark performed didn't impact the overall performance. Jackson Ford still seems like the tricky option, starting him takes the sting out of the pack and bringing him off the bench doesn't provide a lot of impact either, so I would look at swapping him out for a more impactful bench forward like Bunty Afoa or Tom Ale. However, it was promising to see the bench being used a bit better. Some tinkering is still needed, but it was a hell of an improvement from Vegas.
However, I did have concerns, which brings me to my negatives from the game.
Match Negatives
I didn't have many negatives this week, but the Warriors had some issues defending out wide. Roger Tuivasa-Sheck rushed several times, giving the Sea Eagles open space down the edge. I'm unsure if this was an issue in the middle of the defensive line or if he lacked confidence in Adam Pompey. Still, whatever the problem was, it needs to be addressed and fixed now, as all opposition sides will have that marked in their game plan and will be attacking that edge heavily until they sort it out.
Lastly, the Bunker. Two of the Sea Eagles' three tries were questionable, and I am biased, so I thought they got both calls wrong. Thankfully, this did not change the result, but it feels like the Bunker never improves, as those were not the only shocking calls that happened in Round 2. It always sounds like sour grapes when you complain about officials, but they still need to be held accountable if they make mistakes, I'm happy that the game wasnt ruined by some poor decisions.
Warrior of the Match
My Warrior of the Match goes to Wayde Egan.
Egan had a great game. He led the Warriors in tackles, making 41 in his 80 minutes.
He also kept himself busy on attack running for 143 metres of 10 carries. When Egan is lively around the ruck, it opens up many attacking avenues everywhere in the park. He needs the pack to do their part to open the gates, but when they do, he needs to deliver more performances like this.
Warrior to Improve
My Warrior to improve is Adam Pompey.
This was a tough one as I struggled to pick out any player that let the side down, and I may be harsh picking Pompey, but he was the back with the least amount of running metres with only 39, add to that the defensive issues with him and RTS (although he may not be at fault as I mentioned above). It was just a quiet night for him, but he delivered a fantastic offload for RTS to score and I expect him to bounce back this week with more significant numbers.
Next Round Thoughts and Prediction
In Round 3, the Warriors will remain at Go Media Stadium to host the Roosters, who scored probably the biggest upset of Round 2, defeating the Panthers 38-32.
Regarding the team I would pick, I would still stick with the same 17, unless they want to drop Ford for Afoa. However, the team showed improvement this Round, and I expect that after another week, we will see more improvement again.
The Roosters are a hard team to predict right now, I expecting them to get crushed by the Panthers, but they played with heart and just refused to quit. Their defence was a bit suspect and they almost let the Panthers steal the win, so as good as the win was, there were still weaknesses that the Warriors can exploit. For the Warriors to win here, they just need more of what we saw against Manly, the pack needs to control the tempo and give the halves time and space to test that suspect Rooster defence. The Rooster's have dangerous players on the edges so they will need to restrict the amount of open field they give them. I am more hopeful this week so I am picking the Warriors to get the win here by 16.
So, that was a better Round 2, but as usual, I will leave you with some questions.
Did you have a player to improve?
Would you make any changes to the 17?
Are there any players in NSW Cup that you would like to get a chance in the top side?
What is your score prediction against the Roosters?