 |
| Copyright Photo: Andrew Cornaga / www.photosport.nz |
After returning from their defeat in North Queensland, the Warriors returned to Mount Smart Stadium to face the Cronulla Sharks.
With the chances of making the top eight extremely thin, the Warriors had nothing to lose and had the opportunity to perform for the 9,771 fans the braved the cold weather to watch them.
Unfortunately for those fans, the Warriors had a performance to forget losing 26-12.
The Warriors gave away back to back penalties, and the Sharks took advantage scoring a try within the first 4 minutes.
The Sharks kept the pressure on the Warriors for the remainder of the half with the only relief for the Warriors being an intercept try to Solomone Kata at the 30-minute mark.
However, the Sharks fired back almost immediately with a try of their own to go into the break 12-6
However, the Sharks fired back almost immediately with a try of their own to go into the break 12-6
The Warriors started the second half in the same manner that they began the first with a string of penalties but their defence, as well as some timely handling errors from the Sharks, defused any scoring attempts from reigning premiers.
Mason Lino in his 2nd match of the year forced several repeats sets and finally managed to put Bodene Thompson through a hole to score a much need try.
This was the last time the Warriors looked to be in this match as the Sharks show their class and score two more tries in the final 20 minutes to hand the Warriors their fourth loss in a row, winning the match 26-12.
 |
| Copyright Photo: Renee McKay / www.photosport.nz |
My Warrior of the game goes to Jacob Lillyman.
With the loss of James Gavet, the Warriors props needed to step up and Jacob did in this match, his stats were almost the same as Simon Mannering's this week with the only difference being Jacob played 55 minutes instead of Simons 80.
160 metres from 18 runs with 31 tackles and no missed tackles is not a bad day out for Jacob who is in the twilight of his career and most likely will be leaving the Warriors at the end of the season.
With the exit of Matulino and no news of any props being signed from across the ditch, I'm hoping that the Warriors can convince Jacob to stick around for at least one more season to give the Warriors some much-needed experience in their front row.
 |
| Copyright Photo: www.warriors.nz |
My Warrior who needs to improve is Ligi Sao.
I don't see what Ligi is offering this team right now, James Bell made his debut in this match and played for 24 minutes, Ligi, however, played for 11 minutes.
If Ligi could offer some impact for those 11 minutes, this would be a different argument, but yet again I barely noticed that he was playing.
The Warriors are not playing to an NRL calibre as a whole, but Ligi on his own would be struggling to make a super league team right now.
Unfortunately, Kearney has selected him again for Round 22’s match, but I doubt anyone will notice.
The Warriors never fired a shot in this game, unforced errors and penalties plagued the side, and they were punished severely for it.
Playing a side of the Sharks quality you really need to bring your A game and the Warriors are a b team at best right now.
The forwards except for Jacob Lillyman, Simon Mannering and Ben Matulino didn't make many metres and didn't set a platform for the backline.
The backs in turn never threatened to break the line, and it felt like this team has given up and are just counting down to the offseason.
There weren't many positives from this match, but Mason Lino had another strong performance in a mediocre team and is making a case for himself to be Shaun Johnson’s halves partner in 2018.
James Bell had a good debut and didn't look out of place in first grade, with the season over I would be looking at blooding more of this young talent in preparation for 2018, but that appears to be part of Kearney's process.
James Bell had a good debut and didn't look out of place in first grade, with the season over I would be looking at blooding more of this young talent in preparation for 2018, but that appears to be part of Kearney's process.
2017 has been a train wreck but thankfully the Warriors have the Knights and Tigers left to face this year as they should be able to get wins in those matches but I don't know if I see them winning any other matches outside of those two.
This week the Warriors get to the first of those matches travelling to Newcastle.
With Bodene’s injury, he has been replaced by Isaiah Papali’i in what has been the only change to the side that lost in Round 21.
Typically I would have automatically chalked up a win for the Warriors here but the Knights looked impressive in their win over the Dragons in Round 21, and they will be looking at kicking the Warriors while they are down.
However, I still think the Warriors will have enough left in their tank to get the victory in Newcastle, and I'm picking the Warriors to win by 10.
So that was a horrible Round 21, and as per usual, I will leave you with some questions.
What is your score prediction for the Knights match?
Would you try to resign Jacob Lillyman?
What were your thoughts on James Bell’s debut?
How many wins do you think the Warriors can get in the last 5 rounds?
No comments:
Post a Comment