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The Sea Eagles have had an edge of the Warriors for a long time having won the past seven matchups between the sides.
The Warriors, however, paid no attention to the past and put on an impressive show for the NRL starved south island crowd defeating the Sea Eagles 34-14.
What a way to bounce back from the heavy defeat to the Rabbitohs in Round 12.
The Warriors were missing Roger Tuivasa-Sheck which saw Peta Hiku shift to fullback and Gerard Beale come into the centres but welcomed back Shaun Johnson in what was his 150th match for the Warriors and he played like he hadn't missed a step in his lengthy spell on the sidelines.
Overall the whole team played well, and the lift in attitude and effort was visibly noticeable which leads me to my positives from the games.
The forwards came to play, I have talked at length for the past month about the pack not all pulling their weight and how difficult winning games is when the forwards are getting a roll on, and they improved ten fold in this match.
The front row was pushing the defensive line on almost all their hit ups, and the Sea Eagles struggled to contain Isaiah Papali'i and Tohu Harris on the edges.
They also backed this up defensively restricting the Sea Eagles opportunities for the majority of the match, if the forwards can consistently perform at this level the chances of a top-four finish increase dramatically.
The back three were at their rampaging best with Hiku performing well in Roger's place, but the kudos really need to go to Ken Maumalo and hat-trick hero David Fusitu'a who were continually causing headaches for the Manly side.
Ken has really grown this year, and I think David is by far one of the best wingers in the NRL right now and I think he is a sure bet to stay the leading try scorer this season as he took his tally up to fifteen.
Even with the absence of RTS the spine really clicked, Mason Lino has done a solid job filling in, but man is it great to see Shaun and Blake reunite.
With Blake quietly leading the side around the park Shaun was able to pick his moments and strike when he saw an opening, this Warriors side is a handful on defence when Shaun is in a running mood, and long may it continue.
The Warriors were a lot more clinical in this performance with a lot less nonforced errors, and after a slow start the Warriors piled on 34 unanswered points and looked ready to keep the points coming which is what they are going to need to do as they start the journey to improve their points differential.
And lastly I just want to commend the Christchurch crowd, it sounded like there was a great atmosphere and you could really hear the Warriors support through the television screen.
I'm jealous I was unable to come down for the game, but the next time the Warriors play in Christchurch I will be going for sure.
I've watched the game a few times since Saturday night, and I struggled to highlight many issues, and it is mainly hair-splitting, but no performance is perfect which leads me to my negatives.
The missed tackles still concern me, although they didn't lead to a lot of points for Manly, but against a top-four side, the 44 missed tackles could have forced a tighter contest.
I would like to say it is a work in progress but the missed tackles always seem to stay at a high volume but as long as the Warriors support players make the save they can keep opposing sides out.
The Warriors showed a little ring rust in the early stages after having a week off, but it didn't take too long for them to get into the swing of things.
Moving forward I'm hopeful that the Warriors will start their games stronger, but as they say, it's not how you start the race, but how you finish it so as long as the Warriors keep finishing games strong, I will find less and less to complain about.
And lastly is just giving too many penalties away for holding on in the tackle.
This is another constant issue with the Warriors in 2018 and to be fair I think they were hard done by on quite of few this round and it looked like Manly were holding the Warriors down for longer without getting penalised but they just need to take notice of how the refs are calling the tackles and react accordingly.
As stated above it I'm just nitpicking here, and I'm looking forward to seeing a similar or even better performance in Round 15.
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There's so many players that put their hand up in this performance, but when I think back to my favourite moment of the game, it was Ken's 50 metre barnstorming run where he pushed of Daly Cherry-Evans several times as he marched down the field.
Ken's improvement in 2018 is by far the most significant improvement in this entire squad and his effort on Saturday night needing mentioning.
He may not score tries like David does but he really helps the Warriors get out of their own half with big runs, and his 199 metres was a mammoth effort.
As long as he continues his metre eating ways I don't see anyone taking his wing spot of him for years to come.
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Tohu was in my eyes the strongest performing forward in the weekend and was a handful whenever he got the ball in hand.
I thought he was a bit quieter in the second half which is why he didn't get the Warrior of the day nod, but you can really see the difference Tohu has made to this side this year.
I think it is no coincidence that David is playing his best season ever for the Warriors at the same time that Tohu is playing on that right edge.
He is a natural born leader, and I think he is going to be so integral to this Warriors side and their development of young talent coming through for years to come.
Round 15 sees the Warriors travel to Townsville to face the North Queensland Cowboys on Friday night.
The Cowboys have had a year to forget in 2018, but they have dangerous players all over the park so you would be a fool to take them lightly especially at home in front of their vocal fans.
The Warriors won by 10 in Round 5 when they hosted the Cowboys at Mount Smart, and I'm predicting another Warriors win this week, but this time I see the Warriors winning by 12.
The Warriors just need to replicate what they did in Christchurch, and they will be well on the way to getting the victory.
So that was my take on an excellent Round 14 performance, and as usual, I will leave you with some questions.
With rumours about Issac Luke possibly not being re-signed, what would you do? Sign him or let him go?
Who was your best performer of the night?
Do you think the Warriors will stay in the top four for the remainder of the season?
What is your score prediction for Round 15?
SJ was my warrior of the day, although there was a fair disagreement between us from VFTES! Chch was outstanding, a fantastic crowd and atmosphere. When it comes to Isaac Luke, I want to keep him.
ReplyDeleteI was tossing up between SJ, Ken, Fus, Thou and Papali'i as Warrior of the day they all pur their hands up but Ken was a monster. Yeah it looked like a great night down there, yes I want to keep Issac too, I think if Mannering does hang up the boots there is enough cap room to keep him.
Deletequestion for you Brad. With plenty of games remaining, does Fusitua go on to beat Francis Meli's record of 23 tries in a season?
ReplyDeleteI think Meli's record is as good as gone this year.
DeleteI will be gutted if we lose Luke, not just for how he plays, but the bloke he is. Nate is a very solid backup (provided he doesn't get injured again), and we still have Lawton and Tevaga to slot in behind Nate on the pecking order. None of them can bring what Luke does though in his performance and leadership. Good point about Mannerings possible retirement, although is his retirement from rep duties to enable him to extend his NRL career a bit longer.
ReplyDeleteI'm going 'men of the match' this week. Fus and Johnson combo. Neither would be as effective without the other. It doesn't matter how good the rest of the perform if we're not getting points on the board. Johnson running across field, drawing in defenders then allowing Fus to finish like Fus does is one of the best combos in the comp. Ken and Tohu are both a close second.
Top 4 for me really depends on the spine staying together. If we lose RTS, Luke, or Johnson for many more games, then I don't think we will maintain our spot. I would be VERY shocked if we dropped out of the 8 though.
I'm hoping for another big score this week, and with the way the Cowboys have been playing, there is no reason why this isn't possible. We need to start clawing back some of the damage that was done to our points differential by the Storm and Roosters. The Cowboys have done a bit of a reshuffle this week though, so anything is possible.
I will be gutted if we lose Issac too Jason, I think he has been an integral part of the team this season, I'm hopeful he sticks around.
ReplyDeleteSimon may play on now that he retired from Kiwis duty, we just haveto play the waiting game with him right now.
Men of the match was almost where I went too, but just wanted to highlight Ken's improvement this season.
Fus is coming for Meli's season try tally record with relative ease.
Healthy spine = top 4 in my eyes right now and yes I struggle to see them falling out of the eight right now.
Please be a big score on Friday, the P/D really needs some work and the Cowboys fall from grace has been one of my biggest surprises this season.