 |
| Copyright Photo: Sunshine Coast Daily |
Despite some last-minute personnel changes, the Warriors showed improved attitude and effort but could not close the game out losing a tight tussle 28-24.
This is a hard game to review, on the one hand, I believe it was one of their better performances this season, and on the other hand, some glaring issues appear to show no signs of getting better.
Losing Blake Green in the warm-up before the match forced changes that didn't help the Warriors cause with Peta Hiku moving into the halves and Gerard Beale moving into the centres.
In fact, when I heard that news my heart sunk, I will admit I the though the Warriors were on the way to a landslide defeat.
But both players did well enough as late minute changes, but the absence of Green was evident as the game progressed, I think his experience would have been vital in that final twenty minutes when the Warriors had a 12 point lead and really needed to play smart and close out the match.
There were some good aspects of this match which lead me into my positives from the game.
Against one of the biggest packs in the competitions, the Warriors forward pack fronted, with the all starting forwards except for Adam Blair running for over 100 metres.
After some poor efforts from the pack at the beginning of 2019, the pack got together and had an honesty session, and after some home truths, it looks to have worked.
Hopefully, this is the beginning of a new mindset for the pack and not just a one-off.
It was good to see the offloads return in this match.
Against a large side like the Rabbitohs, you do need to utilise second phase play to get the larger bodies moving running around and tiring them out.
The Warriors are electric when they bring the offloads out, but the forwards have to do their part.
The new recruits continue to shine, Chanel Harris-Tavita had a good game for his second ever match.
There were some mistakes made by the rookie in regards to game management but without the guidance of an experienced half he did a lot better than I expected and this game will only help to develop his skill set for the future.
Lachlan Burr continues to impress me, he runs strong, tackles hard and still has the ability to offload up his sleeve.
Kearney still seems hesitant to give him longer minutes, but I think he the Warriors are a better outfit when he is on the paddock, so I'm hopeful we see he get more game-time.
There were still issues however which leads me to my negatives from the game.
That right edge defence, the Warriors missed 35 tackles, and it felt like they were almost all out on that side.
Cody Walker had a hell of a game, and he targeted the edge and caused them plenty of headaches.
It won't matter how much the Warriors attack improves if that edge defence remains at the poor level it currently is, they will not have a shot at getting back in the top eight again.
I still think Kata needs to be replaced, and that would approve both the attack and defence on that edge, but I am resigned to the fact that this change will not happen.
The errors continue to be too high for me, I know I praised the return of the offloads, and it is natural for the errors to increase when you are chancing your arm with second phase football, but the Warriors need to find that sweet spot without throwing 50/50 passes.
And lastly, I'm still not happy with their interchange rotation, after criticising Kearney only giving Ligi Sao 7 minutes last week I am pleased to say he at least improved by giving Sam Lisone 13 minutes but really come on Kearney your point of view on the bench is laughable.
 |
| Copyright Photo: Photosport |
Roger continues to go from strength to strength in 2019, he ran hard and offered plenty of attacking opportunities for the Warriors and stepped up and assisted the halves with playmaking options.
He also never shies away from his defensive responsibilities, and the Warriors would benefit tenfold if the rest of the squad could match with Roger's attitude in defence.
It would be scary to imagine where the Warriors would be right now if RTS wasn't there and I hope he manages to stay injury free for the remainder of the season.
 |
| Copyright Photo: Getty Images |
Although Blair lead the tackle count for the Warriors, his errors and penalties negated any positives he contributed to the match.
He needs to watch his late hits on players, its good to put that extra pressure on the opposition playmakers but hitting players off ball several seconds late when you are missing key players in your side is just a stupid play, silly penalties can turn momentum, and this helped the Rabbitohs get back into the fight.
With Green's absence, Blair needed to step up and be a leader for the younger guys, but in reality, he just highlighted what a liability he can be.
Round 6 sees the Warriors return home for Easter Weekend to face the North Queensland Cowboys on Saturday.
The Cowboys are having a season to forget so far with only one victory to date, and I don't see them getting a win here either.
The Warriors should hopefully welcome back Blake Green from injury which will bring back the much-needed game I.Q. and if the pack brings the same intensity they did in Round they should get the result, so I'm picking the Warriors to win by 12.
So that was my take on a tough Round 5, and as usual, I leave you with some questions.
What is your biggest positive from the Round 5 performance?
How would you fix the Warriors right edge?
Would you be confident with a Chanel Harris-Tavita and Adam Keighran half combo if Green is injured?
What is your score prediction for Round 6?
You summed the game up pretty well Brad. I'm trying to feel good about how we played and it was a good game to watch for about 60 minutes but really, it was a game we should have won but didn't. As has often been the case over the years, teams don't fear playing us at the moment, knowing that if they stay close, they have a good chance of getting us in the end. A solid win over Souths would have added some real credibility to our season and put a few doubts in teams waiting to play us. Maybe some calmer leadership later in the game would have helped us close the door on Souths, and possibly this is where Green was missed because we actually managed pretty well without him for most of the game. Biggest positive? We took on a strong forward pack against a team that was expected to dominate us and scored points and built a lead. I suppose the right edge just needs the right players in the right positions with an emphasis on defence. It would be interesting to see Keighran and Harris-Tevita play together and I think their performance would depend on the opposition a bit but I like to see young players given challenging opportunities and I would expect them to do a good job. I can't help feeling that a few close losses are coming our way but I must back them to beat the Cowboys by 13.
ReplyDeleteThanks Mark, I think the absence of Luke and Green took its toll in the late stages, a few more experienced players in the spine to close out the game could have bee the difference.
ReplyDeleteThe pack played well against the bigger Rabbits but they need to play like that every week.
Looking at how the squad was named for this weeks game they are going to stick with Hiku as the back up.
I think the Cowboys are spiralling right now so the Warriors need to put there foot down and get a commanding win here.
As we all know, teams on winning or losing streaks end up losing or winning eventually which is why I often prefer us to play teams who have a few consecutive wins. For this reason I was concerned when Manly beat Souths the other week, that win should have been ours, and I also have doubts about the Cowboys game this week after their string of losses . A similar situation develops this weekend with the Roosters Storm game. I believe it could be better for us if the Storm win, which will bring them closer to their first loss the following week against us! Might sound a bit desperate but things often go that way.
DeleteYeah the Cowboys are edeging closer and closer to breaking their losing streak I'm just hopeful that the Warriors can get the job done.
DeleteStorm game on Anzac day i am never confident for because the Warriors always perform really bad on that night for some reason.
we will not win a premiership with the existing centre partnership of the two Kata would be the first to drop you know it the entire warriors fan base know it and the only one that dosnt get it is Kearney!! and his bench selection and rotation management is poor Kearney win ratio as a coach is still at a shocking level although it did improve some what last year if been mediocre is our goal than we are right on target!!
ReplyDeleteI struggle to understand what how bad Kata needs to be before he is dropped, Kearneys team selection, bench section and interchange rotation dumbfounds me at the best of times and I don't see it improving.
Delete