NZ Warriors Round 18 Review: Warriors season still alive after heart-stopping victory over Sharks

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After the disappointing draw in Round 17, the Warriors returned to New Zealand taking their home match to Westpac Stadium, hosting the Cronulla Sharks who after four losses in a row were desperate to get back into the winner's circle.
It wasn't to be as the Warriors came from behind, keeping their season alive with a nailbiting 19-18 victory.

I will admit that I was not confident that the Warriors would get a win here. I predicted the Sharks to win by eight here and on my drive down to Wellington for the match. The news of Ken Maumalo and David Fusitu'a not being fit to play pushed my confidence down further.
But I have never been happier to be wrong as the Warriors showed determination and a desire to win that has been sorely absent for most of 2019.
Adam Pompey did not disappoint in his debut, Blake Ayshford was also solid in his return. Fans, however, will still be hopeful that Maumalo and Fusitu'a are back for Round 19.

The Sharks have been in a slump for the past month. The frustration within the team was clearly evident as they essentially allowed the Warriors back into this match via silly errors and brain snaps.
The Warriors have lacked confidence this season, but this match should have given that a much-needed boost as they head into the final stage of the season.
There is still plenty of improvement in this side, but they can hold their heads high after this match, which leads me to my positives from the game.

With Maumalo not being able to play in this match, the Warriors forwards needed to pull their weight more than ever. And for the most part, they did with five of the pack running for over 100 metres.
Ken is vital in the start of the Warriors sets but if the pack can continue to perform like this when he returns the Warriors will be in prime position to continue notching up wins.

The Warriors dominated possession and territory, forcing the Sharks to fight out of their own red zone for the majority off their sets. The Warriors didn't convert this dominance into a lot of points (more on that below), but I believe with their confidence returning the points will start to flow if they can keep their opponents camped in their own half.

After their Golden Point defeat in round 15 and last weeks draw. It appeared that the Warriors did not have the playmakers to set up and get those narrow victories. The Warriors were smart in the final stages of this match surging up the field and allowing Blake Green to nail what was unbelievably a career first field goal.
Taking the penalties when on offer was smart even if I wasn't happy about it at the time. In the wet conditions with a Sharks team failing to keep their discipline in check, nailing those penalties keep the scoreboard ticking over and more importantly allowed the Warriors to keep hold of possession.

Lastly, I want to highlight Westpac Stadium, I haven't gone to a league match at the Cake Tin before, and I loved it.
The central location gave plenty of options for a drink both before and after the game (shout out to the View from the East stand lads who I briefly caught up with before kickoff), and despite the weather, my seats were pretty good too.
If the Warriors take a game to Wellington next season, I will be making the trip down once again.

The match wasn't perfect, though, which leads me to my negatives.

My biggest concern was the lack of execution, although the Warriors had the lion share of territory they struggled to convert it into points.
Blake Green was running the ball a lot. But for some reason, he was often doing it on the fourth tackle meaning that Kodi Nikorima had to take control of the last tackle options and as he has done for the majority of his time with the Warriors he chose to run it on the last.
The Warriors need to stop doing this so often as it is not bearing fruit. In the wet conditions, it was the perfect opportunity to either kick the ball high or place grubbers through, putting more pressure on the Sharks and ultimately lead to more tries.

The Warriors defence around the ruck area still needs plenty of work, the Sharks made them pay with sniping runs out of dummy half. Unless they tighten up the middle, you can expect the opposition in the upcoming rounds focus on attack the Warriors straight up the middle.

My last negative is errors. The Warriors completed 83% of their sets, but they still continue to make errors while in scoring positions. Errors on the first tackle of the set or directly off a scrum are coach killers and need to be scrubbed out if the Warriors are to keep their season alive.

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My Warrior of the match goes to Roger Tuivasa-Sheck.
It was hard this week as Blake Green was key to the Warriors winning this match, but with his constant running on the fourth I had to go with Roger.
Despite the Warrior topsy turvy season, Roger is one of a select few players in the squad that have been consistently performing.
Rogers game stats have been through the roof for the past five weeks and this week was no different with the Fullback leading the Warriors in running metres and line breaks.
The great thing for Warriors fans and the scary thing for the opposition is that at 26 years of age, the best is yet to come from the current Dally M medalist.

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My Warrior to improve was just as hard, but it goes to Isaiah Papali'i.
Unfortunately, Papali'i was guilty of some of those errors mentioned above, and he also made some poor defensive reads, which resulted in scoring opportunities for the Sharks.
He is only in his second year in first grade, and at his young age, this is merely a hiccup. I know he will continue to grow and develop and be a better player for it.

Round 19 has the Warriors heading to the impressive Bankwest Stadium to face the Parramatta Eels.
The Eels have had a good season so far but lost in a high scoring affair in round 18 against the Manly Sea Eagles.
More troublesome for the Warriors is that the Eels have a 6-2 record at Bankwest and will be confident that they can make it 7-2 on Saturday night.

A win here could even see the Warriors creep into the top eight for the first time since round 2.
The Warriors should hopefully see the return of Maumalo and Fusitu'a (perhaps even Patrick Herbert will be back too), which will strengthen the side's attacking ability.
If the Warriors can keep the Eels camped in their own half like they did to the Sharks, then they will be well on the way to victory.
Unfortunately, I don't see the Warriors getting the win here. The Eels will be hurting from their round 17 defeat and will be looking at making a statement in front of their vocal home crowd, so I'm picking the Eels to win by 14.

So that was my take on a heartstopping Round 18, and as usual, I will leave you with some questions.

Now sitting at ninth on the ladder, do you see the Warriors creeping into the top eight?
Who was your Warrior of the day, and your Warrior to improve?
Who has been your Warrior of the season?
What is your score prediction for Round 19?