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Unlike the Round 18 clash in Wellington, however, this match was a onesided affair as the Sharks heavily defeated the Warriors 42-16.
Well, the joy of being a Warriors fan continues with the second massive defeat in a row, I feel like I could just cut and paste from last weeks review and call it a day as the Warriors offered the exact same poor performance.
Last week I pointed to Gerard Beale's injury and the teams position changes being a reason for the pitiful performance but this week the Warriors were as close to full strength as they have been in weeks and they still offered very little in the form of competition against a team that was was reduced to a two-man bench.
The forwards minus a select few could not compete upfront, and this flowed through to the rest of the team with the halves offering very little in regards to last tackle options.
Issac Luke and Kodi Nikorima were unable to rush out of dummy half, and this lead to the boring one out football the Warriors have delivered for the majority of 2020, completing a high percentage of sets is great but what's the point if you are unable to score points.
Fans know the season is done for and are just looking for pride and passion.
If the Warriors went down swinging against these top eight teams, you might be able to stomach the losses a little, but the Warriors have been bullied for the past three defeats. With games against the Rabbitohs and Raiders to end their season, I don't see that trend stopping.
This team or in fact the club appears to be broken and if changes are not made, be it roster or office changes then 2020 will undoubtedly deliver similar results.
Now there wasn't much to praise, so let's just get into my positives from the match.
The only time the Warriors looked good in this match was when they were able to offload, I have said it before, and I will say it now when the Warriors can play second-phase football they are a hard team to stop.
If the forwards can pop the ball out to Tuivasa-Sheck, Nikorima or Harris-Tavita running off the shoulder, you are almost guaranteed points.
With the season well and truly over I hope to see the players throw the ball around, bring back that exciting style of play to convince the fans to show up in 2020.
My last positive is that there are only two weeks left in the Warriors season.
You can call me facetious, but 2019 has been a tough watch, don't get me wrong I love writing about the Warriors, but I am looking forward to having a break in a few weeks after I complete my season review ( a review Im not looking forward too).
A lot of work needs to happen to improve this club by 2020, but the upcoming offseason should provide some interesting stories, I'm sure.
That was all that came to mind for my positives, so onto the negatives.
I praised the Warriors for their offloads, but their weak defence allowed the Sharks to offload almost at will and Cronulla punished them for it.
The Warriors have conceded 40+ points in their past three defeats, and that is down to their poor defence.
Defence is all about attitude and effort, and the Warriors are lacking in both, the need to ensure that the wrap up the ball carrier in the last two rounds if they want to stop the one-way traffic.
There were times in this match were the Warriors competed, they showed up in patches defensively, driving the Sharks runners backwards and showing some promise on attack but to compete in the NRL you need to play for 80minutes, part-timers don't win premierships.
Before the game, Cameron George spoke in the media about his views on the season and the fact that players are not pulling their weight.
He also said that they may be discussions with some of these players about their futures, Nikorima came out later in the week saying that George should say it to the players directly instead of the media and Kearney also came out and said the George should leave that talk to him instead.
Now I think what George said is actually what a lot of fans have been saying or at least thinking anyway but hearing the reactions from Nikorima and Kearney, it is clear to that tensions are building within the club, and we may well see some significant changes in a few weeks.
Speaking of Kearney, he delivered another pearl with his bench, dropping Bunty Afoa for Blake Ayshford.
Bunty has been great off the bench this season and not having him on the pine was a colossal mistake and giving Ayshford 9 minutes was just a waste of a spot.
If Kearney continues to prove that he cannot learn how to use a bench, then I struggle to see him being the man that gets the Warriors out of the hole they are in.
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It was slim pickings, but I had to go with RTS, he didn't have the best game himself, but he was still head and shoulders above the rest of the squad.
You know that Roger is going to give 100% out there, but he really needs the rest of the team to at least meet him in the middle.
Fingers crossed the team gets on the same page as Roger sooner rather than later.
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May sound harsh, but besides a handful of players (Roger, Burr, Ah Mau, Jazz, Ken and Hiku) the rest of the players left a lot to be desired.
It felt like they had given up and were just going through the motions and counting down to the seasons' end.
As mentioned above the Warriors only have pride to play for now, so how about showing the fans some of that pride.
Round 24 sees the Warriors return home for the last time in 2019 to face the South Sydney Rabbitohs.
As much as I would like to say the Warriors will come out and put on a great performance to thank the home crowd for what has been a brutal year at Mount Smart.
I just don't see it happening, the Warriors have shown that they struggle to defend the ruck area and they are facing Damien Cook who excels at taking advantage of slow markers, and I think he is going to have a field day.
I hope im wrong, but I just don't see the Warriors walking away victors on Friday night, so im picking the Rabbitohs to win by 22.
So that was my take on an awful Round 23, and as usual, I will leave you with some questions.
What changes would you make to club, either onfield or off?
Do you have a player of the match?
Do you think these heavy defeats will continue for the last two weeks?
What is your score prediction for the last home game?
We suffer with you Brad, it must be disheartening to be writing about a game and team that you love every week, but they just keep disappointing us. As you say, we have said it all before, and we have even said it all before before! It just keeps on coming.
ReplyDeleteI actually managed to persuade myself to feel positive at half time against the Sharks because I foolishly thought we were still in the game. Our attack was pretty non-threatening as usual but what's going on with our defence? Remember how good it was most of the time last year? You mention defence being about attitude, which is what a lot of people say, so what is the Warriors attitude on defence? What are they wanting to do or think that they are doing? Whatever it is, it is not working.
You ask a big question about on or off-field changes. It could be simplified a bit maybe by reflecting on a recent question: Is it the players, the coach, or the management? For some reason I feel that Kearney is not the main problem, but then, if he is not the problem, would you call him the solution? I find it hard to say he is.
Recruitment has been criticised, but that can't be easy either, you can't just pick anyone you want, they have to want to come to Auckland, which a lot of good players just don't seem to want to do, not in the peak of their career anyway. It is hard to say how much of an influence Cameron George has on the way the team play, but his public statements seemed pretty reasonable, despite the reaction that was generated.
As for the players, desire and attitude does get mentioned a lot with this side but surely, they desire victories? Please don't tell me they don't care? That can't be true. Are the players just not that good? They have been at times haven't they? The capability and desire does exist. It's in there somewhere. Sometimes. Feeling frustrated!
My player of the match was Jazz Tevaga. Mainly because he just turned up everywhere, was involved in everything and made a lot of tackles.
Just a thought on Papali'i, who I have been critical of, I was reminded by Saturday's commentators that he is still only 20 years old, even though it seems he has been around for a while, so I am going to soften my stance on him for now and give him some more time.
It is hard to see us not suffering big losses for our last two games, but our good win over Manly was not that long ago so I remain positive.
I am travelling from the south island to attend the Souths game, only my third of the season (including the Magic Round) so I expect a win for us by 9 points.
I've been doing this consistently since the 2016 season so in reality I've only had one good season to write about (last year) so I should be use to having to write about poor performances but yes it's not easy, add to that writing match previews and reviews for the NothingButLeague website and it makes for an unhappy weekend.
ReplyDeleteI can't put my finger on what has happened with the Defence, last year they were pretty good but still had an issue missing tackles, the Warriors just excelled with goal line defence last year.
In regards to attitude, defence is hard, you need to make the tackle get up, rush back to the defensive line and rinse and repeat. At times it appears that the Warriors are not that interested in the rinse and repeat section and look to be hoping that someone else will do it. They need an all in mentality.
Yeah I'm truly unsure as to exactly what the issue is but i feel like it may be a little of everything (Players, Coaches and Management).
I feel like all those departments are not on the same page which is no doubt causing issues.
It's very hard to get players to move over here but maybe they need to focus on developing talent, I know that takes longer and the Warriors fan base is not known for it's patience but if you look at the amount of young Kiwi talent getting picked up by the Oz teams you know there is plenty of potential out there.
I had no issues with what Cameron said, in fact I tend to agree with him, I was more concerned with the reaction from Kearney and Nikorima, I think Kearney should have agreed with his boss as opposed to trying to protect players who are not performing.
It's hard to gauge desire and attitude within a player, and yes it's fair to say that the players do care.
You shouldn't have to rely of your teammates, coaches or CEO's to stoke your desire, that all should come from within.
Having never played professionally I can't comment on what affect the media and fans comments have on the players but I know that my desire to win exceeded the talent I had and probably was the reason I played longer than I should have.
Jazz was good, he is one of those players who is full of heart and desire, I was also happy to see him no longer a hooker as playing there does him no favors.
Isaiah is still young so as poor as his season has been, I do see him growing into a mainstay in this team, he just needs time.
I hope your right with your prediction but unfortunately I feel that some more hidings are on the way.