After their poor round 1 effort, the Warriors made their way to their makeshift home ground in the Gold Coast to face the 2019 grand finalist Canberra Raiders.
After their decision to stay in Australia for as long as was required, the Warriors received a lot of love and fanfare on both sides of the Tasman. However, it didn't help them on gameday as the Raiders cruised to a 20-6 victory that left the Warriors with more questions than answers.
I came into this match expecting very little and walked away, feeling I got what I expected.
The Warriors looked to be in the fight for a lot of the first half, but the Raiders appeared to be sluggish, and the Warriors weren't good enough to capitalise.
Honestly, I'm not sure what the Warriors can do to turn 2020 around. Being away from family for an unknown length of time would be a tough situation that many people would struggle and will no doubt be taking a toll on the side, but that is not an excuse for what they offered on Saturday.
If the season does continue on during this crisis, then Stephen Kearney and his players need to make changes now.
Much like last week, there wasn't much to praise, but I had a few highlights which leads me to my positives from the match.
After a terrible display of discipline in Round 1, the Warriors did at least reduce their penalty count, this is a welcome sign as the Warriors continue to struggle on attack and defence and any piggyback they give the opposition will undoubtedly lead to a long day at the office.
I thought Adam Keighran had a strong game and showed some spark when on attack. The Warriors need more of that, so if he is not going to continue to play centre for the Warriors, they need to move him into the halves to give the Warriors someone who will keep the opposing defence guessing.
There was plenty to be concerned with, however, which leads me to my negatives from the game.
While the penalties were down the errors went up, in dry conditions, it is unacceptable to make 13 errors, especially when so many of them were schoolboy errors. Much like the penalties above, the Warriors are currently not a good enough side to let their opponents off the hook with unforced errors, increase the accuracy and it makes it easier to get the victory.
That win will be a long way away; however, if the Warriors attack does not improve.
All the talk of this new gameplan, unleashing the Warriors second phase has not developed into anything on the field. It is the same one out hit ups that have been a staple of the Warriors campaigns since Stephen Kearneys time as coach started.
The halves do not appear to be on the same page and this, in turn, makes the backline appear disorganised, the forwards aren't bending the defensive line or offloading. It makes for a very dull and ineffective attacking platform. If the Warriors are going to continue to suffer defeats at least go down swinging.
My last negative is the missed tackles, the Warriors missed 46 tackles in this match, and if you do that against any team in the NRL, you are going to get punished.
Defence is all about attitude and having trust in your teammates, so on a positive note, hopefully, this team spent isolated in Australia will help develop that much-needed trust.
There is plenty to work on, but with some positional changes and attitude adjustments, the Warriors may be able to get themselves into the winners circle sooner rather than later.
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| Copyright Photo: Getty Images |
After a strong debut, Katoa was rewarded with a position in the starting line up, and he did not disappoint. Running for 157 metres, including 4 tackle breaks, an offload and 27 tackles, if I was to nitpick, I would point out his 4 missed tackles, but that was the only blemish on what was a strong second outing for the rookie.
2020 will most likely be a disappointment for Warriors fans, but the emergence of Katoa should at least have fans hopeful for the future.
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| Copyright Photo: Getty Images |
Plenty of players in the side had poor performances, but Blair just made too many errors for my liking. Changes need to be made in this side, and players like Blair appear to be blocking the way for some talented youngsters that the Warriors have in their second-row stocks. I would look to be using Blair in the front row for the remainder of the season where the Warriors have some depth issues currently and let the talented youngsters like Katoa and Joshua Curran flourish with more game time.
Currently, the NRL plans to proceed with round 3 which would see the Warriors face the Manly Sea Eagles at Lottoland in Sydney.
The venue may very well change depending on the Coronavirus situation, but the Sea Eagles will be coming in as hot favourites after their win over the Roosters.
Manly looked good against the reigning premiers and will be a mighty task for the Warriors to face and unfortunately, I don't see the Warriors walking away with their first win in 2020, and I'm predicting a 20 point victory for the Sea Eagles.
So that was a poor Round 2, and as usual, I will leave you with some questions.
How do the Warriors start to turn their season around?
Who was your player of the match?
With the talks of loan players currently, which unsigned/reserve grade player would you grab?
What is your score prediction for the Manly clash?
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