After returning to the winner's circle in Round 5, the Warriors made their way to Bankwest Stadium to face the South Sydney Rabbitohs.
Confidence was high that the New Zealand side had turned a corner with newfound attacking potential, but it wasn't to be as the Rabbitohs defeated the Warriors with ease, handing them their fourth loss of the season 40-12.
Man oh man, the Warriors up-down journey continues.
I really thought that the team had clicked last week and they started the match with glimpses of what they can do on attack and my prediction of a close game appeared to be coming true with both sides trading blows with neither getting the upper hand.
That is until the Warriors looked sure to score only for Dane Gagai to intercept a Peta Hiku pass and run 70 metres in the other direction. Roger Tuivasa-Sheck managed to cut Gagai off but then Kodi Nikorima was sin-binned for flopping onto Gagai, and this swung the momentum in the Rabbitohs favour and the Warriors never recovered. Cody Walker also got sin-binned 10 minutes later. Unlike the Rabbitohs, the Warriors did not have that killer instinct to take advantage having an extra man on the field and in fact allowed the Rabbitohs to score once again of an overlap which just highlights the Warriors issues on defence.
A big talking point in this period was David Fusitu'a's dropped try, he looked certain to score and copped a knock to the head by a misguided arm swing by Latrell Mitchell. This knock to the head saw Fusitu'a eventually go off the field for an HIA, and he did not return. There was no penalty for this, and I feel that this was the wrong call, what Mitchell did was an accident, but it was still contact to the head, so a penalty needed to be called.
You can't say that the result would have been any different if Fusitu'a had scored there, but the Warriors would have been closer on the scoreboard, but I think their defensive issues would still have cost them the match.
Unlike last week, there wasn't much to praise, but there was one, which leads me to my positive from the match.
I thought the young forward pack had another strong showing, Lachlan Burr being ruled out of the match after only ten minutes meant that the young prop rotation had more minutes and I don't think they let anyone down. Jamayne Taunoa-Brown is my standout in the front row to date this season closely followed by Poasa Faamausili who unfortunately will be returning to the Roosters soon, it would be great if the Warriors can someone negotiate to keep him long term, but I don't the Roosters will let him go. Either way, my confidence in the pack for 2021 has grown after what I have seen this year, especially with Ben Murdoch-Masila arriving.
There was plenty to be concerned with, however, which leads me to my negatives from the game.
Injuries seem to be the flavour of the season for the New Zealand outfit with Burr and Fusitu'a's failed HIA's and a leg injury to Eliesa Katoa reducing the Warriors to a two-man bench and limited minutes for the exciting rookie.
The reduced bench saw some fatigue set in during the later stages of the match and losing a winger meant the backline had tobe rejigged which saw the Warriors attack suffer. Hopefully, these injuries are nothing major, and the Warriors don't lose anyone else longterm.
The Warriors defence was abysmal, they missed 41 tackles and appeared to struggle with their defensive reads. Alex Johnston's overlap try when the Rabbitohs only had 12 men should never have happened, and the Warriors camp needs to seriously work on their defensively model this week if they want to prevent another blowout.
The Warriors respect for the ball was dire, making 11 errors during the match. You could say that the Warriors were trying to force opportunities as they were falling further and further behind on the scoreboard but the basic errors they were making showed how far behind the top tier sides they really are.
Unforced errors flows right into my last negative from the match, and that is the Warriors lack of polish. Not including Fusitu'a's dubious dropped ball over the try-line, the Warriors would have scored two more tries if they were able to just hold onto the ball as they crossed the chalk. Throw in the intercept by Gagai which should have been a try for the Warriors, and that's three tries the Warriors should have scored.
It showed that the Warriors can get themselves into scoring positions they just need to work on capitalising on those opportunities.
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My Warrior of the game goes to Karl Lawton, he was on the bench to give Wayde Egan a break at dummy half but found himself playing on the edge for an extended period of the game. Admittingly Lawton was one of those players that dropped the ball over the line, but he was also one of the few players that appeared to be out there giving everything he had.
Lawton plays aggressively and always threatens to open the opposing defence up with strong runs and needs to be a constant in the Warriors 17 for the rest of the season.
With Egan looking to spend time on the sideline due to his eye raking incident on Latrell Mitchell, Lawton should walk straight into the starting hooker position and will be looking to make the number 9 jersey permanently his.
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Unfortunately, it was hard to single out a Warrior to improve this week with several putting their hands up, but I've settled on two this week, Gerard Beale and Peta Hiku.
Beale is a solid enough player; however, he lacks size and speed, he doesn't need both, but he needs one of either. His hands let him down, and his defensive reads were sub-par in this match, and I think the sun is setting on his NRL career and it is time that the Warriors look to their youngsters to fill his spot in the side.
Hat trick hero Hiku went from diamonds to rocks this week, he was a handful on attack at times but did lose the ball over the chalk and was the one that threw the pass straight to Gagai. The Rabbitohs did their research and targeted Hiku on defence, and he was a turnstile once again missing 5 tackles. His combination with Maumalo last year was excellent. If he can get Ken into scoring Opportunites once again when the big man returns, then he may keep himself in the side, but with the recent changes with the club (more on that below) he also may find himself put out to pasture.
Round 7 sees the Warriors travel to face a Melbourne Storm side that will still be hurting from their loss to the Penrith Panthers. The game was meant to played at AAMI Park but due to a recent COVID scare the match has to be moved to a yet to be announced location.
The usual Anzac day clash between these sides was delayed due to COVID, but it is usually a bad time for the New Zealand side, normally getting trounced by the Storm.
With the sacking of Stephen Kearney, I have no idea what 17 we will see on the park for the Warriors, will it be the same side or will Todd Payten shake things up? I honestly have no idea but either way, unfortunately, I think the Warriors are going to go down once again, the Storm seldom lose two games in a row, and I'm predicting the Storm to win by 20.
Finally, before I go my thoughts on the firing of Stephen Kearney.
The timing of it I believe was poor, but the decision was correct, I'm just unsure why it wasn't done at the end of last season. From all accounts, Kearney is a great guy, but he just wasn't the right fit, and for the past four years I have questioned his gameplan, team selections and his use of the interchange. I hope he lands on his feet somewhere else and thinks he should go back to being an assistant coach as I believe that is where he flourishes.
The make or break of this club is now placed firmly on the shoulders of Warriors management, and they need to pick the right guy to turn this side around otherwise they too may be looking for new career opportunities.
In regards to who I would pick I cannot say, I know Geoff Toovey has put his hand up, and he could do well, he also hasn't coached for a few years.
There were also rumours that Craig Fitzgibbon and even Wayne Bennett (or at least Bennett's management) have let the club know of their interest. If the Bennett rumour is real and he could get out of the final year of his contract, I would take him in a heartbeat.
Fitzgibbon has also shown great potential as an up and coming coach who won't get the top job at the Roosters for some time, so this may be his best chance.
The club could also throw a hail mary and throw cash at Craig Bellamy who is in his final year at Melbourne, the odds of he coming to New Zealand are slim but what's the harm in asking?
Another option would be the Walker brothers, now they may not even be interested, but they encourage the type of exciting playstyle that we all would like to see the Warriors return to. They appear to have been tailormade to coach the Warriors.
As long as the Warriors take their time and make the correct decision instead of just trying to make a quick one, I will be happy.
The performances on the field may continue to disappoint, but at least there may be some interesting stories in the upcoming months off the field as the search for the saviour coach continues.
So that was a disheartening Round 6, and as usual, I will leave you with some questions.
Who was your player of the day?
What changes would you make to the game day 17?
What is your take on Kearney's sacking, and who would you sign as the new coach?
What is your score prediction against the Storm?
That was back to what we came to expect as the standard Warriors performance for a long time. Missed opportunities, lame last tackle options, poor defence and regular penalties and handling errors gifting the opposition field position and soft tries.
ReplyDeleteAgain I agree with your player of the day; Lawton at least looked ambitious and ran and tackled like he meant it.
We just have too many players that just are not good enough for this level of competition. Beale is a great example of this. How many of our players would start for any of the top four or even eight sides? 3 or 4 at most.
Now that we have learned that those up high are happy to make strong, non-emotive decisions with the sacking of Kearney, let's see them do the same with some of the players. I suppose it is easier to sack one coach than ten players. But here we are again with a sacked coach and the same old discussions about what's going wrong. I often feel that while problems are not always attributable to the coach, the right coach may be able to fix them. Kearney is possibly the sort of coach who would do a good job with a better side. As for timing, the best time to sack a coach is when you have decided to do it, simple as that. On the other hand, is any interim coach going to do a better job for the remainder of the season, particularly given the impact this has reportedly had on the players? It does seem like an experienced, proven coach is the way to go but how many of them are available, and could you get them to N.Z? Bennett would probably be great but I can't see it happening. Things are not about to get any easier, especially for us fans.
Just a sweeping statement on changes: Will we ever see Keighran or Pulu on the field again? What about Milne or Roache? Will Perham get more chances? And of what of Chanel Harris-Tevita?
I foolishly pick a Warriors win each week but who would pick them against a Storm team coming off a loss? Not me today so I am going for a draw. Imagine that.