NZ Warriors 2021 Round 7 Review: Hughes puts injury ravaged Warriors to sword but rookies show promise

After Round six's improved performance against the Dragons, the Warriors made the trip to AAMI Park to face the Storm in their annual Anzac day clash.

The Warriors came into this match with plenty of players in the casualty ward, leaving many fans, including myself, fearing for the worse but also excited to see the debuts of youngsters Rocco Berry and Reece Walsh. After looking competitive for the first ten minutes, the Storm ran away with a comprehensive 42-20 victory.

Well, I can't say I was surprised about the outcome here, the Storm has a long history of putting big scores on the Warriors on Anzac Day, and this match was no different. 

A try to former Warriors loan player George Jennings in the third minute got the scoring started before the Warriors responded in the seventh minute when Ken Maumalo scored from a nice cutout pass. The match was looking to be a tight tussle until the sin-binning of Josh Curran after the bunker controversially claimed that he made illegal contact to Jennings head. With a man down and inexperience players on the edge, the Storm made scoring look easy with Jahrome Hughes causing the Warriors plenty of issues, having a hand in four tries in quick succession via Felise Kaufusi, Nicho Hynes and a double by Reimis Smith, taking a 26-4 lead into the break. The Warriors attempted to make a contest the out of the match when Ben Murdoch-Masila barged his way over in the 43rd minute. This appeared to give the New Zealand side a second wind, with their attack looking more dangerous in patches. Still, it was their defence that let them down again, with the Storm continuing to score at will with Justin Olam running over Roger Tuivasa-Sheck in the 51st minute before Josh Addo-Carr scored a double in the 64th and 67th minute to put the game beyond doubt. The Warriors attempted to end their night on a positive note, with Walsh setting up two more tries for Maumalo in the 73rd and 77th minute to hand the big winger the first hat-trick of his NRL career.

With so many players out of this match-up, I was already concerned, but then the news that Tohu Harris would miss the match had me all but write off the Warriors chances here. There were patches in this match where they looked good, making some good defensive plays and playing some positive football when on attack. However, whenever they weren't in one of those patches, the Storm made them pay. This match was always going to be a tough task, but the next month of football has four definitely winnable matches, so the future is not all doom and gloom, especially with some key players set to return in the next few weeks.

Despite the result, a few things left a smile on my face, which leads to my positives from the match.

Match Positives

The forwards didn't offer the same impact that we saw last week, but I was impressed with the performance of Ben Murdoch-Masila. He was relegated to the bench for this match but was strong when he got on the park, carrying multiple defenders with each carry and barging over for his third try of the year. With the injury to Addin Fonua-Blake, BMM is the guy in this pack that can make a dent in the defensive line, and the Warriors need to get him involved more.

I thought Reece Walsh and Rocco Berry had pretty good debuts. More on Walsh below, but Berry did not look out of place in the centres; he defended reasonably well, only missing one, and made a few nice runs ending the match with 90 metres. He hasn't played a lot of league but looks like a great prospect once he gets some games under his belt.

I liked the Warriors attack at times; in the patches where they decided to play expansive football, they took it to the Storms defensive line and asked questions. The key this week is for the Warriors to play like that for the entire match instead of showing us tiny glimpses of what they can offer. I'm not sure if the Warriors were helped with the way the team was structured, but I think with a few tweaks to the game day 17, this side could play some enterprising football.

There were things that concerned me, however, which leads me to my negative from the match.

Match Negatives

Defence, once again, is my bugbear with the Warriors missing 30 tackles. The Storm is always a dangerous side with the ball in hand, but they murdered the Warriors' left-edge defence. With many changes to the roster, it simply looked like there was a lack of trust and communication between the players. I have my fingers crossed that this is something the coaches address this week, and we see an improvement this Sunday.

While I praised the Warriors attack in patches, they fell back into old habits when they started to fall behind on the scoreboard, resorting to the one-out running that plagued the side for seasons. Judging by comments from Nathan Brown after the match, this isn't a directive from him that players need to own it and stop falling into this predictable attack. When they spread it out a little further than one of the ruck, they were troubling the Storm, who have a great defensive record so clearly getting the ball past the first man off the ruck works, so Warriors, please put this old style in the bin.

Speaking of bins, that sin-bin call against Josh Curran was one of the biggest howlers I have seen this season. I didn't think much of Matt Cecchin officiating, but this call was not his; it was the bunkers. It was a legal tackle that unfortunately resulted in Jennings getting injured due to a head clash with Curran. Losing Curran at this moment sucked all the energy out of the Warriors and turn the tide heavily in the Storms favour. I don't think it was enough to ruin any chance the Warriors had of winning, but it was a shocking call none the less. What makes this call even worse is that Curran has been sighted for his tackle and could be suspended for 3-5 weeks. If that happens, it is a travesty and technically should change the way the NRL is played; Curran had a head clash with Jennings, so if this decision holds, does this mean that any accidental head clash will result in a sin-binning and suspension. Hopefully, cooler heads prevail at the Judiciary, and he does not get punished.

Warrior of the match 

Copyright Photo: New Zealand Herald

I went with Reece Walsh as my Warrior of the round.

The Warriors have a bonafide star in the making in Walsh. While he was found wanting on defence on multiple occasions, he offered some much-needed spark to the Warriors attack; the decision to start him at fullback and move Roger Tuivasa-Sheck was an interesting one and not one I would have made and after watching his performance, I would be moving him into five-eighth right away. He has been playing there in the reserve grade, and right now, it strengthens the Warriors, keeping RTS out the back and increasing the attacking capabilities of the halves. His size has many people worried, but he showed heart and no fear when he was taking the line on, and man, does this kid has a boot on him.

I'm not sure what the Warriors plays are for Walsh for the rest of 2021, but I expect the 18-year-old to feature in the Warriors 17 for the rest of the season.

Warrior to Improve

Copyright Photo: Getty Images

My Warrior to improve is Kodi Nikorima.

I'm not sure what else there is to say about Nikorima that I haven't already said in the rest of my Warriors to improve sections that he has been involved in. He continues to fail to deliver and is proving each week that he is not a half. He ran 10 times for 51 metres and also kicked 10 times for 204 metres. It just isn't good enough, and the performance of Walsh just further highlighted the lacklustre effort Nikorima is offering. He also was a massive liability defensively, constantly moving off his man and putting extra pressure on his outside men. Besides his performance, his comments at the end of the match just rubbed me the wrong way; instead of owning up to his efforts, he pushed the blame elsewhere, citing that the coach moving him to halfback affected his game and that his edge defence was hindered by inexperienced players. This is not how an experienced player should act, in my opinion. Perhaps I am off the mark and am just used to hearing Tuivasa-Sheck not throw his teammates under the bus. Still, if it was me, I would be moving Nikorima to the bench as a utility or sending him to reserve grade for a spell to give his attitude a well-needed adjustment.

Next game's thoughts and predictions

Round 8 sees the Warriors return to the Central Coast to face a Cowboys outfit riding a three-game winning streak. This will be a tougher match than I would have predicted a few weeks back, but the Warriors stand a great chance of returning to the winner's circle here. The Cowboys have looked good the past few rounds, but I am going with a Warriors win by 10; I think the Warriors have what it takes to get the job done, just as long as the forwards do their part and the halves get the backs involved.

Team naming Tuesday will be interesting, and I'm not sure what Brown will pick this week, but if it was me, I would probably keep the backline as it was except for moving RTS back into fullback, Walsh into five-eighth and O'Sullivan back into the halfback. I would be happy to keep them how they were in the forwards, with Harris returning to lock being the only change.

Before I go, I just wanted to do a shameless plug. I have started writing a weekly segment for The Final Tackle Podcast every Monday where I recap the entire round, so if you are interested in my take on all the NRL games each week, go check it out at the link below.

The Final Tackle - Brad's Ramblings Round Recap

So that was deflating Round 7, and as usual, I will leave you with some questions?

What would you do with Reece Walsh?
Who was your player of the day?

Was I too harsh on Nikorima?

What is your score prediction for the Cowboys clash?