NZ Warriors 2021 Round 8 Review: Warriors cling to victory after strong start almost undone

After Round seven's disappointing performance against the Storm, the Warriors returned to their adopted home on the Central Coast to face a Cowboys side on a three-match winning streak.

The Warriors were still missing several key players. Still, all eyes were on rookie Reece Walsh's first stint at five-eighth, and he delivered plenty of highlights as the Warriors held back a second-half comeback attempt from North Queensland to walk away with a 24-20 victory.

Man, what an exciting game; I predicted a win here, but it was a bit too close for my liking; the last 20 minutes of this match had me on the edge of my seat, just waiting for either side to make the match-winning play.
Reece Walsh shone once again in this match, playing a large part in the Warriors attack, with the home side scoring three tries in the first 18 minutes through Kodi Nikorima, Rocco Berry and Ben Murdoch-Masila. The Cowboys keep themselves in the match when in the 32nd minute when Reece Robson threw the mother of all dummies, fooling Jazz Tevaga as he crossed the try-line untouched. Walsh was at it again; minutes later, he put Josh Curran through a hole before the second-rower flicked the ball to Adam Pompey to score under the posts in the last scoring play of the first half, giving the Warriors a decent 24-4 lead. The Cowboys switched up their game plan and started to target the inexperienced edge of Berry and debutant Edward Kosi. It reaped rewards with Murray Taulagi and Scott Drinkwater scoring down that side in the 46th and 48th minute, making Warriors fans nervous as the Warriors looked to be letting this game slip. The Warriors appeared to have scored a fantastic try when Walsh ran on the last tackle, but the Bunker denied them, advising that the ball hit Curran’s shoulder and travelled forward. Both sides struggled to get the upper hand, with both sides letting themselves down with errors and poor discipline. A Tohu Harris offload to Walsh saw the exciting youngster burst into open space before he slipped over and then knocked the ball on after Valentine Holmes cleaned him up. North Queensland’s next set saw them surge up the field before the game was halted when Murdoch-Masila came off second best in a collision with Jason Taumalolo; once the match resumed, the Cowboys didn’t take long to score with Taulagi crossing over again in the corner to reduce the New Zealand sides lead to four. Momentum was heavily in the Cowboys favour as they made easy work of marching up the field and looked to be ready to score again before knocking the ball on but were given a penalty after Pompey was deemed offside. However, North Queensland failed to capitalise on the field position, throwing a forward pass that let the Warriors off the hook. The New Zealand side let themselves down again when Bayley Sironen lost control of the ball when attempting to play it, but the Cowboys also made the same error a few tackles later. The Warriors were given a penalty that gave them their first set inside North Queensland’s half for roughly 15 minutes, but Curran fumbled his attempt to pick up a Walsh grubber. Time was running out for the Cowboys, and they made a last-ditch attempt to score points, but their hopes were dashed when Maumalo scooped up the ball and ran for 30 metres to end the match with the Warriors grimly holding on for a much-needed victory. 

I thought it was a cliche game of two halves; the Warriors dominated the first half and then let the Cowboys back into the match in the second. The team has enough talent to succeed, and with several players set to return in the next few weeks and some winnable matchups, I think the Warriors can cement themselves in the top eight.

Despite the less than stellar second half, a few things left a smile on my face, which leads me to my positives from the match.

Match Positives

That first half was fantastic, with the Warriors putting on a show taking full advantage of a slow Cowboys defensive line. The Warriors ended the match with 7 linebreaks, 30 tackle-breaks and 17 offloads. Every player in the backline managed to run for over 100 metres, and it was great to see the Warriors play a confident attacking style. They just need to stay in that mode for the entire match.

The rookies shone once again, Walsh was on fire (more on him below), and I like Rocco Berry and thought he had another good showing. The Warriors also handed young winger Edward Kosi a debut. I thought that he had a decent outing, the Cowboys started to target him and Berry in the second half, and their inexperience showed leaking some points, but these three are going to do great things for the Warriors once they get some more game-time under their belts.

The lineup was correct this week; in my review last week, I said I wanted Nathan Brown to move Walsh into the halves and Roger Tuivasa-Sheck back into Fullback, and he did it, and the Warriors attack was all the better for it. It added a new dimension to the Warriors attack, and RTS could inject himself into the attack at will. I love this new lineup and hope that Brown keeps it this week.

Lastly, the Warriors' defence only missed 13 tackles in this match, which is a great improvement; the stats can be a bit deceiving as the Warriors didn't have to defend too much in the first half. They will be disappointed in their defensive effort sliding a bit in the second half, but they still showed enough energy when having to scramble, and with a tough matchup this week, they will need another strong defensive outing.

Some things concerned me, however, which leads to my negatives from the match.

Match Negatives

The second-half collapse was a bit of a concern, I'm not sure if it was just down to the Warriors coming into the second-half overconfident, taking the Cowboys lightly or if North Queensland just switched their gameplan and the Warriors were caught off-guard. Thankfully the Warriors did enough in the first half to survive, but they will do my heart some much-needed rest if they don't let their opposition back into the match.

The backs may have had a field day, but the forwards didn't deliver the same level of impact, only Kane Evans, Ben Murdoch-Masila, and Tohu Harris ran for over 100 metres, with Josh Curran just slightly behind them. The Warriors need a few more forwards to pull their weight to lighten the load of the backline and make things easier for the halves. BMM was a monster, though, and I hope he can play this week after leaving the field early.

The Warriors let themselves down with a lack of respect for the ball, making 12 errors; I will put an asterisk next to this as some of the errors came from the Warriors chancing their arm when trying to score points in the second-half and I have been quoted as saying that I would rather see the players try and fail instead of not trying anything. Just a little more respect for the ball will help keep my stress levels manageable.

Lastly, I was confused with Wayde Egan's role in this match. It may have just been me, but there were several patches in the game where he was not going into dummy-half, leaving it to Walsh, RTS and Nikorima. I'm not sure if this is a game plan to allow those quicker players to strike while the Cowboys were struggling to defend or if he is playing through an injury, but he just looked to be off the pace. There was no mention of it in the press conference, but I will keep an eye on it this week to see if it happens again.

Warrior of the game

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My Warrior of the game goes to Roger Tuivasa-Sheck.

It was a great bounceback after last weeks outing; the skipper was back to his best, leading his side in run metres, making 225; he also made a linebreak, a try assist, 8 tackle-breaks and 3 offloads. He is an amazing talent, and although he is leaving at the end of the season and will be a massive loss but full credit to RTS for never giving anything less the 100%. He is getting heavily involved in the Warriors attack, and I think we will see the points start to flow when his combination with Walsh grows. I have all my fingers crossed that everything COVID related stays calm so the Warriors can bring some games back to Mount Smart so we can give him a proper sendoff.

Warrior to Improve

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While the second-half was dreadful, with many players having a shocking performance, I couldn't pick anyone to be my Warrior to improve; those who played badly in the last 40 did enough in the first 40 to get a pass mark.

So instead, I want to give a shout out to Reece Walsh, this kid just oozes talent, and in his first match at five-eighth, he was electric. It wasn't a perfect performance by any stretch, with the youngster making a few errors and made some poor decisions on the last tackle he was always trying, and he set up a nice try for BMM and had his hand in most of the Warriors big attacking plays. His kicking was great, and he has a hell of a bomb on him. I love him in the halves, and if he continues to play like this, I would be looking at keeping him there and moving someone else to fullback next season. I think Rocco Berry may be an option, but Scott Drinkwater may be on the outer with the Cowboys, and he could be a handy pickup. As long as Walsh is on the field, he will get himself involved, but it just my food for thought.

Next game's thoughts and predictions

Round 9 sees the Warriors travel to Lottoland to face the Sea Eagles. They played on a few weeks back when Manly got their first victory for the year, but since then, they have been putting together some great performances, including a decent showing against the Panthers in Round 8. This will be a tough game for the Warriors, and it will be no shock that the Warriors will need to keep Tommy Turbo quiet if they are to have a chance in this match.

I feel like the Warriors will use the same lineup, but we may see the return of Euan Aitken, which would help the Warriors defence on the edge. If the forwards can increase their impact and give Walsh and RTS some room to play football, they may get the job done; unfortunately, I think the Sea Eagles will be too strong, so I am picking Manly to win by 16.

So that was a stressful but exciting Round 8, and as usual, I will leave you with some questions.

What would you do with Walsh next season, Fullback or Five-Eighth?

Who was your player of the day?

Did you have a player to Improve?

What is your score prediction for the Sea Eagles clash?