After Round eight's stressful victory against the Cowboys, the Warriors made the journey to Lottoland to face the Manly Sea Eagles. Both sides were missing key players in their forward pack and left their defence in the sheds with plenty of points being scored, the Warriors started well, but a poor second-half saw the Warriors handed their 5th defeat of the year with Manly winning 38-32.
Well, this was another frustrating watch, I predicted a Manly win by a large margin, but it was another close match between the sides, with the Warriors just lacking the polish to put Manly to the sword.
This was a try fest of a match with both sides leaving plenty to be desired when it came to defence but offering plenty of highlight-reel material on attack. The Warriors scored quickly, with Chanel Harris-Tavita scoring in the 2nd minute. However, Manly struck back with back to back tries through Tom Trbojevic, who was celebrating his 100th match. The Warriors responded quickly with Tohu Harris barging over after a nice shirt ball from Wayde Egan. Errors began to plague both sides, and the scoring slowed until a Kodi Nikorima penalty goal in the 34th pushed the Warriors ahead by two; the Warriors found their lead pushed out further when Josh Curran dived on a Jason Saab dropped ball to see the New Zealand side go into the break leading 20-12. Errors continued to haunt the Warriors in the second half, with Nikorima botching a guaranteed try with a poor pass which saw Manly unleash a try-scoring onslaught, scoring 5 tries in quick succession through Morgan Harper, Reuben Garrick and a hattrick for Saab to give Manly a large lead as the game entered the final 20 minutes. Another try to Harris-Tavita in the 67th minute saw the Warriors give themselves a slim chance of a comeback before a Harris offload saw youngster Reece Walsh sneak over for the first try of his NRL career in the 74th minute. The pressure was building, and the Warriors looked on the verge of forcing the game into golden-point when Walsh threw a cutout pass to Ken Maumalo, but Manly threw everything at the big winger and pushed him over the sideline to hold on for yet another win.
This was a winnable match, and I think it made it worse to watch, feeling like the side had a win in their sights only to capitulate. To put a positive spin on it, I hope the Warriors can take lessons from this and deliver a better effort in Round 10.
There were quite a few players that could have got my Warrior to improve this week, but I have gone with Wayde Egan. I know he ends matches right up there in the tackle count, but he lacks everywhere else. He just is so slow getting the ball out of the ruck; he did deliver a nice short ball to Harris for his try, but other than that, he just looked off the pace. When Nikorima moved into dummy-half, your saw the pace quicken, and the Warriors attack looked more dangerous. I have been hopeful that Egan would start to deliver for the Warriors, but I get let down every week. I'm sure he is a great guy to have around, but I honestly don't think he is at the level required for a dummy-half with the new rules. Nikorima needs to move into Hooker, I know people are concerned about his defence, but he would have the support of his props in that position which should protect him. If Egan sees that his position is under threat, maybe it will light a fire under him, and he can prove his doubters (myself included) wrong.
So that was a disappointing Round 9, and as usual, I will leave you with some questions
What changes would you make to the 17?
Who was your player of the Day?
Do you think Egan can improve and keep his starting spot?
What is your score prediction for the Eels clash?
It wasn't the best performance, but a few things left a smile on my face, which leads me to my positives from the match.
Match Positives
I thought the Warriors started the match reasonably well; they lacked a lot of punch up the middle, and Harris-Tavita and Nikorima were rusty and struggled to combine at times but did enough to get some point on the board. However, as I have said quite a bit this season, the Warriors need to start playing for 80 minutes if they wish to remain in the top eight.
Walsh continues to shine; Nathan Brown decided to move him to the bench and threw him on with 26 minutes to go when the Warriors were in trouble, and to his credit, he asked Manly plenty of questions and added some much-needed spark and almost got the Warriors into a game-winning situation. His defence was still an issue, but he was targeted by Tommy Turbo, and he is no easy man to contain. The Warriors just need to give him the ball.
Lastly, the return of some key players with this week or next will help the Warriors out, Euan Aitken, Ben Murdoch-Masila should return this week, and Addin Fonua-Blake is back a few weeks after; this will see the Warriors return to almost full strength and I think they could string some wins together to cement a spot in the eight.
There was quite a bit that troubled me, which leads to my Negatives from the match.
Match Negatives
The Warriors lack of respect for the ball was a coach killer; they made 9 errors in this match and just constantly let Manly off the hook; they weren't even errors made when trying to force an offload. They were mainly soft carries. There are just too many quality sides in the NRL, and gifting them extra sets due to poor handling is a surefire way to walk away without the victory.The Warriors forwards left plenty to be desired, with Kane Evans the only forward to run for over 100 metres. They missed BMM's impact, and the front-rowers appeared to be going through the motions without making any dents in the Sea Eagles line. Josh Curran was putting in plenty of effort but was making too many errors, and Bayley Sironen offered very little, to the point where you could be forgiven for forgetting that he ever played. I'm just counting the days until AFB returns, but in the meantime, I think some changes to the pack are required.
The Warriors lacked spark on attack. Making only 4 linebreaks and 5 offloads. Harris-Tavita was patchy in his first game back, and his kicking game was poor; there just wasn't enough questions asked until Walsh joined the match. Nikorima's failure to deliver a clean pass when the Warriors had a two-man overlap was throw something at the TV awful, and if I was in charge, I would have pulled him at that point. There is completion for the halves spots now, so hopefully, we see some improvement from Nikorima quickly; otherwise, his days in the halves may be numbered.
The Warriors missed tackles returned with a vengeance, missing 24 in total. Manly targeted the Warriors edges and found plenty of holes, and watching them score those five tries in quick succession was embarrassing. Aitken will add some starch to his edge, and hopefully, those young backs will learn to stop rushing in of their man as it just made things so easy for the Sea Eagles; simply trust the man on your inside and focus on your own target.
Lastly, the gameday 17. Brown admitted after the match that he may have got it wrong, and I agree, Walsh needs to start, Adam Pompey needs to go back to the wing as he is a ball hog that missed so many opportunities to put his winger into space. The starting props need to be changed with either Leeson Ah Mau or Bunty Afoa starting the match (if not both) as Jamayne Taunoa-Brown and Kane Evans just don't start matches with a bang. After Brown's admission, I am hopeful that we will see some changes, but he is quite secretive with his gameday side, with us not really having a clue on who will run out until an hour before kickoff.
My Warrior of the game goes to Tohu Harris.
Warrior of the Match
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It was hard this week as I don't feel like many players stood out, but Harris gave it a decent stab. He lead the side with 42 tackles, only ran for 90 metres but also had a line break, line break assist, a try assist and 3 tackle breaks. He only managed one offload but was one of the only Warriors players that was always threatening to get the ball away. While it wasn't his best performance, you could see that he was trying to lift his teammates and get the side back into the game. I hope the rest of his pack step up and help him out next week.
Warrior to Improve
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There were quite a few players that could have got my Warrior to improve this week, but I have gone with Wayde Egan. I know he ends matches right up there in the tackle count, but he lacks everywhere else. He just is so slow getting the ball out of the ruck; he did deliver a nice short ball to Harris for his try, but other than that, he just looked off the pace. When Nikorima moved into dummy-half, your saw the pace quicken, and the Warriors attack looked more dangerous. I have been hopeful that Egan would start to deliver for the Warriors, but I get let down every week. I'm sure he is a great guy to have around, but I honestly don't think he is at the level required for a dummy-half with the new rules. Nikorima needs to move into Hooker, I know people are concerned about his defence, but he would have the support of his props in that position which should protect him. If Egan sees that his position is under threat, maybe it will light a fire under him, and he can prove his doubters (myself included) wrong.
Next round's thoughts and prediction
Round 10 is magic-round and see's the Warriors travelling to Suncorp Stadium to face the Parramatta Eels. It is an interesting contest as the Eels have been one of the form sides but after injuries, suspensions and leaving players out of their biosecurity bubble, they may struggle to name a 21-man squad. They have submitted an application to the NRL to allow those players outside of the bubble to return. This gives the Warriors a prime opportunity to get a much-needed victory over the 2nd place side. However, it won't be easy as the Eels still have King Gutho out there, and I'm certain that Isaiah Papali'i will be looking to put in a massive performance against his former club.
If the Warriors make some changes to their side, then they have a shot, so I'm going to give them the benefit of the doubt here and pick the Warriors to win by 8.
So that was a disappointing Round 9, and as usual, I will leave you with some questions
What changes would you make to the 17?
Who was your player of the Day?
Do you think Egan can improve and keep his starting spot?
What is your score prediction for the Eels clash?
spot on
ReplyDeleteI like Curran but needs to sort his holding of the ball in tackles. 3 times is too many. Egan hampered by lack of big bodies bending the line.Walsh needs to start unless he is injured.
ReplyDelete3 times far too many, I like Curran also but schoolboy errors need to be sorted. I hope what you have said about Egan is true and with AFB and BMM back soon he steps up his game. 100% Walsh needs to start.
DeleteYou've got it pretty right here Brad.
ReplyDeleteWhat happens in my house is me and my son watch the games expecting a Warriors loss. We predict with sad accuracy what is about to go wrong and usually we are right.
In this game, as is so often the Warriors way, we created and then blew or don't finish off good opportunities, quickly followed by conceding a few reasonably soft tries to Manly at the other end.
My son gets really annoyed at the way our wingers seem incapable of holding their position and staying on their man. Embarrassing was the right word to describe how Manly just strolled in for try after try out wide. Ours aren't the only wingers to do this but we seem to be the worst and have been for some time. It needs to stop!
Several moments in the match turned it against us, particularly Nikorima's pass and Curran's handling errors.
I feel like we say this every year but we have only been properly beaten twice this season (so far!) By the Roosters and the Storm. Every other game we could and possibly should have won. Imagine where we would be if we had.
I think we all want to see Walsh on the field as much as possible and just in general, get your best players on the park. Something needs to happen with Egan and Nikorima. We have seen Nikorima make good impact off the bench but maybe he should displace Egan?
Some pace out wide would be nice and Maumalo may as well be a back rower, these days he makes better runs in the middle of the park.
Harris was great on Sunday so he is a good pick for player of the day.
The Eels should and probably will beat us this weekend but I have to pick the Warriors by 4. Another frustrating afternoon awaits.