NZ Warriors Round 1 Review: Error filled day dampens Johnsons return

With the preseason officially behind us, the NRL is back, and Round 1 saw the Warriors start their campaign hosting the St George Illawarra Dragons on the Sunshine Coast.

Despite missing Tohu Harris, Matt Lodge and Reece Walsh, I came into this match pretty confident of a Warriors victory, but it wasnt be as the Dragons took advantage of an error-riddled Warriors outfit to walk away with a 28-16 victory.

Ah, the joys of writing about the Warriors, I was counting down the days and hours until kickoff, and then I came crashing down after a frustrating 80 minutes. The Warriors started the match strong, using their forwards to surge up the field, but a forward pass stopped their first scoring attempt. After a few back and forth sets, the Warriors gave away a penalty, and the Dragons nailed a kick to touch to start their set deep in the Warriors' territory. A few plays later, they were over with Mikaele Ravalawa crossing over in the corner. A couple of Warriors errors and sets later, the Dragons were over again via Jack Bird, pushing them out to a 12 point lead; however, the Warriors fought back and were finally on the scoreboard when Dallin Watene-Zeleaniak pushed through a grubber that bounced the right way for him to pounce on. Then in what was my play of the match, Addin Fonua-Blake took the kick return and broke the line before running 50 meters down the pitch, it was a great start to the set, but the Warriors could not build on it getting tackled on the last. The game started to settle with neither side gaining the upper hand until a Shaun Johnson inside ball to Josh Curran saw the lock break into open space before sending Wayde Egan over to score; after Johnson's conversion, the Warriors were only behind by 2.
 However, the Dragons had the last laugh, kicking a penalty goal at the 40th minute to go into the break with a 14-10 lead. 

The Warriors started the second half strong with Curran charging down a Ben Hunt kick, allowing the Warriors to start their set deep in the Dragons half; they had several attempts to cross the try line thanks to some six again calls but could not get through the goal-line defence. A few sets later, Johnson kicked a massive 40/20 to put the Dragons under the pump again. This time, the Warriors converted their opportunity into points when Johnson put Eliesa Katoa over for the Warrior's third try and the lead. Momentum appeared to have swung the Warriors way, but they continued to let themselves down with a lack of respect for the ball, and this saw the Red V keep themselves in the hunt. Ravalawa scored back to back tries to regain the lead for his side before Moses Mbye sniped out of dummy-half in the 73rd minute to ensure the Dragons end Round 1 as victors.

It was a messy start to the season for the Warriors. They often put themselves under pressure and weren't a cohesive unit with the ball in hand. I was disappointed that they couldn't get the job done, but I saw glimpses of what this team could do, which still has me somewhat optimistic. If they can work on a few issues that I will discuss in my negatives, they should be competitive. With the return of Reece Walsh and Matt Lodge next week and a few tweaks to the game day 17, I think we will see a better performance in Round 2. 

Despite the result, there were some things I liked in this match which leads to my positives from the game.

Match Positives

It was surreal seeing SJ back in a Warriors jersey, and I thought he had a decent outing, he was a bit rusty, but I put that down to not getting a run in the preseason. His kicking was a drastic improvement to this side compared to last season; he put the Dragons under pressure several times. He had a few misfires, including a crosskick on the second tackle, but I liked seeing him asking questions of the defence. His passing play was crisp, and he really helped Katoa return to his strong running game, and I expect their partnership to grow throughout the season. 

The forwards had more impact and did a lot of the heavy lifting, with four of the pack running for over 100 metres (Fonua Blake - 151m, Euan Aitken - 104m, Katoa - 114m and Curran - 107m). The majority of the pack helped keep the team rolling forward, but I needed to see more out of Bayley Sironen as he did not make a single run in the 21 minutes. Lodges return next week will add another metre-eater 

The Warriors have returned to a more positive attacking form of football, which is what fans have been asking for them to do for years. It makes the games harder to watch as everything they try isn't always going to work, but it is at least entertaining. Once they start to gel, I think we will see some highlight-reel action, they just need a few tweaks, and things will click. I saw a few plays that will be lethal when Walsh is back in the mix. 

I did have concerns, however, which brings me to my negatives from the match.

Match Negatives

The downside of playing more positive football is that sometimes the passes don't stick, and we saw that here with the Warriors making 12 errors. They were dropping easy offloads, making errors in the ruck area and just gifting the Dragons too much ball inside their own half. You cannot afford to play with such a lack of respect for the ball against any team in the NRL because they will make you pay, as we saw here.

The Warrior's discipline needs work; they gave away 8 penalties and 2 ruck infringements. Like the errors, you cannot afford to give your opposition a leg up. With the six again rule, if you are not up to scratch with your discipline, you are looking at energy-sapping defence for large spells; this leaves you with not much in the tank when you finally get your hands on the ball. It is an easy fix, at least, and I want to see a reduction in the penalty count straight away.

The defence was a concern; the Warriors ended the match with 35 missed tackles. At times, they were disorganised and left plenty of holes for the Dragons to target. Defence is all about attitude and having trust in your teammates, so I'm hopeful that with some more time together on the pitch, they will be able to work on their defensive structure and show improvement this week.

Lastly is Nathan Brown's use of the interchange. I have criticised his use of the bench in the past, and he still has me scratching my head. He only used 8 interchanges, which hurt the team's overall performance. Brown needs to make smarter decisions on how to use his bench, when to inject forwards into the match and when to get players off before they start to make errors due to fatigue.

Warrior of the Match

My Warrior of the match goes to Josh Curran. He was a constant threat on attack, constantly probing the defensive line ready to throw an offload. Despite involving himself heavily on attack, he puts his hand up defensively. I prefer having him in the second-row as I think he will be more dangerous on an edge, but he did very well in the lock position and will hold onto that 13 jersey until Tohu Harris returns from injury. Currans always looking for work and never appears to tire, and he has made me more confident in picking him as one of my five Warriors to stand out this season. I expect him to feature in this section many times this season.

Warrior to Improve

My Warrior to improve is Kodi Nikorima. New year, the same contender for my Warriors to improve section. Initially, I didn't have Kodi in my halves pairing in my season preview and now and should have stuck with my gut. With Johnson back in the fold, Nikorima doesn't need to direct the attack anymore, and this should allow him to play his natural running game; however, he was invisible out there, and the Warriors need to make changes now, with either Chanel Harris-Tavita moving into the 6 jersey or they give Ash Taylor a chance.

Next round thoughts and prediction

Round 2 sees the Warriors travel to Cbus Super Stadium on the Gold Coast to face the Titans, who went down 32-28 to the Eels in Round 1. Watching that game had me worried as the Titans looked dangerous, and I don't want to see a repeat performance like the one the Warriors had against the Titans in the final round of last season. The Warriors will welcome the return of Walsh and Lodge, which will be a massive boost, and there will be a few other changes to the 17, I'm sure. 

Dallin Watene-Zelezniak broke his thumb early on in the Round 1 outing, so he will be out for a few weeks. I would bring Jesse Arthars onto the wing to replace him. I like Junior Ratuva, but I want him to get a few more games under his belt in reserve grab. I would also drop Sironen of the interchange with Lodge coming back and bring Taylor into the halves. I would expect him to play at another level against his former club. If the Warriors improve their handling and shut down David Fifita, they stand a chance here, so call it hopeful optimism, but I am picking the Warriors to win by 10. 

So that was a disappointing Round 1, and as usual, I will leave you with some questions.

With DWZ injured, who would you bring in?
Who was your Warrior of the match?
Who was your player to improve?
What is your score prediction against the Titans?