NZ Warriors Round 9 Review: Warriors hit an embarrassingly new low against undermanned Sharks

After the Round eight Golden Point victory over the Raiders, the Warriors made the journey to PointsBet Stadium to face the Sharks. It looked like the Warriors had an easy path to victory with the Sharks reduced to 12 men for 64 minutes and then 11 men for ten minutes, but that was not the case as the Sharks cruised home with a dominant 29-10 victory.

For a breakdown of how the match went, check out my match report at the link below.

Ingers League Wrap-Up Round 9 Match Report

After thinking the Warriors hit rock bottom two weeks ago against the Storm, they proved me wrong with a horrible effort against the Sharks, becoming the first team since 2008 to lose against 12 men.

Granted I predicted the Sharks to win this match, but playing just over an hour without 13 men is meant to be tough, but the Warriors made it look like they had the disadvantage. They were horrible defensively and even worse with the ball in hand, and they will need to do a lot of soul searching this week if they want to climb out of the hole they have dug themselves.

For the first time in a while, I am lost for words on a Warriors performance, this match raised plenty of red flags, and I'm not sure if they have the players or staff to fix it, but as always, I will have my fingers crossed for a bounceback.

There wasnt much to smile about this week, but I managed to find some glimmers of hope, which leads me to my positives from the match.

Match Positives

The match is over; take the lessons on board and move on.

We are another week closer to getting Tohu Harris back, I'm not saying he would have changed the outcome of this match by any means, but his experience and leadership are needed now more than ever.

This was one of the worst performances of the year, but this may be the result needed to either wake the players up or open the door to bring in other players to give them a shot. They have some inexperienced players like Junior Ratuva and Pride Petterson-Robati that could be given a chance to stake their claim at starting spots, and now that the Warriors are at an all-time low, it could be the time to blood some new talent. The question remains if they will wake up; however, the Storm match would have done that as you would think.

However, I had plenty of concerns, which brings me to my negatives from the game.

Match Negatives

The Warrior's attack was woeful; they ran around like headless chickens for large patches of the game and were simply too impatient. They had the numbers in their favour and just needed to play smart, and the points would come. However, they just started throwing the ball around and making terrible last tackle options. They should have been pushing for repeat sets to wear the Sharks down, but they simply refused. The playmakers needed to step up and control the match, but they didn't. I'm not sure if they have a poor attacking game plan or just don't know how to execute it, but perhaps they need to go back to the drawing board? A huge missed opportunity that they may come to regret at the backend of the season.

I have been calling for Justin Morgan to be shown the door, and each week his defensive gameplan strengthens my argument. The Warriors missed 45 tackles, and their poor defensive reads led to a team with 12 (and even when they were down to 11), creating overlaps constantly. When they did make tackles, they were not committing to wrapping the ball carrier up, which saw the Sharks go on an offload frenzy, ending the match with 19 offloads.

I criticised the Warrior's lack of heart against the Storm, but I will highlight the lack of leadership this week. This was a game that should have been easily put away, and when things started to go off the rails, the Warriors needed the leaders to pull them together and get everyone on the same page. That didn't happen, and it looked like everyone was just doing their own thing; it doesn't matter how talented you are as an individual; you cannot compete in the NRL on your own; you need to work together.

Lastly, the use of the interchange, Nathan Brown left Addin Fonua-Blake and Matt Lodge off the park for too long. The Warrior's effort dropped dramatically when they were on the bench, and the writing was on the wall by the time they finally returned. They are leaders in this side, and having them both off together for a large portion of the match hurt the sides' performance. I believe the Warriors need to have at least one of these two men on the park at all times, so they need to change how they use the bench and maybe even have one of them come off the bench instead of starting. Brown has plenty to work on this week, and he must be feeling the pressure with a month of less than stellar efforts.

Warrior of the Match

My Warrior of the match goes to Matt Lodge. 

I struggled to pick a player this week as I was that disappointed with the performance, but Lodge was one of the few that I thought out his hand up. He ran for 144 metres and was the only forward to crack the triple digits, and just looked like he was giving it 100%, which is not something you could say about many of his teammates. He was aggressive defensively, too, constantly getting in Dale Finucane's face. If even half of the gameday 17 showed up with his effort, the Warriors would be a dangerous outfit.

Warrior to Improve

My Warrior to improve goes to Shaun Johnson. 

He started the match well but then just slipped away; this match was tailormade for him to create havoc, but instead, he was making far too many poor decisions on attack. With AFB sitting on the pine, the Warriors needed SJ to step up and lead them to the promised land, but he passed the buck to the inexperienced players around him, and the Warriors suffered because of it. He knows how to force repeat set after repeat set, but that facet of his game was nonexistent here, and he needs to take a big look in the mirror before the next match. If the Warriors had more options in the halves right now, he might have been at risk of getting a demotion in round 10.

Next round thoughts and prediction

Round 10 sees the Warriors travel to Suncorp Stadium for their Magic Round clash against the Rabbitohs. Souths will be hurting after losing 32-12 against the Broncos and will be looking at making an example out of the Warriors. 

Hopefully, the Warriors will be welcoming back Tohu Harris in this match, which will be a welcome addition to the forwards. Marcelo Montoya will also be back from suspension. So in regards to the team I would pick, I would bring Montoya in, move Adam Pompey back to the centres and drop Vailea. In the pack, I would swap Katoa for Harris.

It will be a tough match, and while the Rabbitohs haven't been at their best so far this season, they should get the job done here, so I am picking the Rabbitohs to win by 16.

So that was an embarrassing Round 9, and as usual, I will leave you with some questions.

What do the Warriors need to do to fix their woes?

Is it time for the old fashioned honesty session?

Would you look at alternating Lodge and AFB to ensure one of them is always on the park?
What is your score prediction against the Rabbitohs?