NZ Warriors 2022 Round 16 Review: Warriors defeat Tigers in Homecoming celebration

After their disappointing Round 15 defeat to the Panthers and a week off due to the international round, after 1038 days, the Warriors finally made their much-anticipated return to Mt Smart to face the Tigers. In front of a sell-out crowd, the Warriors ended their seven-game losing streak with a 22-2 victory.

I came into this match confident that the Warriors would get the job done, but I thought it would be a close tussle between two struggling teams; however, the Warriors, while still being a bit patchy, dominated the contest, continually forcing the Tigers to play deep in their own half and never gave them a chance to get into the match.

I thought the team was a bit hard-done by with a few early calls, but they kept to their game plan and were eventually rewarded. 

The news of Reece Walsh dropping out of the side due to catching Covid sucked during the week as I was concerned with how it would affect the Warrior's attack, but selfishly I also just wanted to see him play live, but that will come in a few weeks.

Overall I liked this performance; the players stepped up and delivered when it mattered, which is all I can hope or ask for. The forwards were busy in the middle, and the backs asked many questions of the Tiger's defence, and defensively there was a massive improvement, but more on all of that below.

Watching live from the stadium was just amazing, and for the first time in months, I was actually looking forward to rewatching the game so I could make my notes for this review. It was a good step in the right direction after two months of disappointment, and hopefully, the club can build off this win as they have some tough matches coming up.

There was plenty to smile about this week, which leads me to my positives from the match.

Match Positives

Man being home was just something I cannot describe; I think missing out on footy at Mt Smart for so long made me appreciate it more. Having gone to well over 100 (perhaps over 200) games at my favourite place on the planet, I think I took it for granted. 

Being back there in a vocal crowd, watching the Warriors win, well, there is no better feeling for me, but you could see the impact it had on the team, they grew an extra leg, and I think it helped keep them focussed when calls went against them. I'm just glad that the days of the Road Warriors are over.

Flowing on from the lift the players got from the crowd, the increased effort from the side was clear to see. The forwards had more punch in their hit-ups, which allowed the backs more time and space. Addin Fonua-Blake led from the front again, running for 163 metres, which when you take in the news that he had Covid last week was just impressive; he only had two other forwards hit the 100m mark (Jazz Tevaga - 143m and Tohu Harris - 137m) but I thought all the rest did their part too despite not getting the triple digits, they all bent the line, and long may that continue. Throw in some big runs from Marcelo Montoya, Dallin Watene-Zeleaniak and an outstanding performance from Chanel Harris-Tavita at fullback; it was just a great afternoon of football.

Lastly, I want to praise the defence, normally, I moan about the defence weekly, but this was where I saw the most significant improvement. The Warriors ended the match with only 17 missed tackles, and while they were facing a lacklustre Tigers outfit, they do have some dangerous players, and the Warriors just continued to shut them down. The one thing that made me happy above everything else was the fact that the Warriors did not let a single try in; towards the end of the match, when the win was already in the bag, the Tigers started to set up camp in the Warriors RedZone, and I thought that the Warriors would finally let a try sneak through but as close as the Tigers got there was always a Warrior there to throw their body on the line to stop the Tigers. I've said it a lot, but defence is all about attitude, and it was great to see the Warrior's attitude improve; they need to draw a line in the sand now and make this the standard for defence moving forward.

However, I had a few concerns, which brings me to my negatives from the game.

Match Negatives

First up, the Warriors made too many errors for my liking, ending the match with 14. Nothing too major, just a few mistakes from pushing the pass too early and a general lack of respect for the ball in patches. Emotions were high, and to their credit, you saw the team react and defend their way out of the mistake when an error was made. If they can reduce that error rate, though, it stops the opposition from getting those extra shots at scoring. 

This kind of goes with the errors, but I still think the attack needs some work; it was messy in the first 20 minutes, with the Warrior's first two tries being denied, and it looked like the team was getting a bit frustrated. I think losing Walsh, having a halves combination still learning to work together, and lacking confidence that a seven-game losing streak would give you all played a part, but the Warriors kept plugging away. They had a game plan and stuck to it, and eventually, the points came. Walsh will return, the halves will start to build cohesion, and the Warriors will be all the better for it.

And finally, the Pitch Invaders, now I'm not going to sit on a high horse here, I had a few laughs with the first few, but when it kept happening, I got over it, the Warriors were building momentum, and each time someone stopped the game by running on the pitch they had to start all over again. It may just be me, but I just wanted to get back to the action on the field, so hopefully, that is the last we see of that this season.

Warrior of the Match

My Warrior of the match goes to Shaun Johnson.

For as long as I have been writing about the Warriors, I think I have been super critical of Johnson; however, this year, I have been looking at him differently, and I was hoping that my belief that the impact of being away from his wife and child was the cause of his drop in form. 

After one week of being home, I think that belief was on the money. SJ has looked like a completely different person this week; you could see he had some fight back, and it was emotional for me to see his reaction to running onto the field again. I thought he had a great game, he picked his spots and took the line on, ending the match with over 100 running metres, directed the backline well, and his kicking game was causing plenty of issues for the Tigers. It's just good to see him happy again, and I am still confident that there's plenty left in the tank, and he will deliver some more great moments for the fans.

Warrior to Improve

My Warrior to improve goes to Adam Pompey.

It was hard for me to pick a play to improve, but in the end, I went with Pompey, I was looking forward to seeing Euan Aitken back in the centres, but Pompey returned after the reshuffle; he made a few silly errors which is kind of his thing. The biggest being a wayward flick pass that soared into the crowd on the first tackle. However, other than that, I thought he ran hard and kept James Roberts contained; I just want to see his decision-making with the ball in hand to improve if he continues being picked in first grade.

Next round thoughts and prediction

The Warriors have a bye in Round 17, so they will get some well-deserved time off to catch up with their friends and family before heading back across the ditch for back-to-back games against the Eels and the Raiders. I will save my prediction for the Eels game until next week.

With no game to write a review for this weekend, I will instead write my annual midseason review in its place, going over the good, the bad and the ugly of the 2022 season. It's a bit later than usual due to the Warriors having a later bye round, but it will be interesting going over everything that has happened this year so far, so keep an eye out for that next week.

So that was great Round 16, and as usual, I will leave you with some questions.

What did you think of the Mt Smart atmosphere?

Would you like to see Aitken move back to the centres next week?

Is there anything, in particular, you want me to cover in my midseason review?

What is your score prediction against the Eels?