NZ Warriors Round 21 Review: Warriors never in the fight as Rabbitohs cruise to victory

 

After their disappointing loss to the Storm in Round 20, the Warriors made their way to the Central Coast to face the Rabbitohs. The Warriors were never in the contest as the Rabbitohs dominated the match from start to finish, ending with their biggest win of the season, 48-10.

What Went Down

The Rabbitohs bolted out the gates and never looked back, scoring four tries in the first 21 minutes of the match. Targeting some poor Warriors defence, Souths made it look easy as Lachlan Ilias, Damien Cook, Tevita Tatalo and Keaon Koloamantangi all crossed with Cameron Murray playing a hand in the first three tries, causing plenty of headaches for the visitors.

The Warriors finally found themselves on the scoreboard when Ed Kosi finished a nice right-to-left play in only their second set played within the Rabbitohs half.

Souths weren’t done yet as they finished the first half in style, scoring another two tries via Latell Mitchell and Alex Johnston. Johnston’s try was the 159th of his career as he continues his climb up the all-time tryscoring leaderboard. This saw the teams go into the sheds with the home side leading by 30 points and much improvement needed by the Warriors.

The second half started in the same manner as the first, with the Rabbitohs taking only three minutes to score their seventh try via debutant Izaac Thompson. Minutes later, Johnston looked sure to cross for his second, scorching down the field with Dallin Watene-Zeleaniak making a massive try-saving tackle, desperately dragging the winger’s leg over the sideline at the last moment.

After learning a penalty, the Warriors were in good field position, and Kosi looked dangerous before being dragged down close to the line; the New Zealand side kept the pressure on, and Shaun Johnson scored after receiving a Jack Murchie offload.

The Rabbitohs almost scored a length of the field try but were given a penalty after Reece Walsh hit Johnston without the ball; Souths went back to work. Mitchell crossed for his second try when a decoy run parted the Warrior’s goal-line defence like the red sea in the game’s final scoring play in only the 56th minute.

Both sides had a few more highlight reel plays left in them, with the Rabbitohs almost scoring via Thompson and the Warriors making a huge break thanks to Reece Walsh, who passed the ball to Murchie, who showed some impressive pace before being dragged down just before the line. The visitors looked ready to cross again but let Souths off the hook with a forward pass.

The Warriors had one final attempt at scoring when Johnson put a kick up that was tapped back by Marcelo Montoya before being tapped again by Souths and ending up in the hands of Taniela Otukolo, who was held up just under the crossbar.

Despite a few close calls, the Rabbitohs had done more than enough damage in the first half to see them finish with the biggest win of their season while the Warriors continue to countdown to the offseason after another disappointing display.

My Thoughts

I was quite worried about this match but went in optimistic that the Warriors could show up and be competitive, but boy, I was wrong.

After weeks of saying the Warriors have been showing improvements, they went all the way back to where they started. 

The Rabbitohs have been in great form since the return of Latrell Mitchell, but even the Knights showed more fight in their 40-28 loss in Round 17.

It was a hard watch, and I know most won’t even read this review due to not wanting to relive this performance or lack thereof.

It just looked like most of the players had thrown in the towel; there was no heart and a clear lack of attitude, which meant they never had a chance.

The Warriors have a tough run home, and my original thoughts on them losing all their remaining matches except the final round against the Titans looks to be firming unless some serious actions are taken.

There wasn’t much, but I found a few things to smile about this week, which leads me to my positives from the match.

Match Positives

I thought the Warriors showed some slight glimpses of promise on attack when they were inside the Rabbitohs half, scoring two nice tries and asking some questions of the Rabbitohs defence. They had a few other chances but let themselves down with some wayward passes. Their biggest issue was that their poor defence limited their chances, and the Rabbitohs forced them to play most of the match within their own half. If they sort that part out, then they should be able to get more points on the board.

That was really all I could find, so I will say at least we have another game at Mount Smart coming this week. There is also a members forum on Thursday, which should lead to an interesting night after such a disappointing season. I’m not sure how many will be in the crowd this Friday night after this poor performance, but hopefully, the Warriors will give the live crowd something worth watching.

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

Match Negatives

Defence is the most obvious negative here; the Warriors missed 33 missed tackles and made 30 ineffective tackles. In the past few weeks, they have shown good defence in patches, but there was none of that in this match. Their attitude needs to be a lot better; however, I don’t think they were helped with the lineup changes; they looked to not be on the same page, and this created some massive holes in the defensive line, and the Rabbitohs did not have to be asked twice to take advantage. If they stick to their assignments and trust the man on either side to do their job, then the defensive structure should improve.

Errors played a part in this poor performance; the Warriors ended the match with 13.

When your defence is letting you down, the last thing you can afford to do is just throw the ball away. Mistakes happen but dropping simple passes or throwing wayward passes isn’t NRL level. The coach killers need to go ASAP! 

Lastly, the side selection made by Stacey Jones for this match was a massive gamble, and they failed. Dropping Pompey was the right call, and I want to see that trend continue, but every other change he made was wrong; Wayde Egan did another serviceable job at five-eighth, but the side plays better with him at hooker and Aaron Pene should not have been lock over Josh Curran. I know Jones came out after the selections and said he was focused on picking a team to win games rather than develop younger talent, and while I get that, I don’t think the team he picked had any chance of being competitive. It will make this week’s team naming very interesting, and I feel like he has thrown in the towel.

Warrior of the Match

My Warrior of the match goes to Jack Murchie.

I struggled to pick a Warrior of the week here as I think the whole side didn’t deliver, but I decided to give props to Murchie. He was one of only two Warriors forwards to run for over 100m, ending the game with 128m (Addin Fonua-Blake ran for 169m). His stats were helped by his big run after Walsh’s linebreak, but he was one of the only forwards that looked dangerous with the ball in hand; his wraparound play to set up Johnson’s try looked great, and his defence wasnt too bad with 36 tackles and 2 misses. If he can deliver more efforts like that, I wouldn’t mind the Warriors extending his stay with the club.

Warrior to Improve

My Warrior to improve goes to Aaron Pene.

I had high hopes for Pene when his signing was announced, but he has failed to deliver so far in 2022; I already mentioned that picking him over Curran to start the match was a mistake, and he barely had any impact in the game, only running twice for a combined total of 23 metres, he also only made 22 tackles with 1 miss and exited the match after 27 uninspiring minutes. I still believe he is a quality player; however, we haven’t got the best out of him yet, and I think he will be better suited joining the match from the bench.

Next round thoughts and prediction

Round 22 sees the Warriors return to Mount Smart to face the Bulldogs, who went down 28-14 against the Cowboys in Round 21.

Regarding the team, I would pick; in the backs; the only change I would make is bringing Ronald Volkman or Daejarn Asi into the halves to partner with Johnson, moving Egan back to hooker. 

In the forwards, Curran goes into lock, with Pene moving to the bench.

The Bulldogs have been one of the big improvers the past few weeks and have looked dangerous against even the top four sides, so they are no longer the easy beats they have been the last couple of seasons. It will be a massive task despite playing at home, and unfortunately, I think the Bulldogs have shown me more lately, so I will pick the Bulldogs to win by 10.

So that was an embarrassing Round 21, and as usual, I will leave you with some questions.

What changes would you make to the game day 17?

Has the side given up?

Are you going to the Members Forum?

What is your score prediction against the Bulldogs?