NZ Warriors 2022 Round 22 Review: Warriors end losing streak in style against Bumbling Bulldogs

After their embarrassing loss to the Rabbitohs in Round 21, the Warriors returned home to face the Bulldogs. The Warriors ended their four-game losing streak with a dominant 42-18 victory, which was their biggest win since 2016.

What Went Down

The opening quarter of the match was full of both action and points, with all four first-half tries being scored during this period.
An early high shot landed Braidon Burns on report and saw the home side strike first through a silky pass from halfback Shaun Johnson to Viliami Vailea, allowing the centre to stroll through the Bulldogs' line.
Whilst Josh Addo-Carr was indeed on the field, it would be the man he was marking in Dallin Watene-Zelezniak that would run away for a length-of-the-field try off the back of an intercept from a Matt Burton pass.
A line break saw Burton dragged down within a metre of the Warriors' line only minutes later, with a quick play from Aaron Schoupp at dummy half shuffling the ball off to a rampaging Jake Averillo for the visitors' opening points of the evening.
Ending the first half scoring on the 20-minute mark, Edward Kosi – who scored a hat trick last time he played at Mt. Smart Stadium a fortnight ago – crossed over for his first of the match following a set play from a scrum on the Bulldogs' 10-metre line.
With a try to Kyle Flanagan from a Reece Walsh knock-on and Addo-Carr getting one back with an intercept and length of the field try himself – all within the opening 10 minutes of the second half – it seemed as though this game would go right down to the wire with the score level at 18-all. 

Whilst an Eliesa Katoa try would give the New Zealand outfit some breathing room, the Bulldogs did all they could in an attempt to claw their way back and give themselves a chance at walking away with the two points.
Following a tense period of back-and-forth footy, something finally gave in the Bulldogs' defence, and the Warriors ended this match in the same fast-scoring fashion in which they started it. 

With late tries to Shaun Johnson and Addin Fonua-Blake, as well as a second to Kosi in rapid succession, the Warriors flipped their score from 24 to 42 within the final five minutes of play and secured their second victory back on home soil.

My Thoughts

My optimism was pretty low leading into this match, hence why I predicted a Bulldogs victory last week; however, the Warriors pleasantly surprised me with this large win. 

The Bulldogs have impressed me since they sacked Trent Barrett, and I think this was the first time since Mick Potter took over that they have looked like the Bulldogs of old. They were making silly errors, second-guessing themselves on attack, and despite getting back into the contest, they never really looked any chance of winning this game. A team having an off night does happen, and the Warriors made the most of it; after questioning their heart last week, I think they showed plenty of it in this match. They competed from start to finish and dominated the middle; this meant that the backs had a lot more space and played some good attacking football and reaped the rewards. 

When the Bulldogs levelled the score, the Warriors could have gone into their shell and fallen away, but they kept the pressure on and refused to quit, which is very promising for the future, so perhaps my optimism is coming back.

The following two rounds will be brutally tough against the Cowboys and Panthers, and while I don't see the Warriors getting wins in either of those matches, I want to see this level of effort to either score an upset or take these top four sides to the limit.

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

Match Positives

After disappearing last week, the forwards consistently dented the Bulldog's defensive line with five running over my ideal 100m goal, Tohu Harris (234m), Addin Fonua-Blake (202m), Euan Aitken (147m), Josh Curran (128m) and Jack Murchie (104m). It just makes getting a win so much easier when the big boys in the pack are doing the heavy lifting, and the Warriors need more of this from not only these players, but if the other forwards can get their metres up too, then we should see plenty more points scored before the season is done.

Behind a rolling pack, the Warriors attack looked a lot more dangerous this week; in fairness, I thought the Warriors attack showed promise last week when they got the ball in good field position; they just didn't get a lot of chances. However, this week they had plenty of time with the ball in hand, and they were asking lots of questions of the Bulldogs. Shaun Johnson led the attack well except for one big error, but I thought he made up for it in the long run. Daejarn Asi played a key role, delivering some big bombs. The whole backline looked dangerous for the first time in a while and just shows the damage they can do when they are on; we just need to see more of it, please.

I've spoken a lot about the Warrior's attack in this match, but I think the most significant improvement was their defence; now, to be fair, the defence last week was so bad that anything would be better, but they ended the match with a 91.23% tackle efficiency, with only 18 missed tackles and 7 ineffective tackles. The Bulldogs playing poorly did help them out, but they held their line better and being at the match, I could see and hear them actually communicating. Im sure they worked on it a lot during the week, but I think a more settled lineup helped also. The next two weeks are going to test their defence plenty, so hopefully, this wasnt a one-night-only performance and the defensive attitude remains.

Lastly, I want to highlight the ongoing redemption of Ed Kosi, I already mentioned it a few weeks back, but since his return four weeks ago, he has scored 7 tries, made 9 linebreaks and 10 tackle-breaks. He is far from a finished product, but his upside is now bigger than his downside, and if he can keep his error rate down, he could find himself a regular winger in the Warriors for some time. It's great to see as I want all Warriors players to grow and develop, and hopefully, his determination to improve starts to rub off on others in the squad.

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

Match Negatives

The errors were still too high for my liking, with the Warriors making ten in total. It was only of the only stats that the Bulldogs won in this match (they only made 9 errors). While the Warrior's defence did enough to make sure these errors didn't cost them, they just can't afford to make double-digit mistakes against any top eight sides. A bit more ball security close to their own line and keeping the 50/50 passes to a minimum should set them on the right path.

I'm still not convinced about Stacey Jone's use of the interchange, I feel like he got the rotation a bit better in this match, but I just wasnt a fan of moving Josh Curran to the bench and starting Bunty Afoa at lock. It did seem to work with Curran being injected into the match and making an immediate impact against tiring defenders, so Jones may have had the right idea there (let's be honest, I'm no coach). 

However, I don't understand bringing Tom Ale into the gameday 17 and only giving him four minutes. I really rate Ale, and I wanted to see him get more time to show his potential; to his credit, in his short amount of time, he made four runs for 53m and hopefully, this leads to him getting more minutes in the future.

Warrior of the Match

My Warrior of the match goes to Tohu Harris.

The skipper was back to his best in this match, leading his side in both running metres (234m) and tackles (33). I'm not sure what more I can say about Harris that I haven't already said; he adds an extra dimension to the Warrior's attack and never tries to avoid work; he's just a great follow-me type of leader. He gives his all, and the Warriors are a much more potent side with him in it, so fingers crossed he stays injury free in 2023 as I will be more confident in the Warrior's playoff aspirations if he is the first line on the team sheet every week.

Warrior to Improve

I couldn't pick a Warrior to improve this week, they all did a good job out there, and I couldn't pinpoint anyone that let the side down, and some did not get the required minutes to review their performance.

Next round thoughts and prediction

Round 23 sees the Warriors head back across the ditch to Queensland Country Bank Stadium to face the Cowboys, who went down 32-18 against the Roosters in Round 22.

Regarding the team I would pick, I would keep it exactly the same.

None of the players did anything to warrant being dropped; however, I would move Josh Curran back to the starting lineup and Bunty Afoa back to the interchange.

This will be a tough match; this Cowboys outfit is not the same side that lost to the Warriors by one point in Round 5. They will be hurting from their loss to the Roosters and will be wanting to make a statement this week. This makes me nervous, and the Warriors could be on a hiding to nothing unless they all show up for each other. I am going into the match optimistic and believe that the Warriors will bring the fight to North Queensland, but I still think they will not have enough to get the job done, so I am picking the Cowboys to win by 16.

So that was an improved Round 22, and as usual, I will leave you with some questions.

Do you think Kosi can become a regular mainstay in this Warriors team?

Would you make any changes to the lineup?

How many wins do you think the Warriors will get in the final three rounds?

What is your score prediction against the Cowboys?