NZ Warriors 2023 Round 2 Review: Injury Hit Warriors rue errors in Sydney Scorcher

 After last week's victory over the Knights, the Warriors made their first trip across the Tasman to face the Sydney Roosters in a blazing Allianz Stadium.

Up against a depleted forward pack, I had confidence that the Warriors could walk away with the win; however it wasnt to be, as injuries and schoolboy errors saw the side go down 20-12 in their first defeat of 2023.

What Went Down

The Roosters scored first through Jaxson Paulo in the fourth minute – touching down in the right-hand corner after the Roosters spread the footy close to the line. Their numbers were too much for the Warriors.

A Sam Walker penalty in the 11th minute pushed the Roosters’ lead to 8-0.

But the Warriors hit back through Wayde Egan, cutting the score to 8-6, which became the Roosters’ half-lead.

The Roosters put the foot down in the second half, with Paulo’s second try and one to Walker (after a big break from Joseph Suaalii) pushing their lead out to 18-6 with 20 minutes left.

The Warriors kept coming, scoring through Addin Fonua-Blake to close the gap to 18-12.

Bayley Sironen nearly tied the scores five minutes later but was stopped by James Tedesco five metres out.

Another Walker penalty (for a personal haul of 12 points) pushed the Roosters out to safety at 20-12.

My Thoughts

This was a tough match to watch; despite the many injuries, weather, and repeat six again calls against them, the Warriors were in the hunt for the entire match, and if they could have iced a few critical moments in the game, then I may well be writing about a win here, but that is footy.

When the final whistle blew, I was livid at the performance and struggled to look at the good things that happened, and after some time and another viewing of the game, I came into this review more clear-headed.

This side did not have a great outing, but the platform that Andrew Webster and co have built in the preseason was still present; while the Roosters had plenty of forwards missing, their backline was still full of dangerous threats, and the Warriors were able to contain them for large portions of the match. As I said in my season preview, the first ten rounds are brutal, and if the Warriors can stay competitive and take these sides to the limit, I would be happy, and that's what we saw here. Yes, this was a match they could have easily won, however, the things that let the side down are fixable, so I am confident that if the Warriors find themselves in this situation again, they will get the job done.

It wasnt the best performance, but I did find a few things to smile about, which leads me to my positives from the match.

Match Positives

The attack isn't as dangerous as it could be yet, but we did get to see glimpses of what it could be. Egans try was an excellent play with some good movement from Te Maire Martin and Shaun Johnson. SJ also started to make inroads with some inside balls to his forwards, which led to their second try when Marata Niukore took that inside ball before sending Addin Fonua-Blake over under the sticks. The potential is there; if the combinations get time to gel, we will see more points.

The Roosters spent large portions of this match in the Warrior's red zone and found themselves earning repeat six again calls, but the Warrior's goal-line defence held firm and refused to give away soft tries; if the Warriors could start defending in a similar matter everywhere else on the field, it will certainly help as the Roosters made plenty of breaks in the middle of the pitch and could have scored more points if they didn't keep making errors.

Once again, I have to praise the resilience of this side, at times it felt like everything was going against the side, players getting ruled out, scorching hot weather, and some bad calls from the officials, but the Warriors continued to have a dig for the entire match, I don't even think I could count how many times in the past we have seen the Warriors simply just throw in the towel when the going got tough, so this new mentality that the Warriors have is going to keep them in the hunt more often than not and should lead to grinding out more wins, which will make my reviews a bit more enjoyable to write.

However, there were also a few things that concerned me, bringing me to my negatives from the game.

Match Negatives

The schoolboy errors were coach killers; the Warriors made 10 unforced errors, but it was more the mistakes that cost the Warriors chances at scoring that hurt me. The bombed try after Wayde Egan broke the line and passed to Bayley Sironen, Sironen could have got the ball back to Egan for a near certain try, but he couldn't get the pass away, and in his defence; Egan overran him and wasnt in the best spot to receive the ball. The worst moment for me was when Ed Kosi played the ball close to the Rooster's line, and there was no one at dummy half, which saw the Roosters survive again. This is an absolute no-no, and we should not see this happen again. As I said earlier, the Warriors can fix these things, so I'm hopeful I won't have to write about this again (fingers crossed).

Unfortunately, injuries happen; it just can't be helped; however, the Warriors were dealt a heavy blow by losing Jackson Ford in the opening stages before also losing Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad to failed HIA's. They also lost Josh Curran in the 62nd minute with a hip pointer injury. This saw the side activate their 18th man Bayley Sironen, but it's never great when key injuries force the spine to be adjusted. It's still too early to know the extent of the injuries and if the Warriors will be able to have these players back for Round three, but hopefully, they will be ok to play.

Lastly, the team's discipline did not help them in this match; they conceded eight penalties, four ruck infringements and two inside 10 metres calls. While I praised the team's resilience, it will make life easier for them if they can play to the officials whistle better and reduce the penalties and six-again calls. They were a bit hard-done-by with some of the calls, but that is just a day in the life of being a Warrior's side and adjusting to the official that is calling the game should even things up.

Warrior of the Match

My Warrior of the match goes to Tohu Harris.

The Captain struck again in another 80-minute performance; he ran for 144 metres and made 60 tackles and all of that in blistering conditions. He is full of heart and will always give it 100%, and as much as I love seeing this big effort from Harris, I am not sure he is going to be able to keep this up for an entire season, so he will need his other forwards to start putting their hands up and help him out.

Warrior to Improve

My Warrior to improve goes to Adam Pompey.

Pompey may not have had the worse game on the planet and was up against Joseph Suaalii, who was a constant threat all game; however there wasnt much to praise either, he ran solid enough, making 96 metres, but I believe he should have been the player at dummy-half when Kosi played the ball and was not paying enough attention at that time and when someone makes a mighty mistake like that they automatically make this section. Hard to say if Andrew Webster will persevere with him or if we will see Viliami Vailea make his return to first grade.

Next round thoughts and prediction

Round three sees the Warriors stay across the ditch to face the Cowboys, who went down 28-16 to the Broncos in Round two.

Regarding the team I would pick, assuming that all injured players are ready to go, I would stick with the same side, except swapping Pompey out for Vailea.

This will be yet another tough match; the Cowboys will be looking for a big bounceback but will also be without Peta Hiku and Scott Drinkwater after both players enter early guilty pleas. These are significant losses, but this does not make winning any easier. The Warriors will need to ensure that they keep their error rate low and will need enormous efforts from Fonua-Blake and Mitch Barnett up front if they are to have a shot at getting the two points. 

I won't be surprised if the Warriors get the job done, but the Cowboys are tough to beat at home, so I am going with a Cowboys win by 10.

So that was a frustrating Round 2, and as usual, I will leave you with some questions.

Would you make any changes to the gameday 17?

Which player do you think is the most at risk of being dropped?

How would you eliminate the schoolboy errors if you were in charge?

What is your score prediction against the Cowboys?