NZ Warriors 2023 Round 8 Review: Injuries take toll as Warriors go down swinging against Storm

 

After last week's gritty win over the Cowboys, the Warriors made their annual ANZAC Day trip to AAMI Park to face the Storm.

I predicted a 16-point win to Storm here, but I overshot the mark, with the Storm only managing an eight-point victory against a valiant Warriors outfit that, despite suffering some game-changing injuries, stayed in the fight until the bitter end.

What Went Down

Melbourne hosted the final ANZAC Round clash with their traditional opponents New Zealand Warriors, at AAMI Park. The Storm was without suspended forward Tui Kamikamica and opted to start Nelson Asofa-Solomona from the bench.

The Warriors got on top early with a try within the first five minutes to Jackson Ford before Dallin Watene-Zelezniak crossed after ten minutes, taking an early 12-0 lead.

Cameron Munster's 40/20 got Melbourne into the contest, with Justin Olam scoring shortly after. When Addin Fonua-Blake went through some soft Storm defence to score under the posts, the Warriors were running hot at 18-6 and dominating with 73% possession.

That possession started to even up before the break, and an error by Shaun Johnson with a rare incorrect restart error led to Munster scoring and reducing the half-time deficit to six points.

A double blow right on half-time saw Tohu Harris leave the field injured with a knee problem, and Dylan Walker was sent to the sin-bin for what appeared to be a head slam.

Watene-Zelezniak's second try of the night put the Warriors up by 22-12, but that would be the end of the scoring for the visitors, with Melbourne dominating the line-breaks 6-1 in the final forty.

Nick Meaney made up for his error in the lead-up to Watene-Zelezniak's 44th-minute try by scoring twice within nine minutes which saw the Storm hit the front for the first time of the evening after 56 minutes.

The injury toll for the Warriors continued to mount, with Jazz Tevaga limping from the field and Charnze Nicoll-Kloskstad failing his HIA assessment.

Harry Grant's try next to the posts sealed victory for the Storm, but the Warriors were far from disgraced, making amends for their 70-10 loss in the same fixture last year.

My Thoughts

Well, this is a strange match to review; it was heartbreaking to watch the Warriors lose, yet another ANZAC clash, but at the end of the 80 minutes, I came away feeling proud of the performance, albeit a bit frustrated. Once again, this match had plenty of adversity for the Warriors to overcome, which is becoming a regular occurrence. This was the start of the dangerous three-game stretch that was going to show us where the Warriors actually sit in the 2023 season, and despite losing, the Warriors are a legitimate top-eight contender now.

There is still plenty of room for improvement, and if they can start having some matches without injuries, we can see them build some cohesion and stay in the playoff hunt. Before moving on, I just want to mention how amazing AAMI Park looked; as annoying as it is to have the ANZAC Match always played in Melbourne, you cannot deny that they know how to put on a display, I still yearn for the annual event to make its way to Mount Smart, but I am not holding my breath.

There were aspects of the game to smile about, leading to my positives from the match.

Match Positives

The Warriors had a strong start for the second week running, so hopefully, the club has figured out what was going on for the first six weeks. It makes getting the victory easier when they are not chasing a lead. The Warriors must start strong the next two weeks, so I have my fingers crossed that I am talking about the third good start in a row next week.

With some key members of the forward back going down, the Warrior's back five were relied on for some extra work. They had a solid night with all five running over 100 metres (Dallin Watene-Zeleaniak - 157m, Ed Kosi - 138m, Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad - 124m, Adam Pompey - 116m and Marcelo Montoya - 110m). Their work out the back is needed to ensure the Warriors start their sets strong, and with a few forwards set to miss a few games, they will be leaned on for more big carries. 

The newfound attitude this club possesses shone through again, there were times when it looked like everything was stacked against the Warriors, and they had plenty of reasons to just throw in the towel and give up. However, this outfit does not do that; they fight to the bitter end and don't make excuses which is a refreshing approach for this club. We want to see them win, but losing to a side that is playing well when you give 100% is less demoralising than I am used to as a Warriors fan.

However, some things concerned me, bringing me to my negative from the game.

Match Negative

Injuries were my biggest negative; losing Tohu Harris to his knee injury took a lot of sting out of the Warrior's attack, as when he was on, his short passing game really started to open up the Storm. Then the Warriors lost Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad and Bayley Sironen to head knocks and Jazz Tevaga to an Achilles injury. Playing without a bench for a large portion of the second half made things challenging, and the Storm started to make inroads when the Warrior's forwards were tiring. Hopefully, the injuries will decrease, as it would be good to see the Warriors name the same 17 two weeks in a row.

As mentioned already, the Storm started to really take control of the middle of the pitch when the Warriors forwards started to tire. The Storm took advantage of some poor defensive misreads from the Warriors. Dallin Watene-Zelezniak was exposed a few times when he shot in off his wing, leading to a handful of tries. These are easy fixes, and the Warriors have shown good spirit in defence, and I'm optimistic that they can sort out the edges before the game this Sunday.

Lastly, the officials were dreadful, Dylan Walker's sin-binning should never have happened, and they let the Storm get away with plenty of ruck infringements. Also, one of Nick Meaney's tries, I thought, had a knock-on involved and should not have been given.

I will not throw my toys and say the Warriors were screwed out of this match, but I will say that some of these lucky calls the Storm got did help switch momentum. We all know that the Warriors seldom get the rub of the green, so they have to be squeaky clean and make the most of every opportunity; easier said than done, however.

Warrior of the Match

My Warrior of the Match goes to Addin Fonua-Blake.

A big effort from AFB; with the injuries stacking up, he had to play 71 minutes and made them all count. Running for 177 metres, making seven tackle-breaks and 42 tackles. Not to forget, he scored a nice try for the second week in a row. Like many others in the squad, he has been building his form nicely this season, and with it looking like some experienced forwards will be missing for the next few weeks, the Warriors will need more mammoth efforts from their marque Prop.

Warrior to Improve

A few players made a few mistakes, but I couldn't really single anyone out, so I have not picked anyone this week.

Next round thoughts and prediction

Round Nine sees the Warriors return to Mount Smart Stadium to face a Roosters team that defeated the Dragons 27-26 on ANZAC Day.

Regarding the team, I would pick. Egan needs to return, and the rest, I am not sure because of the injuries. Tohu, CNK, Jazz and Sironen may all be out. So I would keep the side the same, but if those guys are out, Curran will replace Tohu, Tuaupiki for CNK, Sifakula for Tevaga and Lussick for Sironen.

The Warriors are battered and bruised with a stack of injuries and only have a 5-day turnaround before facing the Roosters. On a positive note, the Roosters also have a 5-day turnaround. 

It will be another tough slog; with depleted stocks, the Warriors have their backs against the wall; however, this newfound tough mindset that the side has makes me a little confident. Hard to predict this match with no clue as to who will be playing, but I am backing the Warriors to keep their winning streak at home intact, so I am going with a Warriors win by 8.

So that was a heartbreaking Round 8, and as usual, I will leave you with some questions.

Did you have a Warrior to improve?

Who would you replace Tohu Harris with?

Where do you realistically see the Warriors sitting on the ladder at the end of the season?

What is your score prediction against the Roosters?