NZ Warriors 2024 Round 23 Review: Dolphins Break Warriors’ Hearts in Golden Point Showdown

After their disappointing Round 22 defeat to the Eels, the Warriors made their way back across the ditch to face the Dolphins. A late change saw SJ out and TMM in for what was a must-win game to keep the Warrior's season alive. After a poor first half saw the Warriors trailing 20-6, the team showed spirit to get back into the contest and force the game in Golden Point, but unfortunately, the same issues that have plagued their 2024 campaign sealed their fate, and Sean O'Sullivan ended his former club's finals dreams with a two-point field goal in just the second minute of extra time, handing the Warriors their 12th defeat of the season 34-32.

What Went Down

The Warriors started the match with good field position and plenty of possession but struggled to take advantage with a stagnant goal-line attack. When given their time with the ball, the Dolphins would avoid making the same mistake. It took only 8 minutes to get on the board when Kodi Nikorima pushed through a grubber that could not be picked up by Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad, allowing Felise Kaufusi to get to it first; Jamayne Isaako pushed his streak to 23 straight conversions handing the Dolphins a 6-0 lead after 10 minutes. The Warriors responded with some enterprising football, utilising some offloads which showed promise as the Dolphins struggled against their second phase football; however, they continued to have issues getting across the line; around the 16th minute, the Dolphins turned defence into attack when Chanel Harris-Tavita put in a cross-field kick which was batted back by CNK but was scooped up by Max Plath who flicked the ball to Herbie Farnworth who sprinted 85 metres to cross for second try of the afternoon. After a few back-and-forth sets, the Warriors were next to strike when Edward Kosi outleaped Isaako for a TMM bomb before powering over Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow in the 21st minute to finally get the Warriors on the scoreboard.

The game started to settle, with neither side able to gain the upper hand until some contentious decision swung the momentum back to the Dolphins. Roger Tuivasa-Sheck was penalised for a high tackle in the 34th minute despite replays showing no contact to the head; Isaako slotted the easy penalty goal, extending the home side's lead to two scores. Moments later, Jake Averiloo broke through some lacklustre defence before sending Nikorima away for another try, albeit from a pass that looked forward in the 35th minute. On the next set, Mark Nicholls left the field with an HIA that would rule him out of the contest; the Bunker Officials ruled that Dylan Walker contacted Nicholl's head with his shoulder, which saw the Warrior's lock sent to the sin bin in what was the last big play of the first half, seeing the Warriors enter the sheds trailing 20-6 and down to 12 men.

The Warriors started the second half strong and only took two minutes to score when a TMM kick was chased hard by Kurt Capewell, who had no issues grounding the ball over the line; Harris-Tavita's successful conversion reduced the lead to 8. The Dolphins looked to have struck back quickly with another try, but it was denied after Tevita Pangai Junior was penalised for an obstruction.

It took another ten minutes before another scoring play happened, as a Mitchell Barnett error handed the Dolphins much-needed field position. The Dolphins wasted little time, shifting the ball to the left before Nikorima sent Farnworth over for his second try with a nice short ball. Isaako's conversion saw his streak extend to 27 in a row, and the Dolphins' lead out to 14. The Warriors refused to quit and, after an error from Plath, found themselves back in the hunt, surging up the field before a TMM pass to left went to the ground before being scooped up by Ali Leiataua, who crossed to score untouched in the 58th minute. The Dolphins continued to dig themselves a hole when  Isaiya Katoa kicked the ball out on the full, handing the Warriors more attacking opportunities; moments later, a clever play from TMM, who spied Tabuai-Fidow defending the front line put a kick through that was not recovered by Oryn Keeley in a contest with CNK, allowing TMM to pounce on the ball in the 64th minute and bring the Warriors within one score. Filled with confidence, the Warriors were back at it again when Leiataua broke into space, scorching down the field before giving the ball to CNK, who was dragged down just 10 metres out; the Warriors quickly shifted to the left, handing it to Leiataua once more who lost control of the ball as he was about to ground it, to make matters worse for the young centre he was kneed in the head by Kosi and was taken from the field for an HIA and would not return. The Dolphins were ruled to be offside during that play, so the Warriors had another shot and did not waste it as CHT evaded several defenders before offloading to Wayde Egan, who shuffled the ball to Demitric Sifakula, who crashed over in the 67th minute, CHT's conversion levelled the scores 26 all. The passage of play appeared to wake the Dolphins up, and on their next set, they put the Warriors to the sword when Kaufusi broke the line before sending Averillo away for their fifth try of the day in the 70th minute. Both sides struggled to complete sets in the final 10 minutes, but with five minutes remaining, the Warriors went all in, pushing through another grubber that saw Barnett chase the ball but just missed the grounding. However, the bunker and referee deemed that Nikorima had interfered with Barnett in the chase and gave the Warriors a penalty try, which, after CHT's conversion, saw the scores levelled once again. With time running out, both sides attempted field goals but missed the mark, which saw the match head into Golden Point.

Golden Point followed the usual routine of hit-ups leading to field goal attempts. Both sides had their chances, but it was Sean O'Sullivan who came off the bench to deliver the winning field goal from beyond the 40-meter line in the 82nd minute, securing the Dolphins the victory and ending the Warrior's slim hopes of making the finals.

My Thoughts

Well, that match had me going through all my emotions, but ultimately, as we have seen so often this season, the Warriors just could not get the job done. I went into this match not very positive and had predicted a Dolphins win, and when the Warriors went into the sheds at halftime down 20-6 and reduced to 12 men, I was getting prepared for a blowout, but the team made a match out of it and took the Dolphins to the limit. They just let themselves down with the same things they have done poorly all season: stagnant attack, inability to defend their mistakes, and general lack of killer instinct. This defeat rules out any hopes of finals football, so we now will get to see how this side will respond when they have nothing but pride to play for; I am on the fence about how that will go, but I have hope that the team will lift to aim to end the season on a high and send Shaun Johnson out on a more positive note. Still, I also have lingering fears that this will be the final straw and the Warriors could collapse.

It's not how many predicted the Warriors' season would go, and the staff will have a busy offseason combing through all the data and formulating a plan to get back on track in 2025. Until then, there are three games left for us to watch and for me to review, but I am looking forward to this season being over.

There wasn't much to smile about, which brings me to my positives.

Match Positives

The Warriors showed heart; with the game looking out of reach and playing with 12 men, they had the perfect excuse to just throw in the towel, but they dug deep and started to play football. The result may have gone their way if they showed a similar grit in the first half. That final 40 minutes gives me hope that we will see a competitive Warriors side in the final 3 matches, but it wouldn't be the first time my hope has been misguided this season.

The forwards were busy again, with five cracking my triple-digit target, Addin Fonua-Blake (204m), Mitchell Barnett (139m), Dylan Walker (137m), Jazz Tevaga (101m) and Marata Niukore (100m). Kurt Capewell was the only starting forward to not hit 100m, but he was close, and both Tom Ale and Demitric Sifakula had limited minutes but still averaged 10m a carry. However, it was another game where the forward's hard work was lost by the lack of attack from the backs; despite this, it was good to see some size on the bench for a change. It just needs to be used better, but more about that later.

Lastly, it's time to put the calculator away for the year. It is disappointing that the Warriors won't be playing finals footy, but the stress of whether they will win and if other sides around them lose to help them make it is gone. We can just do our best to enjoy the footy, and hopefully, the Warriors will help us in that regard. 

However, I did have concerns, which brings me to my negatives from the game.

Match Negatives

The Warriors are still showing a fragile, defensive structure when under adversity. Many of the Dolphins' points came directly from a Warriors error or silly penalty. That is purely an attitude issue and was not something the side struggled with in 2023. I can't say how you fix an attitude issue, but it's something that Andrew Webster needs to address and fix sooner rather than later; otherwise, the Warriors could find themselves suffering some heavy defeats against sides all pushing for a top-four spot.

The Warriors' attack is still lacking; they had plenty of possession and good field territory but just lacked the attacking structure to trouble the Dolphins; things started to open up more when TMM was able to utilise his grubber, which is one of his better weapons but if he remains as the Warriors half for the foreseeable future, he needs to work on improving the other kicking options. Besides that, the team's attack has just been too one-dimensional this season, which makes it easy to defend, so they just need to begin to ask more questions of the defence, whether that comes from a better line running or second-phase football I am not sure, but they need to figure it out.

Lastly, Webster's bench usage still has me scratching my head; he used two interchanges in the first half and only 4 in the second half, with one used less than ten minutes into the second half. This side is frankly not good enough to have a player sit on the bench unused and to have interchanges left over. Demtirc Sifakula was spent after his ten minutes, so I would bring him on at the 30-minute mark so he has ten minutes to do his thing before going into the sheds to have a rest, then let him hit the ground running in the second half before taking him off at the 50-minute mark. My coaching experience is laughable, so I may be completely wrong, but you don't get to keep the interchanges you don't use, so please just use them, Webby.

Warrior of the Match

My Warrior of the Match goes to Mitch Barnett.

Another big game from the current skipper, 16 runs for 139 metres and 33 tackles, showed plenty of desire to chase that try that he would have probably scored. He gave everything he had for the cause, and if the rest of the squad could emulate his heart, then the Warriors would be a tough side to beat. He did make an uncharacteristic error; however, he has to have locked in the Simon Mannering Medal already.

Warrior to Improve

My Warrior to improve is Edward Kosi.

It may be a tough pick here as Kosi did plenty of things right, including that nice try, but he led the side with errors, making three, and had a few poor defensive reads. Plus, we can add his accidental knee to Leiataua's head, which ruled the young centre out for the final 20 minutes. Definitely not the worst performance of the winger's career, and while he seems like a great kid, it may be time for the Warriors to try other wing options when the incumbents are out injured or keep RTS there.

Next Round Thoughts and Prediction

The Warriors remain across the ditch to face the Sea Eagles, who defeated the Raiders 46-24 in Round 22.

Regarding the team I would pick, just like I said last week, I would bring Luke Metcalf back (who had another solid outing in the NSW Cup) into the halves, moving CHT to the bench, where he would be more useful than Freddy Lussick. Johnson sounds like he will be out still, so TMM stays in the halves. The rest of the side I would keep the same, perhaps only bringing Moala Graham-Taufa back into the centres and moving RTS to Kosi's wing.

The Sea Eagles have been on a bit of a roll, winning four of the last five and only losing once this season at 4 Pines Park, so the odds are heavily in their favour. Add to that the fact that a big win over the Warriors could help them cement a top-four spot, so I am concerned that this could be a blowout if the Warriors don't come to the match with the right mindset. It is going to be tough, but if the Warriors can work on their attack, reduce their errors and show more starch defensively then they have a fighters chance. Unfortunately, I just don't see it happening, so I'm going with a Sea Eagles win by 18.

So, that was a tense Round 23, but as usual, I will leave you with some questions.

With the finals hopes over, what do you want to see from the Warriors' remaining clashes?

What changes would you make to the 17?

Can the Warriors get another win this season?

What is your score prediction against the Sea Eagles?