Club must warm to task or winter will be chilly
So the rocks and diamonds pattern of the past month continues for the Warriors.
After a gutsy, tough victory against the Tigers, the Auckland team produced possibly their worst effort of the season last night, in a 32-0 hammering by the Roosters.
It means the ledger over the last five games reads loss-win-loss-win-loss.
The Roosters drubbing was probably even more disappointing than the Melbourne meltdown on Anzac Day, given the circumstances and the fact that the scoreline could have been even more one-sided had the visitors not blown several other giltedged opportunities.
The absence of Shaun Johnson and Issac Luke through injury didn’t help, but the game was lost in the forwards, while the visitors also showed much more desire and passion across the field.
The Warriors have great potential — they have shown that with their start to the season — now they need to achieve consistency. Bounce back wins are nice, but the Warriors should not need the emotion of a loss to fuel them to their best performances.
“We are still learning about being consistent,” said Blake Green. “There are a few young blokes in this team still learning about the NRL. It’s week to week and it’s brutal. If you are off you will get punished. We just didn’t turn up [last night] and they did.”
Green believes they can achieve that consistency, and their ability to do that will define their season.
“It does take time,” he said. “But this team will get there.”
Warriors coach Stephen Kearney said he hadn’t seen any evidence of complacency over the past week but admitted recent results suggest there may have been some. It certainly looked like some players had got ahead of themselves after the Tigers win and they paid the price.
The Roosters last night also showed the template that other teams will follow in the coming weeks — take on the Warriors physically up front and constantly pressure
Green. The five-eighth was subjected to several late hits after he kicked. The Sydney team also focused on disrupting the Warriors back five as they brought the ball out of trouble and it worked to a tee.
The Warriors also looked slow and predictable on attack and struggled to gain momentum.
Their high energy game that worked so well in March and April needs to be refined and reengineered as autumn turns, and the weather gets nasty. Otherwise it could become a winter of discontent.