The Warriors need to keep rolling their sleeves up
OPINION: The Warriors might not have the premiership at their mercy, but at least they had a go.
No, the depleted Titans weren’t much opposition and, no, the Warriors’ 28-22 win wasn’t convincing. But - again - you have to give the Warriors credit for trying and for not losing.
Effort’s the least you should be able to expect from any NRL side, but it’s occasionally been in short supply at the Warriors. So many aspects of their play remain inadequate but, in competing physically, they finally gave themselves an opportunity to win.
And it was nice to see Ryan Hoffman get some reward. Long one of the competition’s best leftedge hole runners, the former Storm star has rarely received great service at the Warriors.
But with the game on the line and the tired Titans allowing him time, Warriors halfback Shaun Johnson was able to put the ball where Hoffman likes it and through he went to win the game.
Now come the Eels
Like the Warriors, Parramatta boast a 2-3 record this season. Like the Warriors, the Eels are probably over-rated.
They have some good players and some poor players and the odd player that’s regarded as exceptional, but isn’t.
At this point both teams have a star half - Johnson at the Warriors, Corey Norman at the Eels - and the extent of the gameplan appears to be give it to them and hope for the best.
If five-eighth Kieran Foran can stay on the park, then the Warriors have the sort of proven winner who could provide the toughness and structure they lack. But there are so many strands to the Foran story - in terms of fitness, mental health, behaviour, family - that seeing out the season would be an achievement.
For now, it’s Parramatta at Mt Smart on Sunday. A year ago Foran was meant to be their saviour, now he’s the Warriors’.
It promises to be a scrappy, seesawing game in which the team that makes less of a hash of things at the end will win.
How about Manly?
Performances in March and April mean nothing in the grand scheme of things. But good on Manly - unfancied by all and sundry at the start of the season for beating the Cowboys, Bulldogs and Roosters in consecutive weeks.
Rugby league authority Phil Gould maintains that the team who wins the hitting, wins the game and Manly certainly did that against the Roosters. Whether they were carrying or defending, Manly’s players produced a level of toughness that enabled them to overcome a deficit in talent.
How Queensland folk must laugh every time Roosters halfback Mitchell Pearce is touted as the man to lead New South Wales to State of Origin glory.
Elsewhere, the Storm’s 28-6 win over Penrith confirmed their status as the best team - at least for now - in the comp. Other highlights from the round included the Cowboys’ convincing 20-6 win over Souths, while Canberra’s potential was evident in their 30-18 victory against Parramatta.
Ivan Cleary is being unveiled on Monday as Wests Tigers coach, but he must have accepted the role with the odd reservation. A huge number of their first-grade squad are off-contract, the lower-grade teams battling and the club board dominated by one faction it’s not the most stable club.
Sunday’s 28-6 loss to the Dragons was their fourth in succession and they sit last on the table. Cleary has a big job in front of him.