Kearney seeks more of a team effort
Warriors coach Stephen Kearney is looking for his players to compete more as a team, rather than individuals, against the Sharks tomorrow.
The Warriors were badly beaten 42-6 by the Roosters at the Sydney Cricket Ground last weekend, which all but ended their NRL playoff aspirations.
Against the Sharks they will be looking to at least build some momentum towards the end of the season.
Against the Roosters, they had to cope with the early injury to Gerard Beale, who broke his kneecap, and they never looked settled after that.
Kearney hopes his team can learn the lessons from that defeat.
‘‘It was a challenging one last week, given we had the disruption of losing an outside back and having to shuffle Chanel [Harristavita] out to centre,’’ Kearney told Stuff yesterday.
‘‘The manner of the injury . . . knocked a few of the boys about.
‘‘From our point of view, we thought the effort wasn’t coordinated enough. Then all of a sudden it got really difficult for us and we started to try to solve situations individually, as opposed to trying to do it as a team.
‘‘That’s what hurt us last Sunday and when it became a real challenge, that’s when we really started working against each other.
‘‘There were guys that were coming out of the line when they didn’t have to, so the important part of us is that we stay connected and work together.
‘‘We did it the week before against a very good footy team in Manly and also prior to the Canberra game, which we did for half a dozen weeks.’’
Kodi Nikorima will again start on the interchange bench this week and will probably come in to give Issac Luke a break at hooker during the game.
‘‘I’m not asking him to go out there and play a whole game at hooker,’’ Kearney said of Nikorima. ‘‘So if he comes on there he’ll provide a spark.
‘‘Part of it has been due to him not being completely over his ankle complaint and that’s also been coupled with Chanel doing a really good job there [at fiveeighth].
‘‘That’s the nature of our game, you’ve got to make sure you’re performing and I’m super confident Kodi will be back to his best over the coming weeks.’’
Given that Blake Green is signed with the Warriors through to the end of the 2020 season and Harris-tavita has been so impressive, it will be interesting to see how Kearney juggles his halves options for the rest of this season and all of the next.
‘‘Sometimes that handles itself and that’s the challenge of competition, from club to club and within a team,’’ he said.
‘‘You put the people in who’ve put their best foot forward and who’ve performed and will get the job done.
‘‘So that doesn’t discriminate whether you’ve played 50 games or 300, we want people who are prepared to work hard and get the job done and if they perform well, they’ll get the opportunities.’’
The Warriors chose to remain in Sydney this week, rather than return to Auckland after
Sunday’s loss.
It’s something the team does perhaps once per season when they have back-to-back games in Australia with a short turnaround, and Kearney says it’s been good to spend the week together.
‘‘It’s given us an opportunity from a physical and mental sense to refresh,’’ he said.
‘‘We’ve done it before, we did it last year when we went from the
Gold Coast to the Dragons.
‘‘With the six-day turnaround and two flights it’s better preparation and the sun is out here and it’s given us an opportunity to freshen up without having to travel back to New Zealand, then come over again.
‘‘We had a good training session yesterday and we have another one tomorrow and we’ve got to make sure we take a better performance into the game against the Sharks.’’