Maguire rips into woeful Souths
The next Warriors try was sparked by a 50m run from Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad after he caught a bomb. From that, Johnson turned on the magic and ran in the rest of the way to score.
Nicoll-Klokstad lost control of the ball when trying to ground it for a try in the 25th minute but two minutes before the break Roger Tuivasa-Sheck just managed to retain possession off a Johnson grubber to increase the Warriors’ lead. defence with a cross field kick inside the Broncos’ half that Roberts latched onto and then raced away to score.
The Warriors needed to score next and Gavet came up with the big play to do that, taking a pass from dummy half Nathaniel Roache and crashing over in the 66th minute.
That was it as far as the game was concerned with the Warriors defence able to hold tight for the final 14 minutes. THE door might just be back on the hinges by the time South Sydney players return from their bye in a fortnight following coach Michael Maguire’s almighty spray on Friday night.
The week off couldn’t have come at a better time for Rabbitohs players, if only to get themselves a few days away from their seething coaching staff following their 22-16 NRL loss to Parramatta.
Maguire ordered his players to have a good hard look at themselves. He was furious after they fumbled their way through the first half and to a 4-8 record to leave their season in tatters before their round 14 clash with Brisbane.
‘‘It was unacceptable for what we expected,’’ Maguire said.
‘‘We’re a team that can knock out a reasonable performance five days ago and we end up tossing up that.’’
In the end, the scoreline flattered the Rabbitohs.
They stumbled to just 40 per cent of possession in the first half to go to the break down 18-0, and only scored two tries in the last 10 minutes through winger Alex Johnson to make it look respectable.
If anything though, that just made Maguire more frustrated as he refused to blame the short turnaround from last week’s Perth trip.
‘‘The last five minutes or so we showed some good footy,’’ Maguire said. ‘‘So it’s got nothing to do with short turnarounds.
‘‘Players play Origin and then turn around three days later and play. I think they’re poor excuses. I don’t wear that.’’
The Rabbitohs were their own worst enemies. They missed 25 tackles and made 12 errors, while fullback Cody Walker let bombs bounce three times and fumbled another ball in the in-goal to gift the Eels a try.
But despite their 14th position on the ladder, Maguire insists the Rabbitohs’ season isn’t yet over.
‘‘The No 1 thing is probably hanging onto the ball. We’ve got to fix it. The team has got to fix it.’’ — AAP