Warriors’ season looks all but over
GETTY IMAGES THE effort and commitment could not be questioned but there can be no escaping the fact that the Warriors’ season is on life support after going down to the Cowboys in Townsville last night.
With their backs against the wall following two-straight defeats and an alarming injury toll, the Warriors took the fight to the home team to head into halftime locked at 12-all.
However, their second half woes came back to haunt them, failing to score another point as North Queensland held on for a 24-12 victory.
Mathematically the Warriors can still make the playoffs but, needing to win at least five of their last six games, it would take a dramatic reversal in form to prevent their finals drought from stretching to a sixth season.
The Cowboys, meanwhile, continue to truck along just fine despite the absence of Johnathan Thurston, winning a fourthstraight game without arguably the NRL’s best player to stay on track for the top four.
Townsville has never been a happy place to visit for the Warriors, with just one win from their 11 previous games in North Queensland. Already without senior duo Shaun Johnson and Ryan Hoffman, among others, there was more bad news prior to kick-off with confirmation prop James Gavet had been sidelined for up to six weeks with a broken arm.
The Warriors resilience has been questioned for much of the season but that could not be said about last night’s performance.
The Auckland club needed to start well and they did, dominating possession in the opening quarter.
Back in the NRL for the first time in almost two years, Mason Lino was one of the best for the visitors, impressing with his short kicking game and combining well with Kieran Foran, who was in everything after having his commitment questioned early in the week.
Although, it was their inability to make the Cowboys pay in the vital moments that cost them the two points.
Lino shook off the nerves by forcing three goal-line dropouts and split the defence close to the line only to lose the ball in the tackle.
Foran then took advantage of the early field possession, combining with Roger Tuivasa-Sheck for a perfectly timed move down the left to put Bunty Afoa away.
The first half was played at a hectic pace with several momentum shifts.
Justin O’Neill made Lino pay for kicking out on the full to hit back for the Cowboys before the halfback was brought down inches short of the line following a brilliant one-on-one strip from Solomone Kata.
The Cowboys looked to have taken a six-point lead into halftime when Javid Bowen scored after a sloppy period from the Warriors.
But a late mistake gave the Warriors a chance to strike before the break and they showed a ruthless streak Stephen Kearney has been calling for when Foran found Mannering who sliced through.
Even without Thurston the Cowboys are a slick attacking unit and they constantly stretched the Warriors, who for the most part scrambled well.
But after holding out one set heading into the crucial final quarter, they couldn’t make it two as Ethan Lowe finished off a sweeping Cowboys’ move.
The Warriors had limited attacking opportunities from that point but they failed to come up with anything threatening when they did.
Pressing the line with three minutes to go, David Fusitu’a gathered a bomb only for his pass to find Javid Bowen, who raced away to ice the result.