Three lessons in Warriors’ Manly heartbreaker
As Nathan Brown goes back to the drawing board, Marvin France casts an eye over the few things the coach has learnt from the NRL season so far.
Atough week for the Warriors ended in more disappointment after a frustrating defeat to the bottom-placed Manly Sea Eagles on Friday night.
The day got off to a bad start with news that star prop Addin Fonua-Blake’s knee injury was worse than first thought, before Daly Cherry-Evans nailed a lastsecond field goal to snatch a 13-12 victory for the Sea Eagles.
After a promising start, the Warriors have now dropped back-to-back matches for a 2-3 record. Here’s what we learned from their latest display.
NO EXCUSES, THEY BLEW IT
The Warriors saved their worst performance of the season for the side running last in the NRL.
Even at this early stage, you wonder how costly the result could be at the end of the year.
It will go down as two points the Warriors left on the table and teams on the fringe of the top eight simply can’t afford to blow too many opportunities like this.
Yes, the Kiwi outfit had their excuses. They were severely down on troops while they only had a five-day turnaround after last Sunday’s loss to the
Roosters. But this was a game they still should have won – they certainly had enough ball to score more than 12 points.
The effort was there for 80 minutes, but that alone is not enough in this competition, even against the lower-ranked teams. On Friday night’s evidence, their execution and game management is clearly a long way off.
ATTACK HOLDING THEM BACK
Given their disrupted preseason, Warriors coach Nathan Brown decided to keep it simple in attack, with a view to develop it as the season progressed.
However, the worrying sign is that after five rounds – apart from 40 minutes against the Raiders – their work in the red zone has shown little improvement.
While they don’t have much
trouble getting up-field, the Warriors seem to lose their way in the opposition’s 20m.
There were at least four occasions in the first half where they let the Sea Eagles off the hook with a poor option or a
wayward pass. Hooker Wayde Egan’s decision-making out of dummy-half left a lot to be desired. But, to be fair, all four members of the spine were guilty when it came to icing their sets.
In the crucial final 20 minutes, they lacked the composure and direction to close out the result.
That the Warriors dominated possession and territory for long periods yet only managed two tries – against a side who went into the round with the worst defence in the competition – says everything about how the attack is travelling.
Injuries haven’t helped develop combinations, but the longer they take to gel, the deeper the hole will get.
BACK-THREE SHOW A SIGN OF THINGS TO COME?
There were very few positives from a Warriors’ perspective but, with several forwards watching from the stands, they at least showed the value of having a powerful back three.
Roger Tuivasa-Sheck, as usual, led the way with a gamehigh 259 running metres, while Ken Maumalo and David Fusitu’a were next best for the Warriors with 194m and 153m respectively.
Manly’s tactics of kicking early in the tackle count caught the two wingers out on occasion. And while Fusitu’a’s try-scoring drought continued, he and Maumalo regularly bent the defensive line to get the Warriors going forward.
Tuivasa-Sheck can’t just be used as a metre-eater – the skipper is far too important to the attack for that to be the case. But with leading middle FonuaBlake facing at least four months on the sidelines, the Warriors may be calling on these type of efforts, especially from the wingers, more often.