Warriors red faced as finals fantasy ends
The Warriors have been put out of their misery with a 26-10 defeat to the Knights in Newcastle yesterday confirming this will be yet another season without finals footy.
It was retro round in the NRL and the Warriors brought back all their bad habits for the occasion with a dreadful performance.
The Knights secured back to back wins for the first time in two years while it was the Warriors’ fifth loss on the bounce.
During some of those losses, like against the Cowboys and Sharks, at least the players gave their all against a superior team.
But the Knights are staring at picking up the NRL’s wooden spoon for the third straight year.
Last tackle options were poor, while dumb penalties allowed the Knights to get out of trouble.
Don’t think that this was a great performance from the Knights either. They were sloppy in their execution and against a better team would have been punished more severely for their mistakes.
Despite the result, there were a couple of bright spots in the game.
Nathaniel Roache added a lot in the second half, providing plenty of energy and 18-year-old Isaiah Papalii showed that he’s a player with a bright future, making 31 tackles in 48 minutes.
However, Papalii was disappointed with the outcome. ‘‘We were unlucky with some calls here and there, but it was good to be back having a crack at first grade,’’ said Papalii, who was playing in just his second NRL game. ‘‘We had an opportunity to strike in the first set of the game, but there were a couple of dropped balls and tough penalties that made our start a bit shaky.’’
Surprisingly, Jazz Tevaga was named to play at lock, with Simon Mannering shifting to the second row and Ligi Sao dropping out of the 17. Ben Matulino started from the interchange, with the plan that he’d bring some spark into the game when he got on, but by the time he did enter this game the Warriors were already 12-0 down.
In the fifth minute the Warriors were slow to organise their defence after the Knights had made a break and after a couple of passes to the left Mitch Barnett was able to run in for the opening score.
Barnett bagged his second try five minutes later, getting through some half-hearted tackles.
The Warriors desperately needed to be the next team to score an they did so with David Fusitu’a superbly managing to sneak through a small gap on the right edge for a try.
Over the last five minutes of the half Trent Hodkinson kicked two close range penalties to extend the Knights’ lead to 12 points.
The killer blow for the Warriors’ season came in the 59th minute when Brock Lamb slipped a pass to Lachlan Fitzgibbon while being tackled and the second rower ran through untouched for a try.
Fifteen minutes from time Roache scored the Warriors’ second try, cutting inside after receiving a pass from Blake Ayshford.
Meanwhile, the Warriors’ under20 team was embarrassed 70-4 by the Knights in the earlier game.
RUGBY Friday, Aug 11 Game of three halves at ECOLight Stadium Counties Manukau v Taranaki, 6pm Taranaki v All Blacks 6.50pm Counties Manukau v All Blacks 7.40pm NRL ROUND 23 Thursday, Aug 10 Rabbitohs v Bulldogs, ANZ Stadium, 9.50pm Friday, Aug 11 Eels v Knights, ANZ Stadium, 8pm Broncos v Sharks, Suncorp Stadium, 9.50pm Saturday, Aug 12 Dragons v Titans, UOW Jubilee Oval, 5pm Storm v Roosters, AAMI Park, 7.30pm Panthers v Cowboys, Pepper Stadium, 9.30pm Sunday, Aug 13 Warriors v Raiders, Mt Smart Stadium, 4pm Wests Tigers v Sea Eagles, Leichhardt Oval, 6pm