‘Shortcuts’ hurt Warriors
Warriors coach Stephen Kearney admitted his side was guilty of taking ‘‘shortcuts’’ in the upset defeat to the Bulldogs as they blew a chance to book their place in the NRL finals.
Trailing by 10 points midway through the second half, the Warriors fought back to level the scores with six minutes to go before a stunning field goal by Bulldogs birthday boy Lachlan Lewis sealed a 27-26 victory.
The visitors were strong favourites to beat the 13th-placed Bulldogs at ANZ Stadium in Sydney yesterday, which would have guaranteed the club a first finals appearance since 2011 with two games left in the regular season.
The Warriors outscored them five tries to four but lacked the intensity of the previous wins over the Dragons and Knights.
The Bulldogs’ three first-half tries were fairly soft while the Warriors looked disjointed in attack throughout.
The result may have come at a cost with five-eighth Blake Green (calf) and centre Gerard Beale (hamstring) picking up injuries to leave them in doubt for Friday’s home clash against the Panthers.
Halfback Shaun Johnson also hurt his ankle in the second half but went on to finish the match.
‘‘Their early tries, that wasn’t us,’’ Kearney said. ‘‘There was a couple of shortcuts that I saw which weren’t in our game over the last couple of weeks.
‘‘The Bulldogs have been playing some really consistent footy over the last month and you just can’t do that in this competition. It’s shown, particularly over the last three weeks, that you’ve got to make sure you’re not taking shortcuts.’’
It was a hugely disappointing display from the Warriors given what was at stake.
While their finals destiny remains in their hands, the result has jeopardised their hopes of earning a home playoff by finishing fifth or sixth.
But the coach was in no mood to think about the playoffs.
‘‘I’m not really focused on that,’’ said Kearney. ‘‘I’m focused on making sure we improve areas of our game that we didn’t do so well in today.’’
Johnson finished with two try assists and had a busy day running the ball but was left to rue a kick that went straight to Bulldogs fullback Will Hopoate in the lead up to Lewis’ field goal.
The Warriors also missed 37 tackles and captain Roger Tuivasa-Sheck echoed the sentiments of his coach when it came to some of their defensive efforts. ‘‘We’re usually a lot tougher on our try-line,’’ TuivasaSheck said. ‘‘For their winger [Reimis Smith] to come through the middle and a few kick tries there, we’re disappointed.’’