Warriors change tack on attack
An area of real weakness for the Warriors this season is at last becoming a strength.
While the Warriors boast the best spine in the NRL, it counts for nothing if the forwards are losing battle in the middle.
For the first part of this campaign that’s been the case for the Warriors, but against the Titans two weeks ago they were the dominant team in the middle and surprise, surprise they won 34-12.
There are two reasons for this turnaround, one is because Ben Matulino is getting back to his best form and the other is that the props have changed their approach to running with the ball.
‘‘There are times when our team doesn’t care if we go one off the ruck, We just love taking the ball up, but that’s not the smart way to do it,’’ said Matulino, who made four offloads against the Titans.
‘‘We were happy to let the props go off by themselves and they’d get smashed by the other team.
‘‘But now we’re running in pairs and taking a couple of defenders off them. It allows Issac Luke to get out there and run like we’ve seen over the last couple of weeks.’’
This change in emphasis has come at the right time for tonight’s game against the Bulldogs at Mt Smart Stadium in Auckland, because they boast more big bodies in the middle than anyone else.
James Graham, David Klemmer, Sam Kasiano and Greg Eastwood are players who revel in the huge hits and Matulino says when you’re defending against them you’ve just got to get stuck in.
‘‘Sam hasn’t got a sidestep,’’ Matulino said. ’’He’s just straight up the middle and pretty much like a bowling ball. You just get your body in front - if you get thrown off that’s all good, at least you’ve slowed them down a bit.’’
As for Graham, Matulino regards him as one of the most consistent players in the NRL. ’’He’s been at the top of his game for a while now and there’s not much difference between his best game and worst.’’
Matulino has been more prone to form swing, though. When he’s at his Queensland maestro Johnathan Thurston has given a positive assessment of his injured shoulder amid fears he may not regain fitness for next month’s State of Origin decider.
But the star North Queensland playmaker remains in serious doubt for his 300th NRL match against Penrith this Saturday.
Thurston produced one of the all-time great Origin performances in game two on Wednesday night, playing through the pain of a busted shoulder to break NSW’s hearts with a clutch sideline conversion, sealing a famous 18-16 win.
The Cowboys champion said immediately after the game in Sydney he had not suffered structural damage, rather a cork which had resulted in swelling. He would be assessed by club physio Steve Sartori before deciding whether he will take on Penrith in Townsville at the weekend.
‘‘It’s a little bit tender, but it’s a lot better than I thought it would be,’’ best he’s up there with the very best props, but there have been times where he hasn’t been as influential.
He missed the first seven rounds of this season recovering from a knee injury and a subsequent infection.
‘‘His shoulder his stuffed. You just go at him all night. You go at him and then it put pressure on the defenders either side. They didn’t go to him once in the second half. I couldn’t believe what I was watching. You’ve got a player out there who cannot pick his arm up off the ground and they didn’t target his side of the field or go at the defenders either side. I don’t know what they were doing.’’
After the match, the 34-year-old Thurston had an ice pack strapped to his right shoulder but insisted he was no different to any other player who was playing through injury at this time of year.
Skipper Cameron Smith marvelled at his team-mate’s resilience saying he was sometimes amazed by Thurston’s ability to take the field.
‘‘He’s got nearly every joint in his body strapped up tight,’’ Smith said. ‘‘He’s a warrior, isn’t he?’’
The decisive third match will be played at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane on July 12.
During his absence, the Warriors won just three games and said he felt helpless being on the sidelines.