Emotional motivation
The Warriors were inspired by heartfelt messages from their families as they ended an ‘‘emotional week’’’ with their first win of the
2020 NRL season and their first clean sheet for 14 years.
Centre Gerard Beale said yesterday the Warriors were ‘‘a bit sore from their first game back in a while’’ but there was ‘‘a great feeling in the camp’’’ after their
18-0 win over the Dragons at Gosford’s Central Coast Stadium on Saturday.
The shutout was the Auckland club’s first clean sheet since their club record 66-0 victory against South Sydney in 2006, a score that still stands as the highest by a team playing away from home.
It was just the fourth shutout in the Warriors’ 26-season history, following a 42-0 victory over the Newcastle Knights in 1999, a 30-0 drubbing of the Cronulla Sharks in 2001 and the 66-0 shellacking at Souths.
The Warriors showed their determination to keep their line intact by their response to wing Ken Maumalo’s try-saving tackle on Dragons rival Mikaele Ravalawa in the 76th minute.
Ravalawa streaked down the right wing and seemed set to score in the corner before a flying Maumalo stretched out an arm and jolted the ball from his grasp to force a turnover.
Maumalo was instantly mobbed by team-mates, who celebrated the defensive highlight as a wildly as they did any of the Warriors’ three touchdowns.
Beale, who made a successful return from injury with 27 tackles in his first game in 2020, said the Warriors were proud of the clean sheet.
‘‘The NRL is so competitive, it rarely happens,.
‘‘It’s a real good feeling. It’s something we aim for each week, but the teams out there are so good you have to be on for every play to be able to do that.’’
Beale said the Warriors would take a lot of confidence out of that’ as they prepare for their round four challenge against the Penrith Panthers, who are sure to offer stiffer resistance than the disappointing Dragons.
The defensive effort was led by rejuvenated second rower Tohu Harris, who made a team-high 48 tackles as well as carving off 212m with the ball in hand, third behind captain Roger TuivasaSheck (285m) and Maumalo (282m).
Brisbane-born Beale, who has 11 Kiwis caps, said it had been quite an emotional week’ for the Warriors, who have been in camp in Australia, away from their families, for several weeks.
‘‘We had a lot of videos from back home, sent over by our families,’’’ he said, adding that ‘‘going into the game, we were inspired by those. ‘‘We wanted to do everyone proud back home.’’
Beale said it felt good to have put the two earlier losses behind them with a strong performance against the Warriors, ‘‘after everything that’s gone on’’’ with the competition suspended for two months during the coronavirus pandemic.
‘‘We’re not the only ones affected in the NRL, but we probably had to make the biggest sacrifices, relocating from Auckland.’’
Beale said the new ’six-again’ rule seemed to make the NRL more free-flowing with more potential for players to be get fatigued, which would open up the game a lot .
‘‘When you get the ’six-again’ call you are getting a bit of an energy boost, but if you are on the back end of it ... it’s pretty daunting.’’
Beale used the enforced season shutdown as a positive, devoting himself to preparing for his NRL return after a serious knee injury last August led to surgery.
‘‘It gave me an extra few weeks to fine tune everything.’’
The 29-year-old did not shirk any aspect of his work, running for 102m to go with his 27 tackles from 29 attempts.
Beale said it had been a long wait between NRL games, but he just had to be patient, and he could not have wished for a better comeback performance from his teammates.
"The whole day was perfect.’’ Meanwhile, Beale "wasn’t too sure’’ how bad fellow centre Peta Hiku’s rib injury was, but claimed, "he’s a tough bugger’’.
He was full of praise for specialist dummy half Karl Lawton’s 55-minute cameo at centre, saying he had shown an ability to adapt and "get on with the job’’.
The Warriors are also looking forward to prop Poasa Faamasuili’s arrival on a fourweek loan from the Roosters to bolster their middle forwards division after a run of injuries.
Beale said any player schooled at a successful club like the Roosters would bring the right attributes.