At a glance
season so for us it’s getting back to the basics of the game and making sure we bring that physical energy each week.’’
Top of the agenda for Kearney over the next fortnight is figuring out how to compete with the more physical teams in the competition.
Saturday’s match continued a theme in defeat for the Warriors where they were exposed through the middle.
The home team started full of energy and things looked promising when Agnatius Paasi barged over in the fourth minute. But as soon as possession swung and the big Rabbitohs pack, led by the Burgess brothers – Sam, George and Thomas – got their tails up, the Warriors were on the back foot for most of the night.
Mannering did not shy away from the fact they were outmuscled but insisted they were not intimidated by the Souths forwards.
‘‘We wanted to start fast and hopefully get them into a grind and doing some work. We did that, got some points but as soon as we had to do a few sets of defence we let that pressure off by letting them score soft tries,’’ he said.
The bye has come at a good time for the Warriors, who have been hit with a number of injuries to key players in recent weeks. Skipper Roger TuivasaSheck limped off late in the game with an ankle injury, although Kearney did not believe it was serious.
With both Shaun Johnson and Mason Lino watching from the stands, centre Peta Hiku was forced to play in the halves, putting extra pressure on Blake Green to run the attack.
But Mannering said the disruptions were no excuse for their poor performances.
‘‘If you look at the losses we’ve had recently, it’s just been the basics of the game, controlling the ruck and generating ruck speed,’’ he said.
‘‘Very fundamental parts of the game but also very challenging at times so we’ve got to get back to building our platform.’’
(George Burgess, Robert Jennings, Greg Inglis, Tom Burgess, John Sutton tries; Adam Reynolds 5 goals), Warriors 10 (Agnatius Paasi, Solomone Kata tries; Issac Luke goal). HT: 22-6.
Rabbitohs 30