Blair knows he needs to smarten up
Adam Blair has vowed not to change how he plays, but understands he needs to be smarter.
The Warriors lock returns from suspension for tomorrow’s NRL game against the Dragons in Wollongong. That ban was picked up for making dangerous contact with the Storm’s Kenny Bromwich in round 19 when he hit him late.
Earlier in the season, he received a two-game suspension for a crusher tackle on North Queensland’s Kyle
Feldt; in round three he was sin binned against the Raiders and copped a dangerous tackle charge, narrowly avoiding suspension.
With the Warriors entering a crucial stage of the season, they can’t afford for Blair to miss any further games and he knows he needs to be on the field, especially when watching them lose 36-12 to the Titans last week without him.
‘‘It was quite hard to sit at home and watch the game at the weekend,’’ Blair said.
‘‘I was disappointed with the way we performed. Our consistency has been up and down through the season and sometimes that does come with a younger group, but it’s still no excuse.
‘‘We play two good games and then we get smashed by the Titans. We have good intentions to work really hard, win that game and the next one, but we let ourselves down as a group.
‘‘Watching from afar, we didn’t turn up with the right attitude and the Gold Coast put a scoreline on us.’’
Being on the wrong side of referees’ calls has been a factor throughout Blair’s career.
Playing on the edge of the rules is what makes him such a special player, but going too far has proved costly.
‘‘It frustrates me, because the things that have kept me on the side are avoidable and I’m aware of those things,’’ he said of this season’s suspensions.
‘‘I seem to get picked up on those little things most of the time, so it’s more awareness for me of missing those games.
‘‘But I’ve got to manage those things and think of the bigger picture and the team and what the team needs. Me being out doesn’t help the situation.’’
If Blair was to be more cautious on the field, he’d lose his impact. He wants to put pressure on the opposition, but understands there’s a right and wrong time to do that.
‘‘It’s more of an awareness rather than changing,’’ he said.
‘‘I’ve played a lot of games now and I’ve never changed the way I’ve gone about my business.
‘‘I need to have a better awareness, I do sit on those 50/50 calls. Sometimes they’re OK and sometimes they’re not OK.’’
Warriors coach Stephen Kearney has recently talked with Blair about how he plays and agrees that he does need to make better decisions.
‘‘I don’t think he’s ever been suspended for putting kick pressure on," Kearney said. ‘‘But what he has to have an awareness of is when players have passed the ball, you can’t whack them when they’ve got their back to you.
‘‘I’ve made him pretty aware of that, but the kick pressure, that’s part of Adam’s job and he’s built his career on hassling the halves.
‘‘But they’ve brought in a rule just this year about protecting the halves and hitting the ball players late, when they don’t have the footy and they’re facing away from you.
‘‘He knows that, he’s a leader of the footy team and the leadership group and we need him on the park as much as possible.
‘‘So he needs to make sure he has an awareness of that the next time he goes out there.’’ Leading South African rugby writer Mark Keohane is tipping a Crusaders romp in tomorrow’s Super Rugby final and expects the Lions to experience ‘‘Groundhog Day’’ after losing the competition’s last two deciders against Kiwi sides.
The Lions are massive underdogs for the final after beating the Jaguares and Waratahs at Ellis Park en route to facing the Crusaders in Christchurch.
Lions coach Swys de Bruin has spoke of believing in ‘‘miracles’’ ahead of their third successive final, having lost the previous two against the Hurricanes and Crusaders in Wellington and Johannesburg respectively, but Keohane has unequivocally dismissed their chances of causing an upset.
‘‘There will be no miracle win for the Lions in Christchurch,’’ he wrote for Sport 24.
"They’ll lose by 20 points – and it’s not because they’re a poor side. It’s a combination of the quality of who they will play and the absolute madness of a competition format that effectively gives a team travelling overseas just three days to prepare for a final.
‘‘The only hope for the Lions is the Crusaders lose a player or two on the way out of the tunnel.’’
The Lions arrived in Christchurch late on Tuesday night and have adopted a ‘less is more’ approach for the final in heading to New Zealand from South Africa later than normal.
Keohane looked back to 2016, when the Lions faced the Hurricanes in a Wellington decider, and said ‘‘travel undid them, as did the class of the Hurricanes.’’
He added: ‘‘It will be Groundhog Day in Christchurch – and that’s not being disrespectful to the Lions. It’s about dealing in realism.’’
Keohane said the Crusaders, who have never lost a game at home in the play-offs, were currently the best team in the world.
In the 2012 final, the Chiefs hosted the Sharks in Hamilton and Keohane dismissed their chances before departing for New Zealand, saying this year’s final will mirror that occasion.
‘‘The Sharks coaching staff and players were as buoyant
‘‘The only hope for the Lions is the Crusaders lose a player or two on the way out of the tunnel.’’
Mark Keohane, South African rugby writer
when they got on the plane. They felt a miracle was possible,’’ he went on. ‘‘They argued they had momentum. I wrote they would take 30 points because no team could do that kind of playoff travel schedule and beat a team of the Chiefs’ quality when they had been sleeping in their own beds while the Sharks clocked more air miles in a fortnight than most do in a lifetime.
‘‘I was told I was unpatriotic, negative and that I would be the one embarrassed at my 30-point call. The Chiefs won 37-6.
‘‘They led 13-3 at halftime and the Sharks gave it everything in those first 40 minutes. Then the travel, the quality of the opposition and home ground advantage all kicked in for the onesided Kiwi romp. I expect a similar kind of final in Christchurch.’’