Warriors a touch lucky, admits Brown
Canberra coach Ricky Stuart was left fuming by some of the officiating in his side’s second-half capitulation to the Warriors and he wouldn’t have been feeling any better after listening to Nathan Brown’s press conference.
The Warriors produced the biggest comeback in club history on Saturday as they overcame a 21-point deficit, eclipsing the previous mark by a single point, in an exhilarating 34-31 victory at GIO Stadium.
Stuart refused to take questions from the media after the NRL game but his biggest gripe with the officials would have almost surely come in the 60th minute, when Ben MurdochMasila scored off a Kodi Nikorima pass that appeared to travel forward.
For a brief moment it looked like referee Henry Perenara was going to call it back before eventually pointing to the spot. And while Brown didn’t have the chance to watch the replay before talking to the press, the Warriors coach admitted they may have got the rub of the green with that crucial decision.
‘‘We lost a close one last week and we might have got a touch lucky this week by the sounds of things,’’ Brown said. ‘‘I actually haven’t had a look at it. A few people have said we might have got a bit of a call there.’’
It didn’t all go the Warriors’ way, though.
The Raiders were given a chance to close out the contest just before the Warriors hit the lead with two minutes to go, after benefiting from a dubious captain’s challenge reversal that ruled Roger Tuivasa-Sheck had tackled a player in the air.
The home team then had another chance to snatch victory in the dying seconds only for a flying Tuivasa-Sheck to produce a stunning try-saving tackle on Jordan Rapana, capping off an outstanding second-half by the Warriors skipper.
‘‘It was great. When we had the round one win against the Titans he saved a couple and saving tries is probably more important than scoring . . . that’s one less you need to score,’’ Brown said.
‘‘Roger’s contribution in the second half was a good captain’s knock. I thought in the second period we had a lot of people that did pretty well for us and obviously Roger was one of them.’’
Nikorima was among those who played a pivotal role in the thrilling fightback. The fiveeighth ignited the Warriors’ second-half surge shortly after the break with an impressive try and continually tore the Canberra defence to shreds with his electric running game.
But after a quiet first half, Brown wants to see the Kiwis playmaker take control much earlier in the contest.
‘‘We need Kodi to take the game on more because he’s a very, very gifted player. I don’t see why he can’t compete with the elitelevel halves in our game. To do that, though, you’ve got to get the ball in your hands more at the start of the game. Going behind like we did probably made Kodi actually play more. So there’s a great lesson there for Kodi.’’
Admitting he’s ‘‘not the greatest halftime talker’’, Brown refused to take any credit for the turnaround after the Warriors trailed 25-6 at the break.
The coach put it down to an attitude adjustment from the players and was full of praise for the Raiders, who bravely battled away for 67 minutes with just one player on the bench after a horror start with injuries.
Canberra centre Curtis Scott also finished the match with a rib problem and Brown said the Raiders displayed the sort of character his club needs to aspire to.
‘‘Their effort to lose three players and have a bloke with a broken rib probably showed what they’ve created down here,’’ Brown said. ‘‘It’s a huge lesson for us if we want to become a top-four club. The other big lesson is if we get some things a bit more consistent and get it right, we showed we’ve got a handy footy team there.’’
‘‘We could have thrown in the towel when we were down by a bit, but it showed that we have a great team spirit at the club and care for each other.’’ Sean O’Sullivan Warriors halfback
looked to have an overlap.
But Roger Tuivasa-Sheck made an incredible try saving tackle to stop him scoring.
‘‘I was on the other side of the field, but it was amazing,’’ O’Sullivan said of TuivasaSheck’s feat.
‘‘He was a freak, he was unbelievable and that’s why he’s one of the best fullbacks in the game and why he’s our leader, we all look up to him and it’s so easy to get up for a game when your fullback is doing some of the plays he’s doing.’’
O’Sullivan joined the Warriors from the Broncos this year and was expected to spend the season as back up to Chanel Harris-Tavita.
He got his opportunity to play first-grade footy when HarrisTavita injured his foot in the loss to the Knights last week, so O’Sullivan should be the club’s halfback for the next three months. It was a positive start from him, he kicked well and made a good job at building combinations with those around him.
‘‘There was some good and bad,’’ he said. ‘‘Plenty to work on, but a step in the right direction for me in getting myself into the team and building some combinations with the boys. It was the first or second time I’ve played with a lot of them and hopefully we can keep building and figure out how certain individuals like to get the ball or how we can best use them.
‘‘Then on defence, on our edge we can look at the combinations and how we like to defend.’’