Late field goal sinks Warriors
The Warriors failed to confirm their spot in the NRL playoffs, suffering a shock 27-26 loss to the Bulldogs in Sydney yesterday.
A Lachlan Lewis field goal with less than two minutes to go secured a dramatic win for the Bulldogs and kept the Warriors in eighth place on the ladder.
With the Tigers losing to the Dragons on Saturday, the Warriors went into this game knowing a win would be enough to secure a place in the top eight for the first time since 2011.
The Warriors were guilty of conceding soft tries, while their attack was often too lateral.
While the Warriors should still finish in the top eight, their chances of a home playoff game have become less likely.
It looked as if this was going to be a regulation win for the Warriors when they had back to back sets close to the Bulldogs’ line in the 10th minute and although it took a while to create the opportunity, Shaun Johnson fed the ball to centre Gerard Beale for the opening try.
Despite that, it wasn’t a great start from the Warriors. They gave away three penalties in the first 20 minutes and from the last of them the Bulldogs launched an attack that resulted in a try to lock Adam Elliott.
Four minutes later, Reimis Smith, the son of former Warrior Tyran, hit a gap on the Warriors’ line between Simon Mannering and Isaiah Papali’i for the Bulldogs’ next try.
Repeat sets led to the Warriors’ second try, on the half hour mark, with Papali’i offloading to Roger Tuivasa-Sheck giving him an overlap on the left edge.
In the 38th minute, the Bulldogs’ Rhyse Martin kicked a penalty and before the break they extended their lead with Lewis finishing off a long-range breakaway for four more points.
Eight minutes into the second half David Fusitu’a dived in to score his 17th try of the season and get the Warriors back in the game but Johnson missed the conversion to leave the Warriors behind 20-16.
However, the Morris twins combined to extend the Bulldogs lead with Brett winning an aerial battle to tap the ball to Josh, who ran in untouched. With the Warriors hot on attack in the 56th minute, Fusitu’a took a pass from Johnson out wide for his second try. They continued to be the more dominant team, but it wasn’t until the 75th minute that they were able to score again, as Peta Hiku took an offload from Adam Blair on the tryline, while Johnson’s conversion locked the game up at 26-26.
With 96 seconds to go Lewis, on his 22nd birthday, landed a monster field goal from 34m out to snatch victory for the Bulldogs.