Nikorima: Words must become actions
Warriors need to walk the talk against broken Broncos outfit
It’s time for the Warriors to put words into action.
Their match against the Melbourne Storm last weekend ended with an eyesore of a scoreline for the Kiwi side and its fans. Despite having the better of the opening exchanges and threatening the Melbourne line constantly, two tries inside the opening 24 minutes was all it took for the Warriors to come unhinged.
It started with an opportune try sparked by a break through Josh Addo-Carr and finished by centre Paul Momirovski. By the end of the match, the Storm had run in nine tries to the Warriors’ one in a 50-6 romp.
Reflecting on the match ahead of tonight’s game against the Brisbane Broncos, Warriors half Kodi Nikorima said the side could not afford to respond like they did when falling behind against Melbourne.
“That’s one thing we spoke about this week — when things go against us, just trying to be a bit more resilient,” Nikorima said. “It seems at times now when those sorts of things happen to us, we tend to crack, so that’s pretty much our focus.
“I remember speaking about [Melbourne’s first try] afterwards and we sort of brushed it straight away; we spoke about it and said, ‘all right, well, we can’t fix that now it’s happened — so we’ve got to switch our mindset and think about our next job’.
“I thought we responded the next set, but a couple of sets later, they scored again. When teams are doing that to you, it dents your confidence a bit. We spoke about it at halftime but that’s probably the thing — we kept talking about it but we’re just not putting it into action.”
Against the Broncos, the Warriors meet a wounded team. With five losses on the trot, fans and the media have been all over Brisbane, with some players receiving death threats.
Both teams will be looking to use the other as a platform to turn their season around.
Nikorima, a former Bronco, said the Warriors were expecting the Brisbane side to come out with some fire behind them.
“We’re going to have to weather the storm for the first 20-odd minutes, then hopefully we can get on top of them with our energy.”
After poor defensive work last weekend, Warriors interim head coach Todd Payten has implemented some new defensive structures ahead of the Broncos clash, looking at the spacing of the defensive line.
Nikorima said this would likely put a lot more emphasis on the players in the middle of the park, which could prove a big test against a Broncos pack who have a reputation for strong ballrunning. Explaining the changes, Nikorima made an example of his own side of the field and how they needed to be a lot better.
“It’s going to put a lot more emphasis on our middles. On the edges, we keep getting sucked in a bit and I think we got exposed there, especially on my left edge where I was really tight. So it starts with me making sure my width is right and I’m pulling my back rower over so they’re not making easy metres or breaks down the edges.”
● Canberra overcame a growing injury toll to hold on for a 22-16 victory over the fast-finishing Dragons in their return to GIO Stadium last night.
The Raiders looked in control after moving to a 22-0 lead midway through the second half but three St George Illawarra tries in the final quarter set up a tense finish.
● Maika Sivo proved unstoppable as he scored four tries in Parramatta’s
42-4 win over North Queensland last night. The 26-year-old Fijian wing has scored 30 tries in his 33 NRL games.
The Eels are two points clear at the top of the table, winning their seventh game in eight this season, after leading 16-4 at halftime. The erratic Cowboys were poor after upsetting the Knights six days earlier.