Warriors focus on little things to fix defence
The Warriors took a step forward in attack last week. Now for the other side of the ball.
While Stephen Kearney’s side did keep the Titans scoreless in the second half of their comeback victory, there were worrying signs on defence in the opening 40 minutes as the Gold Coast outfit ran in four tries to build a 10-point lead.
Their issues were not confined to a single area. As they did against the Dragons the previous week, the Warriors allowed far too many easy metres through the middle, while the Titans also found joy down the edges - the club’s traditional Achilles heel.
In fairness to the players, they have shown great resilience defending their line at times this year.
But they have yet to hold a team to under 20 points this season, conceding the fourth-most points in the competition, and their tendency to lose focus for periods of play is a big concern heading into tomorrow’s clash against the Eels.
‘‘We’re working hard but we’re trying to do it by ourselves too much and end up exposing other areas,’’ Warriors veteran Simon Mannering said.
‘‘Just looking back on the tape in the second half [against the Titans], we just worked better together as a unit, not just as forward pack but everyone across the field.’’
If there is one person whose work in defence cannot be questioned, it’s Mannering.
For so long the team’s rock in the middle of the park, Mannering believes more attention needs to be paid to the little things such as communication and working together.
While those fundamentals will often go unnoticed to outside observers, getting them right can go a long away to shoring up the defensive line, particularly when the fatigue factor kicks in.
‘‘If you’re feeling buggered and feel like you’re out there by yourself then you’re more likely to drop your head,’’ Mannering added. ‘‘But if we’ve got that connection through the whole group you don’t want to let each other down, it definitely gives you a bit of energy.
‘‘It’s an area we need to be better at.’’
Mannering has already found himself in the wars this season, having to monitor a neck injury he picked in the round one win over the Knights.
It flared up again last week but
the 263-game veteran is expected to take the field against the Eels and has predicted a physical clash as the visitors look to break a threematch losing streak.
‘‘Since [coach] Brad Arthur’s been there they’ve been looking at that grinding mentality,’’ he said. ‘‘They play off the back of their strong pack and they’ve got a lot of flair out wide. It’s a new challenge so we can’t worry too much about what they’re going to do. We’ll just worry about what we can build on.’’