Brown goes on defensive over Warriors’ woes
Nathan Brown has identified where it’s been going wrong for the Warriors and what they need to do to fix it.
The Warriors go into Saturday’s NRL game against the Rabbitohs off the back of an appalling 29-10 loss to an understrength Sharks team – this was a fortnight after getting thrashed 70-10 by the Storm.
But Brown said the team’s underlying problem hasn’t just been in those two games, it’s been there for most of the season.
And what is that issue? They’re spending too much time defending and can’t break the cycle of constantly defending.
‘‘Our biggest problem at the moment is that we’re spending a lot of time on our try line, defending our cage,’’ Brown said yesterday.
‘‘We’re defending our goal line far more than any other team in the comp and there are a lot of different people being put under pressure.
‘‘We’ve got to reverse that cycle and start to catch the ball in better positions and when we do turn the ball over, make the opposition come off their line a bit better.
‘‘When we got into the lead the other day, we defended the next 57 tackles on our try line.
‘‘That’s good work by Cronulla for the way they controlled the game, but what part did we play in that?
‘‘That’s happening consistently and if we can reverse that cycle, I’m sure we’ll have more energy to do other things better.’’
Shaun Johnson received most of the criticism after the Sharks loss. It’s usual that the halfback cops most of it after a poor game and that’s been the case for Johnson throughout his career.
But Brown felt it was unfair to pin it all on him.
‘‘We’re in a team sport and at the moment we’ve got a lot of people doing a lot of work at one end of the field and not getting much time at the other,’’ he said.
‘‘There’s no doubt that when we had 11 [Sharks players on the field] the other day that not only Shaun, but we had three or four players who could have played a little straighter and smarter, as opposed to trying to get the ball to the space too quick.
‘‘There’s no doubt Shaun could have helped contribute with that, but he’s not the only person.
‘‘I think we’ll see some growth in Shaun’s game when we get our cycle going better.
‘‘He’s playing in a team at the moment that’s doing a lot more work than the opposition.
‘‘In the Cowboys game, they had three times more goes on our try line than we had on theirs, but we still found a way to beat them.
‘‘It was the same against Canberra, whether it was ugly or not, Canberra spent four times more time on our try line and we won.
‘‘But to do that, you’ve got to chew a lot of juice up and halves need fresh forwards to help them play.’’
For Saturday’s game the Warriors welcome back Tohu Harris for his first appearance since his knee injury in July, plus Marcelo Montoya, who has completed his four-game ban for a homophobic slur directed towards the Cowboys’ Kyle Feldt.
‘‘Tohu has probably been the club’s best player since he’s been at the club and he brings a lot of things to the table,’ Brown said.
‘‘Marcelo, before he got hurt [suspended], was probably our best player. I know he plays out on the wing and a lot of people say they’re only wingers, but they’re important people in our game.
‘‘Like Tohu, they’re two of our best leaders and those two out there with the younger guys, it will certainly have a great impact on the team.