Warriors face test but hat-trick helps
The Warriors are on a roll, but upcoming games could define their NRL season. By
THE Warriors are undoubtedly an improving side, but their next two games will show just how far they’ve come and what fans can expect this season.
The Warriors defeated the Cowboys 25-24 on Friday night, thanks to a Shaun Johnson field goal in extra time.
It gave the club their third victory in a row and cemented their place inside the top eight playoffs at this early point of the season.
But with away games against the heavyweight Roosters and Storm the next two weeks, Warriors coach Nathan Brown says he’ll know where this Warriors side is after that.
‘‘We’ve got some younger players in the backs who are only scratching the surface, like Reese (Walsh),’’ Brown said.
‘‘But when we get our experienced forwards on the field and we haven’t got a few playing at the moment, we feel like we can do a good job through the middle part of the field.
‘‘Where do I see us at the moment? We’re an improving team. We’d all agree we are better than last year, as are the Cowboys.
‘‘Last year we couldn’t kick a field goal, we had five or six games where we if we had kicked a field goal we might have won.
‘‘We are certainly improving, but we play the top-end of town the next two weeks, in the Roosters and Melbourne, who have been probably the two best sporting clubs in Australia over the last 20 years.
‘‘That will give us a good look at how much growth we’ve had, and how much more we need to get.’’
After the first-up losses to the Dragons and Titans, pundits were quick to put a line through the Warriors’ playoff hopes, and even the 16-12 win over Wests Tigers in round three did little to improve optimism.
But it’s clear that as the season has gone on, they’ve been able to sort out some of the key issues that plagued them earlier.
‘‘Each week we’ve got a bit better on attack, there’s no doubt about that,’’ Brown said.
‘‘Our edge defence and our defence on the goal-line has got a lot better, but around the ruck was an area exposed (by the Cowboys) and we’ve had a few problems there, so we’ve got to keep working hard.
‘‘If we can improve that and develop some combinations with our key players, it was only their second game together (for the spine), I think we can track in the right direction.’’
Shaun Johnson told Sunday News that he had one of his worst performances in a long while before he kicked the winning field goal.
But with the game on the line, playmaker Johnson not only took control, but landed the winning kick.
‘‘Shaun brings that calm head,’’ Warriors captain Addin Fonua-Blake said. ‘‘They have a saying that you can’t put an old head on young shoulders and he’s just that old fella around the pack. He’s got plenty of experience and it shows.’’