Target on Taumalolo
Warriors captain Roger TuivasaSheck has revealed the cunning plan to deal with Jason Taumalolo, which worked so well in the 37-26 win over the Cowboys on Friday night.
The Auckland-born Taumalolo is regarded as the best forward in the game, but at Central Coast Stadium he was held to just 137 metres – his lowest of the season — well short of the 290m against the Titans, and 340m against the Bulldogs in his previous two games.
Tuivasa-Sheck said the Warriors knew how much of an impact Taumalolo could have, so came up with the plan to wear him out by running at him all night.
Taumalolo made 53 tackles in the game, which compares to 19 and 16 in his last two appearances.
‘‘One of our talking points throughout the week was that we knew he was coming back, and would bring some fire back to that team,’’ Tuivasa-Sheck said of Taumalolo, who sat out the 26-16 loss to the Sharks the previous week because of a knee injury.
‘‘So it was important for us to apply pressure to Jason, make him work, make him tackle, because if we can put all of his energy into tackling, that takes away his running game.
‘‘It’s a tough job to do, but I was proud of the boys for getting it done.’’
As it turned out it was a Warriors player returning from an injury who made a bigger impact.
Peta Hiku, coming back from a rib injury, made a schoolboy error on defence, by not noticing Kyle Feldt chasing down a ball before it went out and gifting the Cowboys a try, but made amends by going on to score a hattrick.
Some players would have gone into their shell after making such a mistake, but centre Hiku is a person who doesn’t seem to get over-emotional about things, whether they’re good or bad.
‘‘Peta has really matured with his game,’’ Tuivasa-Sheck said. ‘‘He’s one of our most experienced players, he’s been around the game for so long, and he knows that those areas need to be moved to the side as quick as you can.
‘‘He showed that if you stick at it, you get the job done, and for him to have that big mistake in the first half and then come away with a hat-trick, shows the type of player he is.’’
The victory was the Warriors’ second of the season, but given that the Dragons are an abysmal team, this result has more meaning.
But the big question now is whether they back this performance up for this Friday’s game against the South Sydney Rabbitohs at Bankwest Stadium.
After the game, players from both teams came together in a circle and dropped to one knee to show their support to the Black Lives Matter movement.
Tuivasa-Sheck said a couple of the players in his team came up with the idea.
‘‘It was such an awesome thing to do,’’ he said.
‘‘Jamayne Taunoa-Brown and Josh Curren, our aboriginal brothers here, they linked up with the Cowboys’ aboriginal boys and asked if we could all get together and kneel. Just to show support at a time like this.
‘‘We back each other and we all believe in the cause and what’s happening, so we thought it would be a good idea . . .’’