Taumalolo game plan II
Last season the Warriors had a cunning plan in how to deal with Cowboys star lock Jason Taumalolo.
It was to run at him non-stop, get him so exhausted that he was no longer a threat carrying the ball.
It was a plan that worked superbly, as the Warriors won 36-27 and Taumalolo ran the ball for just 137 metres, compared to the 340m he racked up the previous week.
Warriors assistant coach Craig Hodges said they’ve got something similar planned for Taumalolo today, when the two teams square up at Central Coast Stadium at 4pm.
‘‘I’d be expecting that he’ll be getting some traffic coming his way if I was a gambling man,’’ Hodges said.
‘‘We’ve got one or two guys that we want to try to work over that are a bit important for their team.
‘‘It’s one thing to tire him out so that he can’t carry the ball, but then it’s about what we want to do around that.’’
But in a fascinating twist, Todd Payten, the man who devised the Warriors plan last year, is now coaching the Cowboys, so he should know what’s coming.
‘‘It will be interesting to see if he has a plan to try to save his energy this time, he wore him out so well last year,’’ Hodges said.
‘‘He [Taumalolo] hasn’t played for a few weeks . . . it’s a big bonus for them to have him in their side, hopefully he’s a bit underdone match fitness wise, although he’s only had a crook [injured] hand, so he’s still been able to run and do all of that type of stuff.
‘‘So I’d imagine his fitness will be pretty good and it will be up to us to try to work him over and tire him out.’’
Last week, the Warriors never really had much of a chance against the Melbourne Storm, especially with their high injury toll.
But the Cowboys are a team the Warriors should be beating if they’re genuine contenders for a top-eight finish. Payten had a dreadful start to his tenure as Cowboys coach, with the team losing their first four games, but they’ve since won three on the bounce. However, Warriors consultant Phil Gould, who has been spending a couple of days a week at the team’s base in Terrigal, says the Warriors have managed to do well this season and signs are promising.
‘‘They’ve had a lot of bad injuries in key positions, which hasn’t helped,’’ Gould said. ‘‘But they’ve been competitive in most games, particularly with the work they’ve done with their defence. Other than last week in Melbourne, it’s held up pretty well and they had a lot of injuries last weekend. ‘‘But it’s a team that’s going to keep improving, there’s also some real quality young fellas here that have yet to emerge, who are as good as any young fellas that I’ve seen in my time in rugby league and there are high hopes for them.’’