Forwards injury crisis tests Warriors’ depth after Dragons defeat
The Warriors could welcome back Dylan Walker this week, but the injury crisis among the club’s middle forwards is beginning to bite.
Head coach Andrew Webster was hopeful before the Warriors’ tepid 30-12 loss to the Dragons on Friday night that Walker would be over his ankle problem in time for the Gold Coast Titans’ Anzac Day visit on Thursday.
While Webster didn’t use the wretched injury run as an excuse, there is no doubt it is testing the Warriors’ depth.
Nor did he bemoan the six-day turnaround from the 90 minute 22-22 draw with Manly, noting “the Dragons had a five-day turnaround’’.
St George-Illawarra got bang for their buck from the bench through Jack de Belin and former Warrior Ben Murdoch-Masila whereas the Warriors had five potential middle forwards on the casualty list for the round seven clash in Wollongong, meaning Webster’s interchange options were more limited.
Walker, the versatile interchange talisman, might be back against Gold Coast, but Bunty Afoa (hamstring), Marata Niukore (back) and Jazz Tevaga (hamstring) could be four to eight weeks away while promising young prop Dimitric Sifakula may be out even longer after a major knee injury.
Niukore was expected to be such a strike weapon in his switch from the edge to the middle, but the Kiwis international has played just 25 minutes all season after two separate back issues.
Webster lamented the Warriors’ “poor discipline’’ and admitted they “completely lost the ruck’’ as the Dragons “blew us away”.
“They run so hard, their momentum was so fierce. We weren’t calm enough to get together and slow it down.’’
The coach said while didn’t see the Dragons drubbing coming, the Warriors’ run of tough encounters could, in hindsight, have taken a toll in Wollongong. The Sea Eagles stalemate was preceded by wins over the Raiders, Knights and Rabbitohs.
“We’ve had three or four hard games in a row, so maybe [a flat performance] could have been coming, but I didn’t see any signs of it in their preparation.”
The casualty rate meant Webster’s options to counter the Dragons’ momentum was limited. Only prop Tom Ale and teenage second-rower Jacob Laban, who backed up in the middle, got significant game time off the bench with centre Adam Pompey and utility Paul Roache limited to six and four minutes, respectively.
Captain Tohu Harris, who topped the tackle count again with 48, had to play a full 80 minutes and looked tuckered out after the final whistle after 168m off 22 runs.
Ordinarily, he would have been expected to score late in the game when crossing the line, but, as Dragons captain Ben Hunt said, he was held up “by a massive effort” by Jack de Belin, “helped by the goal posts’’.
Webster said the Warriors were “obviously excited’’ to sign Kiwis captain James Fisher-Harris to a four-year deal in midweek, but he insisted it “wasn’t a distraction for us’’ against the Dragons.
“I thought the boys handled it really well.’’
None better than the man Fisher-Harris will replace, Addin Fonua-Blake, who, alongside Harris, was one of the Warriors’ best. The Tonga test prop carved off 233 metres - second only to fullback Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad - in his solid 70 minutes.
The Warriors’ second rowers were strangely subdued, with Jackson Ford making just one run of 10m and Kurt Capewell four for 17m - an indication, perhaps, of how long the side spent chasing Dragons.
Harris was disappointed that the Warriors didn’t perform better for Mitchell Barnett in his 150th NRL game. The State of Origin prospect was steady without reaching the heights of his recent performances, making 118m off 14 runs while completing 30 tackles for just one miss.
But, generally, the Warriors’ defence was disappointing, a fact Webster did not try to hide.
He said the display against the Dragons “didn’t look like the way we defend, particularly the way we tackled’’.
While the Wollongong crowd were crowing about Zac Lomax’s world-class chase and leap to score from a Kyle Flanagan aerial kick, Webster sheeted the blame on the preceding plays.
“It was a great kick and a great contest, but they got to put an attacking kick in because they rolled us down the field. If you have a great defensive set it’s going to
be a long kick and an easy transition for us. But it was a hard transition , and Lomax we knew was a threat, we spoke about it all week.
“I thought that just summed up our defence tonight.’’
Webster said there was “not a lot we can do technically” in six days before the Titans tussle. “We’ve got to work on our attitude and defence and wanting to do it together.
“But it’s a six-day turnaround and the boys are going to get to play soon and make it right, which is really cool because the boys are really disappointed with the way they went [in Wollongong].’’
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