Kearney: We clocked off again
Addressing costly lapses in defence will be Stephen Kearney’s main priority as the Warriors fight to make up ground on the NRL’s top eight.
The Auckland club once again made the long trip home from Perth emptyhanded on Saturday after suffering a 26-22 defeat to the in-form Manly Sea Eagles.
They were strong in patches, racing out to an early 16-0 lead only to concede 26 unanswered points before the Sea Eagles survived a late Warriors resurgence.
The bad news did not stop there as the result took a heavy toll on Kearney’s men. Prop Albert Vete broke his arm in the first half and hooker Nathaniel Roache suffered a hamstring injury in the second, while veteran back-rower Ryan Hoffman failed to make it onto the field.
Hoffman, in his final season at Mt Smart, broke a metatarsal bone in his foot while stretching at the team hotel following training on Friday and could be out for up to six weeks.
Despite their injury woes, the Warriors did well to wrestle back the momentum and almost snatched a win but Kearney was left to rue a couple of soft tries in the first half and a poor period after the break.
The coach highlighted the Warriors’ tendency to clock off following last week’s win over the Bulldogs. However, they failed to learn their lessons and were made to pay by the Sea Eagles, who solidified their place in the top four with a fifth-straight victory.
‘‘It’s pretty disappointing because I thought we did enough in certain stages of the game to come away with the result,’’ Kearney said.
‘‘The nature of this competition is you’ve got to be on your game the full 80 minutes. You can have periods where you’re not quite there but you’ve got to minimise the damage and we just couldn’t do that.’’
Having suffered their ninth consecutive defeat in Perth, this will go down as a missed opportunity for the Warriors and not just because of their explosive start.
They finished with a higher completion rate (86%-78%), conceded less penalties (4-6) and made fewer missed tackles (24-36), but ultimately it was the Sea Eagles who found a way to win.
The NRL’s leading attacking team, Trent Barrett’s side was always going to hit back once possession and territory levelled out but Kearney felt his players made it too easy for them.
Manly’s first try was particularly disappointing as hooker Apisai Koroisau split some lazy defence around the ruck to send Tom Trbojevic away.
They also needed to do a better job stopping Daly Cherry-Evans when the halfback broke clear to set up Akuila Uate and make it 16-16 on the stroke of halftime, before the Sea Eagles dominated the third quarter.
‘‘We let them back into the game when we got a bit of a lead to start off with,’’ Kearney said.
‘‘That left us scrambling at the end there to try and salvage a result at the back end.
‘‘They’re the best attacking team in the competition and we gave them too much opportunity to flex their muscle.’’
After winning three of their previous four games, the defeat left the Warriors four points out of the top eight, in 10th place, heading into their final bye of the season next week.
They will likely have to win at least five of their final eight matches to have a chance of breaking their finals drought - a tall order given the Warriors’ history of folding down the home stretch over the last five years.
But as he has maintained all season, Kearney was not thinking that far ahead.
‘‘We’re not worried about the finals series. We’ve got a few bumps and bruises and what we need to worry about is making sure we take stock of that,’’ Kearney said. Rebels