Warriors must retain RTS in back three as they go for broke in NRL run-in
ANALYSIS: It’s now time for the Warriors to go for broke and field a razzle-dazzle back-three as they seek to clear five high hurdles in their Olympian struggle to make the NRL playoffs.
The first obstacle was cleared on Friday, but no-one in the Warriors camp will be deluding themselves that a streaky 28-16 win over the Wests Tigers will be good enough to build serious momentum in the run-in. The Warriors’ final five opponents include three top-eight teams – the free-scoring Sea Eagles, Wayne Bennett’s doughty Dolphins and the third-ranked Sharks.
First-up it’s Parramatta in another home clash, and while the Eels trail the Warriors on the log, they put the frighteners on the top-of-the-table Storm in Friday night’s first quarter.
The equation is simple – the Warriors have to keep winning all the way to the finishing tape. And for five fateful minutes in the second half on Friday it seemed the Warriors season was dangling off a steep precipice against the NRL’s bottom team.
They were still clinging to their 14-0 halftime lead when old boy Isaiah Papali’i crashed over for his first club try in Auckland since 2018 and in his 150th NRL appearance.
Then Charlie Staines streaked in on the right edge to cut the gap to four points after unforced errors. Poor defensive reads and too many missed tackles were seeping into the Warriors’ game. It seemed ominously imminent that the sluicegates would spring open again. Instead Roger Tuivasa-Sheck and Dallin WateneZelezniak turned on the razzamatazz.
Tuivasa-Sheck has fairly thrived back home at fullback in the past two weeks with game-high metres-gained performances.
Against the Tigers he tallied 293m – 52 post-contact – off 26 runs to go with his 258m against the Raiders in Canberra That’s 550m in a fortnight.
His slaloming spurt and deft jink past Api Koroisau’s clutches in the final quarter ultimately led to Watene-Zelezniak clapping on his own after-burners and collecting a return pass from Moala Graham-Taufa for a 100m move try.
Toss in three try-saving interventions and it’s obvious that Tuivasa-Sheck is back on top of his game in a jersey he wears like a second skin. “He had some big saves and good carries,’’ Webster said. “He saved our bacon a few times.”
So it would make sense to keep Tuivasa-Sheck there, surely? Maybe not. As impressive as he has been, Webster did say the former Dally M medallist was “still learning the defensive numbers’’ in “balancing up our defensive game on our try-line’’, but was “only going to get better’’ having not played at fullback for a long time.
Besides, sports fans have short memories. After Tuivasa-Sheck’s born-again backfield brilliance it’s easy to forget that Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad was a standout fullback before hobbling off with a calf strain against the Bulldogs in round 18. He averages 201m with ball in hand to Tuivasa-Sheck’s 182m, although the former Dally M winner has been shackled in the centres.
If Nicoll-Klokstad is a chance against the Eels, Webster could opt for the ultimate turbo boost by fielding the Kiwis incumbent at fullback with Watene-Zelezniak and Tuivasa-Sheck on the wings, the latter with a roving wreak-havoc commission.
That would deliver as good a backthree unit as most playoffs-contending sides with Watene-Zelezniak (200m, 48 post-contact) such a sparkplug with his super-swift kick returns.
Of course it’s all very well having potential finishing power . The Warriors have to be good enough to get the ball to them. That should not be a problem if key middle forward Addin Fonua-Blake can re-find Friday’s form.
The big man was massive with 222m and he exploded onto Dylan Walker’s point-blank pass for his eighth try of 2024, his second in as many weeks.
Fonua-Blake led the post-contact metres chart after carving out another 89m – and stand-in skipper Mitchell Barnett isn’t far behind. The State of Origin champion and Walker also shared a teamhigh 35 tackles.
The Warriors now have eight wins, 10 losses and a draw and have scored 402 points across 19 matches and conceded 424, at an average of 22 per game.
The ledger looked a little better with Chanel Harris-Tavita nailing three of five goals after shanking three attempts in the two-point loss to the Raiders.
It was a more zen-like Harris-Tavita on Friday as he channelled his best DMac, taking calming breaths before borrowing All Blacks pivot Damian McKenzie’s trademark grin before and after plunking the ball between the posts.
Webster sensed it was going to be his stand-off’s night after watching him go close with a sideline strike following Kurt Capewell’s opening try.
“He had a smile on his face – sometimes footy can be too serious,” Webster said of Harris-Tavita’s happy countenance after getting the kicking monkey off his back with his first NRL goal since 2022.
“When he got that one [to convert Ed Kosi’s try] I thought the whole of New Zealand was happy for him.”