Not too many players making inroads in the TWL Player of the Year award race this week after a 30-10 drubbing from South Sydney.
1 ROGER TUIVASA-SHECK (c): Never has a bad game and tonight was no exception. Always looked the most likely to penetrate Souths’ defence, racked up a game-high 191 metres and his one tackle was a brilliant try-saver on Campbell Graham. Limped off late with what was hopefully a minor ankle injury. 7.5
2 DAVID FUSITU’A: Topped 100 running metres but was unable to glove a tough tryscoring chance that he would normally gobble up. Play otherwise rarely went his way on attack. 6
18 GERARD BEALE: Sound defensive game but didn’t get much of a chance to show his attacking wares, other than a clever adlib kick to force a line dropout. 6
4 SOLOMONE KATA: The Warriors’ next best after RTS. Defended strongly, ran the ball 14 times for 103 metres and came up with a late try. Impressive. 7
A little win for the @NZWarriors! #NRLWarriorsSouths 10-30 with 4 minutes to go. #TelstraPremiership #NRL pic.twitter.com/qUsqOiT8Uq
— NRL (@NRL) May 26, 2018
5 KEN MAUMALO: Big Ken has been great all year and although he wasn’t poor, this was probably his quietest offering so far. Eleven runs for 78 metres, but solid on the other side of the ball. 5.5
3 PETA HIKU: Had a couple of nice touches on attack in the first half but failed to follow up. Credited with a try-assist for Kata but a pathetic miss as John Sutton scored blighted a pretty forgettable outing at five-eighth. 5
6 BLAKE GREEN: Wonder if Paul Kent still thinks the Warriors are Blake Green’s team now? Lumbered with 90 percent of the playmaking duties and struggled. Spent most of the night drifting across field in slow motion, bereft of ideas. With his forwards unable to get on the front foot, Green’s kicking game was also subpar. Not really his fault – he is just much better in that support role. 5
Remember when people called for Blake Green to play Origin? Jesus christ. #NRLWarriorsSouths
— James (@roosterjamez) May 26, 2018
8 JAMES GAVET: OK for the most part with 113 metres from 11 carries, but a bad first-tackle error characterised a hit-and-miss performance. On the plus side, found a more durable hair-tie this week. 5.5
9 ISSAC LUKE: Hard to bag a guy that has been so brilliant all season despite injury problems, but this was easily the reborn rake’s worst showing so far in 2018. A couple of nice darts and a hardworking defensive effort were sullied by a cold drop and a general lack of spark. 5.5
10 AGNATIUS PAASI: Powered over for the opening try of the match and was easily the Warriors’ best middle forward, finishing with 23 tackles and 15 runs for 121 metres. Hard to fault Iggy tonight in a pack that was brutalised. 7
Refuse to believe there’s a man alive who doesn’t have Agnatius Paasi in his top 5 rugby league players of all time
— JH (@jh_twentyeight) May 18, 2018
11 SIMON MANNERING: Stats-wise you’d think it was another quality, tradesmanlike performance from Mannering – a team high 39 tackles and 121 metres from 13 carries. In reality, it was one of the poorest performances you’ll ever see from the most consistent Warrior of all time. Bad reads, missed tackles, dropped balls and just looked off the pace. Is the club’s second-greatest player nearing the end of the road? 5
12 TOHU HARRIS: Once again looked a class above most of his teammates, making 31 tackles and 115 metres while also being one of the few Warriors to trouble the Rabbitohs’ defence. Has well and truly assumed Mannering’s ‘Mr. Reliable’ mantle. 6.5
13 ADAM BLAIR: I’m confused, was Hiku the stand-in five-eighth or Blair? The latter’s run tally (eight carries for 50 metres), penchant for passing before the line at every opportunity and only coming into the play when the Warriors were on the attack suggested he thought he was in the halves. Played like an outdated ball-playing lock when his struggling pack needed a hardworking enforcer in the middle. Only played 33 minutes and dropped the ball on the first tackle to kick-start Souths’ 12-man raid. A 30-tackle contribution was something of a saving grace. 5
14 JAZZ TEVAGA: Great energy off the bench yet again, topped 100 metres and reeling off 29 tackles. A bright spot on a dark night. 6.5
15 CHRIS SATAE: Impressive with the ball in a brief-ish stint on the field, recording seven runs for 63 metres. So close to a try just before halftime that could have changed the course of the match but he coughed it up under the posts. 5.5
16 BUNTY AFOA: Tore in when on the field, racking up 20 tackles and eight runs for 69 metres. Not sure why Gavet got the start ahead of our best middle forward so far this season and it didn’t work. 6
20 KARL LAWTON: Real zip off the bench from the Aussie utility, who managed 14 tackles and three sharp dummy-half runs during Luke’s HIA assessment. 6
Karl Lawton onto bench.#NRLWarriorsRabbitohs@PhotosportNZ
[Late mail] https://t.co/w6JkMwjmCM pic.twitter.com/OdNafxJZqQ
— Vodafone Warriors (@NZWarriors) May 26, 2018
Categories: Previews + Reviews, WARRIORS NEWS
KATA