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TWL RD 15: SEASON ON THE BRINK AS WET DREAM TURNS TO KNIGHTMARE

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The Warriors’ Top 8 hopes are hanging by a thread – despite boasting a blatantly finals-quality roster in the most bottom-heavy premiership of the NRL era – after a 10-6 loss in the Newcastle wind and rain.

It was a gruelling 80 minutes for both sides and an excruciating watch for Warriors fans, who witnessed their team yet again fail to close out a tight game against an ordinary team.

The visitors were fortunate to lead 6-4 at the end of an error-ridden first half, despite having the advantage of a powerful breeze. They were held scoreless after the break, however, as the Knights wrought havoc with towering bombs – an obvious tactic the Warriors bewilderingly ignored when they had the terrorising wind behind them.

Reece Walsh stepped up at the end of a rollercoaster afternoon to attempt to kick the Warriors to victory in the dying minutes, but his field goal miss gave Newcastle a crucial seven-tackle set, at the end of which burly forward Brodie Jones scored in the corner for the match-winner.

The difference, clearly, was the Knights’ direction and impetus in the halves. Jake Clifford and Mitchell Pearce eventually steered their side home. Kodi Nikorima had some good moments but again showed he’s not the playmaker to get it done in the clutch or flourish in a tough game, while Sean O’Sullivan produced an 80-minute clusterfuck that embarrassed any Warriors supporter who revelled in Chanel Harris-Tavita’s season-ending injury absence.

The 5-9 Warriors’ chances of featuring in the playoffs now rest on the incompetence of the other below-average teams placed seventh or below as much as their own ability to find some way to win without bumbling their way through before being rescued by an 18-year-old rookie.

The handy debut of young hooker Taniela Otukolo off the bench was easily the highlight of a bleak afternoon in the Hunter.

The Warriors had a howling gale at their back during the first half but they unable to use it to their advantage, while it badly affected their passing. Errors and poor discipline hampered their progress – but committed defence kept the scoreboard at nil-all.

The only attacking highlight of the opening 20 minutes was a sizzling kick-return from Walsh, who was pulled down just short of the line by a heroic Jayden Brailey chase after a mesmerising 70-metre run.

But the visitors got on the board first in the 25th minute against the run of play, Euan Aitken swooping on an error from his opposite Kurt Mann and charging 80 metres to score.

Walsh bent the first goalkick of his NRL career through from the sideline.

The Knights hit back soon afterwards, however, after the Warriors failed to clean up the resultant kick-off.

During their third consecutive set pounding the Warriors’ try-line, Newcastle went over as Lachlan Fitzgibbon hit a Mitchell Pearce flat ball and shrugged off Eliesa Katoa.

Fitzgibbon was sin-binned five minutes out from the break for a high shot on Kodi Nikorima but the Warriors could not cash in – largely due to Sean O’Sullivan’s obsession with getting in everyone’s way on attack.

A penalty goal for an offside after Walsh coughed up a terrifying Clifford bomb – not his last failure in tough circumstances at the end of a Knights playmaker’s boot – allowed the hosts to equalise in the 51st minute.

The Warriors were much better with the ball on the whole in the second half, but chances to get back in front slipped agonisingly through their fingers, or were brought undone by O’Sullivan’s snail-paced lack of class.

You could just feel how it was going to end.

Getting the chance to snatch the result, Walsh pushed his field goal opportunity wide in dreadful conditions. They defended well – as they did for the majority of the match – before Enari Tuala made a break on the second-last tackle of the resultant seven-tackle set.

A back-pedalling and compressed defensive line couldn’t scramble far enough to prevent the Knights’ burgeoning cult hero Jones from crashing over in the corner.

Ben Murdoch-Masila headed to the bin for a high shot in the latter stages, while a successful Newcastle challenge of a knock-on snuffed out a last-minute glimmer for the Warriors.

There’s been some hard losses to take in 2021. But with so much on the line against a depleted, dreadful team like the Knights, that was arguably the toughest. How do you explain it? How do they bounce back?

The Fonzie Talks Warriors podcast this week made some incisive and highly plausible points about the woeful mishandling of club stalwart Ken Maumalo last week – a banquet of food for thought after what the team dished up today.

Maybe morale is low. Maybe the team is poorly coach. Maybe the players just didn’t aim up despite being perfectly happy off the field and having a great build-up.

But the bare facts are the Warriors have won five of their 14 games in the fledgling Nathan Brown era. Only three times in the club’s tortured history has it won less games after 14 outings. Whatever the explanation, it’s starting to become apparent the Aussie-ifying of the New Zealand Warriors is not working.

But hey, at least DWZ is on his way…

Newcastle Knights 10 (Lachlan Fitzgibbon, Brodie Jones tries; Jake Clifford goal) defeated Warriors 6 (Euan Aitken try; Reece Walsh goal) at McDonald Jones Stadium, Newcastle

 

 

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