Five takeaways from Warriors' NRL season-opening loss to Raiders
6:27 pm today
Grant Chapman, Digital Sports Journalist
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Dylan Walker contemplates another Raiders try in Vegas. Photo:
www.photosport.nz
NZ Warriors fans will hope what goes on in Vegas, stays in Vegas, after watching their team fold dramatically in the 2025 NRL season-opener at Allegiant Stadium.
Coach
Andrew Webster and players were adamant they would not be stagestruck by the bright lights of the famed Las Vegas strip, but failed to take a hand against a team that also missed the playoffs last season and stood pat with their young squad during the off-season.
The Warriors now have nearly two weeks to regroup, before their next outing against Manly Sea Eagles at Go Media Stadium.
Here's some key takeaways from the game:
Stat attack
Warriors either shared or emerged ahead in many of the key statistical areas of the game, but let themselves down badly in two big ones.
The Raiders were actually required to make more tackles than their rivals (393-381), but the Warriors missed almost twice as many (40-21) 28 of them in the first half. Canberra's tackle efficiency was 91 percent, Warriors 83 percent.
Canberra also shredded the Warriors with their offload game. They had 12-3 in the first half and ended up with a 17-9 advantage.
You think tackling might be high on Webster's training agenda over the next week?
Here's some relief - this result narrowly avoids the Warriors' worst opening defeat in their 30-year history, which was their 40-10 loss to Parramatta Eels in 2013. It's their second-worst opening defeat.
RTS magic
Hooker
Wayde Egan may have emerged as the Warriors' leading fantasy performer, off the back of his game-high 49 tackles, but
Roger Tuivasa-Sheck was his team's best player on the day, rewarded with a try in the dying moments.
Whether he's playing on the wing, at centre or fullback, he's all class and the obvious focus of the Warriors' attack, when you consider second-rower
Kurt Capewell also scored his try on RTS's wing and the Raiders scored an intercept try from a pass that would have put him into the corner in the first half.
Roger Tuivasa-Sheck scores a try for the Warriors. Photo:
www.photosport.nz
Tuivasa-Sheck led his team with 23 runs and 201 running metres - opposite Xavier Savage had 218 for Canberra - with 77 of them coming after contact, also the best of the Warriors. He was also safe under the high ball, a display that may renew calls for him to shift to his preferred fullback spot.
In the No 1 jersey,
Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad had a day to forget, marred by his failure to secure a high ball under his own posts, as Raiders centre Seb Kris pounced for his second try.
Defining moment
Savage's intercept try in the 31st minute and the resulting conversion took the scoreline to 16-0 and probably broke the Warriors' spirit. As the ball shifted left towards Tuivasa-Sheck, he seemed likely to score, but his Raiders counterpart stuck out a mitt and
Luke Metcalf's final pass stuck.
The try represented a 10-12-point turnaround. From 10-4 down (possibly 10-6) and still in the hunt, the Warriors were suddenly three scores behind and while Capewell got one back before the break, it wasn't enough to spark a comeback.
Ironically, Capewell scored his try on the spot that RTS should have scored, after the winger ran infield on the previous tackle and the second-rower filled his spot on the flank.
Halves conundrum
During the pre-season, considerable attention has fallen on the new Warriors halves combination, after the retirement of stalwart Shaun Johnson. Webster opted for
Luke Metcalf at halfback and
Chanel Harris-Tavita at five-eighth, choosing to leave
Te Maire Martin out of his gameday squad.
That decision raised eyebrows around the competition, with Fox commentator Matty Johns questioning the omission of - in his view - the club's best playmaker, who has also played in the halves in a Grand Final for North Queensland Cowboys.
Johns warned Metcalf's previous success had been in the No.7 jersey as understudy to Johnson and he might find the pressure of taking sole charge too much, and so it transpired, as the halves seemed unable to unlock their backline with a wealth of attacking possession.
Metcalf could not find the posts with his kicking boot and it was his pass that got picked off by Savage for the runaway try.
Luke Metcalf misses a conversion attempt against Raiders. Photo:
www.photosport.nz
Webster has options - he could bring Martin into halfback and shift Metcalf out a spot - but perhaps won't want to pull the trigger based on one performance.
They have a daunting proposition in their next two outings, hosting Manly Sea Eagles and Sydney Roosters, who met in the semi-finals last season, with Roosters progressing to the preliminary finals.
Raiders run riot
At least coach Ricky Stuart has something early to smile about.
The Canberra legend, who helped the club to four finals and three premierships as a player, often cuts a grumpy figure in post-game press conferences, happy to point the finger at officials, after another contentious defeat.
He lost some key veterans in the off-season, namely captain Elliott Whitehead and Kiwis veteran Jordan Rapana, and didn't really draft any significant replacements, opting to stick with his promising youngsters.
They paid big dividends for him against the Warriors and it will be intriguing to see if they can maintain that through the grind of a long season.
Plenty for NZ fans to celebrate in this result too, with the Raiders led by Kiwis prop Joseph Tapine, and midfielders Kris and Matt Timoko accumulating three tries between them.
The 'Green Machine' host Brisbane Broncos in two weeks, followed by a visit to Manly.
Maybe this won't be their season after all. Sigh!
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