Post Match Raiders v Warriors - [Round 1, 2025]

[wizard of Tauranga]

My notes having not read the thread:

No halves… no season. Walker and CHT were better than Metcalf who was non existent, and they weren’t flash..

To much one out running, absolutely no structure. No fullback or second rowers used with set plays. Endlessly doing settlers or one out runs in the opposition 20 from tackle one until tackle 4. Was there only 1 kick in the opposition 20?

The Raiders defence picked off our one out running with ease and we didn’t adapt at all. Needed to switch it up, go wider or chip. Raiders line speed was crazy fast and they held down in the tackle forever, pushing the rules. Well played Sticky.

A disappointing repeat of last season unfortunately. Watched a replay knowing the result so no emotion, I felt we didn’t actually play badly going set for set, we just couldn’t put scoreboard pressure on and stay in the game. And silly one off errors kept costing us. Worried we could be outmuscled but thought the Raiders simply smothered us by playing to the limits of the rules in defence and using second phase play on attack then our mistakes gave them too much possession. More Raiders out coaching us than us being physically smashed. We will improve and be competitive but like last season lose multiple games through not enough points when dominating.

CNK struggling with all the high balls. No confidence. Big question marks.

Lots of really basic errors - early season but Raiders weren’t making as many of them.

Many of our players just weren’t sharp or dynamic while the youth warmed the pine.

Ford and Capewell were absolute journeyman in a conservative and small pack.

Credit to the raiders. Well coached. They moved the ball, offloaded, actively went for strips, etc. entertaining brand of play vs our daft trying to strangle the opposition and no x-factor to capitalise.

Dud game with the positive that there’s lots of options to improve but they are all on Webster…

 

[Riz]

Has anyone checked on @Wrighty , is he OK?

 

[Nakiproud]

it’s frustrating that Webster is fixated on the 2023 Warriors model.

Grinding, low risk, low reward game play, no offloads, out the back sweeping plays, over reliance / minutes for our older players, limited game time for our up and coming players.

We need to focus on what works for this team!

The most frustrating thing is that last year we saw glimpses of what worked (forced due to injuries).

Injection of youth (eg Halasima, Tuaupiki), different types of players in different positions making an impact (eg TMM at 7). We started winning games.

But as soon as he could Webster reverted back to type, rushed the experienced guys back in and went back to losing football.

I hoped he would have learned from last year but he is just still stuck on making his game plan work.

Still stuck on CNK at the back, Ford playing big minutes, slow non x-factor second rowers, X factor youth getting cold on the pine, TMM nowhere to be seen, etc etc..

I hope that Webster can pivot, be flexible, learn and adapt quickly to what’s happening

He won't.. his way or the highway from what we have seen..23 was on the back of SJ turning the clock back and not getting injured-til the very end of the season-unless he is thinking fitness for niukore and capewell so give them more mins??

 

[Playdaball]

a Few people have mentioned it already but Bunty adds solidity to the middle of the park - we need him in the next game especially as his pre season form was great .

 

[Fonzie]

I think the thing that worries me most is that it doesn’t look like Webby had a plan to use Clark as a creative starting 13 - he figured he’d just put Barnett there for extra size. This smallish pack is going to need to be creative to move up the field, one out running should not be our game.

 

[Lance155]

Honestly going into the game I was never going to make any snap judgements on the performance ( good or bad). It's such a different occasion with so many other factors. Don't stress until we are back in the regular season

 

[Bluecat]

Is the sack the coach thread up yet?

It has been put up. It's on the forum list just below the "Do We Have A Mathematical Chance Of Making The Eight In 2025" thread

 

[Rick O’Shay]

Disappointing to say the least and I have no idea why reality never meets my expectations with this club ('23 aside)
That was a very ragged and dumb performance, from the Coach through to 1.

Couple of things;
Barnett is not a lock, wtf was that all about. Erin should have started imo. Webby being cute?
The bench rotation is (still) a major problem. It would be nice to know the master plan and why they persist with the same idea week after week when they must know and can see the impact of tired bodies out there.
Never saw a sign of a gameplan or at least an idea of how we intended to score points. 2024 all over again.
CNK looks cooked as do our incumbent 2nd rowers. Would like to see another couple of games from the halves as tbf they couldn't do much as we had no decent platform even when in the red zone.

I get that it's only round 1 but blood hell we got absolutely out played and out coached. Only positive I can find is that surely based on that performance, Marata has to go to cup and maybe Capewell. Bring in the young guns who showed plenty of promise albeit too late in the piece.

Agar may get the DCM which could open up a coaching spot for someone to mentor Webby, or at least someone he might listen to.

 

[wizard of Tauranga]

Barnett grubbering through at the end highlights a lot of issues:

1 - good move in a rushing defence but why weren’t the halves doing it?
2 - the captain has lost faith in the halves already and deciding to do it himself?

 

[Dantheman]

Someone wake me up in September once this is all over.

 

[Wah's Up]

Someone wake me up in September once this is all over.

Ok >
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pGhwBFYtn1s

 

[The Undertaker]

I think the thing that worries me most is that it doesn’t look like Webby had a plan to use Clark as a creative starting 13 - he figured he’d just put Barnett there for extra size. This smallish pack is going to need to be creative to move up the field, one out running should not be our game.

Webby got done with the gameplan. When under pressure, he and his coaches turn to experience over youth. Which is why he turned to ford, Walker and Marata instead of the young guys.

I believe we were overawed by the occasion and Canberra’s little fight incident gave Stuart motivation to kick those guys into gear. In hindsight, it gave them an edge.

We seemed to enjoy the occasion rather than being deadly focused on winning. Canberra beat us with intensity and mindset. The extra 5%.

It’s annoying our pack didn’t show up but also Webby and the coaching staff didn’t back themselves. We’ve never performed well in round one. Traditionally, we struggle.

Let’s see if this reality check gives the team the boot up the backside it needs. No doubt we have a tight connected team. But I want to see more hunger and desire when it gets hard. Canberra gave it to us and we couldn’t respond.

But also, we gave them 12 points through errors (intercept and CNK drop)

We just need more weaponry on the field. Let Leka and Demitric off the leash.

Flush the dunny. Move on. We need a response against the Sea Eagles. Otherwise this will be a long year.

 

[juju]

A day later and I'm still just perplexed by the use of the bench

 

[run_it_str8_again]

I thought our left edge of Capewell and Pompey was far worse on defence

Everybody out from 8, 9, 10 and 13 had to cater for our inability to stop them, put them on their backs, slow them down and compress our defence to compensate. That led to the decision of stay on my assignment or help. And still their pack offloaded at will.

 

[Fonzie]

Everybody out from 8, 9, 10 and 13 had to cater for our inability to stop them, put them on their backs, slow them down and compress our defence to compensate. That led to the decision of stay on my assignment or help. And still their pack offloaded at will.

Yep

I thought most of the left edge issues came from this; on the right Ali and Metcalf had a few individual decision issues on top of this

Haven’t done a rewatch yet though so could be wrong

 

[FormerlyJamesW]

A day later and I'm still just perplexed by the use of the bench

This is a huge problem for me..

As an AW advocate, I'm really worried. Especially when he talked, pre-game, about playing a four forward bench.

Technically, he did. But fuck he pushed the interpretation of it to the absolute limits.

Just copy and paste similar bench rotations from other teams.... Jesus Christ....

 

[run_it_str8_again]

Yep

I thought most of the left edge issues came from this; on the right Ali and Metcalf had a few individual decision issues on top of this

Haven’t done a rewatch yet though so could be wrong

Ali did fail some of his one on ones.
Metcalf has an opportunity still to be great, but he's got to eke out his abilities. He attempted one 40-20. Couldn't burn anyone with speed because we were losing the ruck speed by miles.

 

[Christchurch_Warrior]

Ali did fail some of his one on ones.
Metcalf has an opportunity still to be great, but he's got to eke out his abilities. He attempted one 40-20. Couldn't burn anyone with speed because we were losing the ruck speed by miles.

Ali's positioning was really poor in the first half. He still young and has such an upside but needs to sort this as his inside man currently isn't up to scratch.

 

[MrFrankWhite]

I’m starting to get the vibe that Webby is just a nice guy and good man manager. Really struggling to see the high IQ decisions.

I’m even starting to question if he even has a feel for the flow of a game.

 

[Wahs_Ultras]

Ali did fail some of his one on ones.
Metcalf has an opportunity still to be great, but he's got to eke out his abilities. He attempted one 40-20. Couldn't burn anyone with speed because we were losing the ruck speed by miles.

I’m still scratching my head as to why he would attempt a 40/20 on the 3rd tackle while we were down big and at halfway…