Post Match [Round 18, 2021] - Warriors vs Panthers Post Match Discussion

[jonesy101]

People go on about an excellent effort etc ,but truth is this is a terrible year and likely to be one of the worst years in Warriors history.

Statistically speaking it could turn out that way if we don't beat the teams outside of the top 8 in the closing games.

However, taken in isolation that game on Sunday when we had no bench by halftime and both our starting props had to play the full 80 minutes was monumental, especially so in a season where even teams at the top are losing by 40+ at times with the rule changes.

The worst season in the 26 year history has to be 2000 where the club was completely broke and within a whisker of losing its license. That's the least optimistic time I've ever felt supporting this club and if someone told me we'd be in the grand final two years later I would have thought they were dreaming.

At least as of now we know we have a passionate owner who knows a lot about Rugby League and business - the right ingredient for success. We have the most talked about rising Australian superstar in the comp in Walsh. We have the best Warriors junior backline prospect in years in Berry. We have the most exciting second row forward in years in Katoa. We have the best prop in the game in Fonua-Blake and the nucleus of a very well balanced side emerging from the work of the best recruitment manager in the game in POS where other clubs are footing much of the cap meaning we have options ahead.

This year has been a very weird season - the game on Sunday was probably the closest thing to a home crowd atmosphere we've had for two years. I like our 'home' ground and how we get to use it, but a few hundred fans in a total crowd of 3-4 thousand at Gosford depending on which Sydney team is playing still doesn't really cut it. Also the rule changes and the way they have been officiated have been bizarre to the extreme. Not really the on field refs fault but the instructions they have to follow at times have been farcical. Ultimately this season should be taken collectively as one big experiment and an extended trial for 2022 where we should at least have some more certainty by kick off. and a pre-season when the entire squad is together. We've never experienced a season so bonkers since the Super League era.

 

[kos]

Good points Stacey.
But gee it just sucks seeing us sitting at 14th position on the ladder.

 

[Burncity warrior]

It seems Rog is expected to play this week. That's incredible to me as he was knocked senseless and when you consider a boxer can't fight for 3 months after getting knocked out..shit.

He never gets injured Roger Tuivasa-Sheck, so durable and resilient.

 

[gubbbs]

My opinion has always been you are only blaming the refs because you put yourselves in a position where a refs call can lose it. While officiating will always be up and down if your a consistently a good team you won't even care/notice

Disagree. Great teams do notice and care, they're just far better positioned to work the refs. The Storm absolutely do note what they consider poor officiating, Cam Smith would make sure the ref knew about it. His genius was getting the refs to listen to him. Bellamy certainly has had opinions about officiating too. That's a team that gets favourable reffing pretty much every game.

ABs are one of the most successful sporting franchises of all time, who also generally get favourable reffing. Again, the captain and team are well respected and can influence the ref.

It should 100% be on our leaderships radar how to work the officiating narrative. Refs have a tough job that requires huge amount of interpretation, especially with only one ref. There's a lot of factors influencing that interpretation, controlling what we can in regards to that is vitally important.

It's no coincidence we won 7 straight during the toughest rule crackdown in the past 20 years or whatever it was. The interpretation was dropped and everyone was treated equally.

This is one of the worst things about losing Gould. He has massive input on the general narrative in the NRL and would have been a voice for us.

 

[wizards rage]

This is a very long standing problem. And you can date it back as far as the Warriors second ever game, they run out an extra player illegally, a mistake they will never make again, because it is a mistake you do not make once ordinarily....but it turns out to be the ruin of what should have been a debut season finals appearance.

Frankly they have always been a bunch of losers and this stuff should come as no surprise to fans.

There is only one fix to the problem. These close infinite unlucky losses.

They have to defend better. They have to become a superior defensive side, to account for their lack of fortune.

You cannot win this game by having better attack and poor defence.

Attack needs some luck, we don't have any, so forget about trying to pull off the miracle winning plays.

Defence needs no luck, it is a factor entirely within your own grasp.

We seem to have a fairly good defensive side this season compared to the past, certainly once we got rid of our Prop wings, and Hiku....bringing in tradesmen like Montoya and Curran, and Egan....Aitken too...things are a lot tighter. Dallin Watene-Zelezniak and Lodge, more defence. It is clear what they are trying to do for next season.

Johnson returns, another notable defender. They really only need to be rid of Kodi and get more experience for people like Katoa and they will have a team that can actually consistently play NRL style RL.

Last game we really showed what it takes to defend and not get thrashed with thirteen men.

That is the key, to countering this horrible luck thing. Especially when you consider we lost our best defender in that mare on Sunday.

Last season we averaged 23 points given away on defence. This year we average 25 where the pace has lifted. Not great but not a significant rise.

This year we have averaged 19 points in attack, last year 17.

One more try on attack and one more try saved in defence per game and the season would have been very different.

I think with lodge and Addin Fonua-Blake fit, plus Chad and next year Shaun Johnson, we will be able to achieve that.

 

[Greenlite]

We haven't had a blow out like a lot of other teams (0:66 type), even some top teams get blown out, so at least this team has been professional under Brown/Roger Tuivasa-Sheck and they are fighters as shown in games against the Eels and Panthers, they just need to be managed better with injury preventions, on-field strategies etc, I think a lot of coaches would love to have a squad like this, there were a lot of crappy seasons that turn off fans, this year is not it.

Like I don't really bother with the Warriors at all but this year I joined this forum and watched every game since Wonder Boy joined and POS started his poaching spree, lol.

 

[AlexM]

Last season we averaged 23 points given away on defence. This year we average 25 where the pace has lifted. Not great but not a significant rise.

This year we have averaged 19 points in attack, last year 17.

One more try on attack and one more try saved in defence per game and the season would have been very different.

I think with lodge and Addin Fonua-Blake fit, plus Chad and next year Shaun Johnson, we will be able to achieve that.

I guess it shows we are still playing somewhat consistently too.
I imagine other teams stat's are blown out a lot more between this year and last

 

[Tragic]

I have this nagging thought about Sundays game and that is the people who should have been tired and would have been subbed did not leak the tries, they actually lifted and were quite heroic. The tries happened the same as they would have anyway and so we have something structurally wrong with our defence. So the excuse that we had to play without subs doesn't quite stack up because that wasn't why we let in those tries its just papering over the cracks for a week.
But I still feel somehow not as bad with this weeks effort so its not making sense in my own head either.

 

[bruce]

This is a very long standing problem. And you can date it back as far as the Warriors second ever game, they run out an extra player illegally, a mistake they will never make again, because it is a mistake you do not make once ordinarily....but it turns out to be the ruin of what should have been a debut season finals appearance.

That was a symptom rather than a cause.

John Monie was head coach, on a massive salary, and it was his responsibility for everything,

Dean Bell was interviewed straight after the game, still puffing and was able to work it out in his head FFS.

Yet Monie blamed it all on Bobby Hall, an unpaid (or low paid) volunteer who wasn't properly set up for the job anyway.

That was the case, the fish rots from the head down, Robson, Monie and a bunch of dickheads on the board.

I wonder why the Broncos are having trouble?

Just asking like.

 

[bruce]

Statistically speaking it could turn out that way if we don't beat the teams outside of the top 8 in the closing games.

However, taken in isolation that game on Sunday when we had no bench by halftime and both our starting props had to play the full 80 minutes was monumental, especially so in a season where even teams at the top are losing by 40+ at times with the rule changes.

The worst season in the 26 year history has to be 2000 where the club was completely broke and within a whisker of losing its license. That's the least optimistic time I've ever felt supporting this club and if someone told me we'd be in the grand final two years later I would have thought they were dreaming.

At least as of now we know we have a passionate owner who knows a lot about Rugby League and business - the right ingredient for success. We have the most talked about rising Australian superstar in the comp in Walsh. We have the best Warriors junior backline prospect in years in Berry. We have the most exciting second row forward in years in Katoa. We have the best prop in the game in Fonua-Blake and the nucleus of a very well balanced side emerging from the work of the best recruitment manager in the game in POS where other clubs are footing much of the cap meaning we have options ahead.

This year has been a very weird season - the game on Sunday was probably the closest thing to a home crowd atmosphere we've had for two years. I like our 'home' ground and how we get to use it, but a few hundred fans in a total crowd of 3-4 thousand at Gosford depending on which Sydney team is playing still doesn't really cut it. Also the rule changes and the way they have been officiated have been bizarre to the extreme. Not really the on field refs fault but the instructions they have to follow at times have been farcical. Ultimately this season should be taken collectively as one big experiment and an extended trial for 2022 where we should at least have some more certainty by kick off. and a pre-season when the entire squad is together. We've never experienced a season so bonkers since the Super League era.

I would add just one point, we had some once in a lifetime juniors coming through as well. Eric Watson got credit for more than he deserved.

 

[wizards rage]

I guess it shows we are still playing somewhat consistently too.
I imagine other teams stat's are blown out a lot more between this year and last

We are the 12th best attacking side and 11th best for defence. Even though teams have blow outs they have great games as well to balance it out.

We are consistently below average. Other teams are up and down but average better than us.

 

[Aman]

Evans is another one I think is being mucked about by the coach.
After his first 5 games of the season was averaging about 30min and 100m a game, something none of our other props were doing.
Rd 10 he was a late scratching against the Storm with no explanation, and from there he’s been either dropped, 18th man or given lower minutes.

Parra showed in his last two years if he gets given more than 30 minutes consistently he’ll make you meters

Why play Leeson on the bench when you could trial Ale as well for next year since the season is already over.

 

[Louim8]

We are the 12th best attacking side and 11th best for defence. Even though teams have blow outs they have great games as well to balance it out.

We are consistently below average. Other teams are up and down but average better than us.

I believe that the lack of attack is down to bad halves and bad coaching.

The defense is because of all the injuries and the team not being able gel together and form any sort of combinations which has been exasperated by poor selections.

I feel that we have been very unlucky with the way this season has played out, a few things go our way and we are easily sitting top 8 right now maybe even 6th.

 

[bruce]

I feel that we have been very unlucky with the way this season has played out, a few things go our way and we are easily sitting top 8 right now maybe even 6th.

Ask Bellamy why he is so lucky, he makes it, with no excuses.

 

[Stalefish540]

I have this nagging thought about Sundays game and that is the people who should have been tired and would have been subbed did not leak the tries, they actually lifted and were quite heroic. The tries happened the same as they would have anyway and so we have something structurally wrong with our defence. So the excuse that we had to play without subs doesn't quite stack up because that wasn't why we let in those tries its just papering over the cracks for a week.
But I still feel somehow not as bad with this weeks effort so its not making sense in my own head either.

It's never going to make sense Tragic.

You'd be better off trying to figure out the Bermuda Triangle than trying to understand the Warriors.

 

[bangbros18]

We basically swapped Papalii for Evans. POS got fleeced

Or was it a case of we were going to let papalii go anyway so let's try get one from Parramatta as compensation? Evans won't be re signed when his next contract us up surely! We have Addin Fonua-Blake, Lodge, just need two young pups under these two and I don't believe it's anyone they have at the club already?

 

[BeastMode]

Good points Stacey.
But gee it just sucks seeing us sitting at 14th position on the ladder.

We finished 10th last year and was in top 8 contention until very late in the season. Let that sink in happy people

 

[Toookey]

Ask Bellamy why he is so lucky, he makes it, with no excuses.

Jeeze Bruce lighten up. No one is claiming that we’re a top 2 team and it’s only that darn luck stopping us from winning the competition.

Surely you’re able to acknowledge that we have had a bit of luck go against us this year. I don’t think we’ve been able to field the same team twice, we’ve probably had to use the most players out of any team in the comp, even this weekend when we lost 4 players in the first half when we’ve probably picked our best team.
It’s down right unlucky.
And that’s not even going into the shitty/unfortunate calls that we have to deal with being Warrior supporters.

Had the bounce of the ball gone our way a few more times this season, we’d be making the 8 comfortably. Just one of those things

 

[jonesy101]

Jeeze Bruce lighten up. No one is claiming that we’re a top 2 team and it’s only that darn luck stopping us from winning the competition.

Surely you’re able to acknowledge that we have had a bit of luck go against us this year. I don’t think we’ve been able to field the same team twice, we’ve probably had to use the most players out of any team in the comp, even this weekend when we lost 4 players in the first half when we’ve probably picked our best team.
It’s down right unlucky.
And that’s not even going into the shitty/unfortunate calls that we have to deal with being Warrior supporters.

Had the bounce of the ball gone our way a few more times this season, we’d be making the 8 comfortably. Just one of those things

We even had to contend with our best centre's flight being cancelled only to be put on the plane with a covid-positive flight attendant and missing two games as a result. Crazy bad luck this year.

 

[bruce]

Jeeze Bruce lighten up. No one is claiming that we’re a top 2 team and it’s only that darn luck stopping us from winning the competition.

Surely you’re able to acknowledge that we have had a bit of luck go against us this year. I don’t think we’ve been able to field the same team twice, we’ve probably had to use the most players out of any team in the comp, even this weekend when we lost 4 players in the first half when we’ve probably picked our best team.
It’s down right unlucky.
And that’s not even going into the shitty/unfortunate calls that we have to deal with being Warrior supporters.

Had the bounce of the ball gone our way a few more times this season, we’d be making the 8 comfortably. Just one of those things

I go on our points differential. It dos not lie. It says we should be 11th not 14th.