Team List Warriors v Cowboys - [Round 9, 2025]

[Lance155]

Yeah, a bit worried that if Egan outplays Robbo this weekend he'll be in line for a call up to the NSW team. Would be great for him and the experience he gets out of it, but the last person in our team we need to be playing MORE time is Egan lol.

I wonder if Egan and Webby has spoken about this - realistically Egan's probably not going to get the NSW spot if he's getting concussions, looking injured every tackle and having big spells on the bench, so they might be trying to show that Egan can be a tough, 80 min Origin type player this year?

That's all well and good but who replaces him in our team when he breaks down...I think we need to start giving Healey game time soon to cover all bases

Not saying Egan is necessarily a bad defender but with that always being major focus in Origin I am just not sure he will get picked. Surely most agree that he is better than Robson over the last few years?

 

[watcher]

It is only natural for Egan to want to represenymt his state. Good luck to him.

The spine is going well, having TMM to go to 6 while CHT rests Egan seems logical, Healey will get his chance moving on.

 

[SouthernWorrier]

It is only natural for Egan to want to represent his state. Good luck to him.

...and pocketing up to 200k into the bargain doesn't hurt.

 

[CWC]

Having 3 origin forwards and a kiwi captain in the pack would be pretty gangster

 

[Billyspleen75]

Listening to Martin Devlin with Tony Kemp yesterday.

Kemp whoever did the draw is smart as getting to Townsville is the hardest trip as we need to fly to Brisbanse wait at the airport for a connecting flight to Townsville.

Then in the comments. That all works out well but this is a Warriors home game.

Although I found it funny, we play the Cowboys once this year, so it helps one of the two teams that travel the most as they don't have to fly into Brisbane then to Auckland. Plus the travel back.

I know the club likes Magic Round as a home game for the payout from the NRL but it could be worth approaching the Cowboys to try and make it an annual fixture for Magic Round. Alternate the home side each year.

Just a suggestion to reduce the travel.

It's a great idea.

I don't know for sure that this is the same scenario, but both the NSW Cup Raiders vs Warriors games are being played in Sydney/Wollongong this season. I've assumed that it is because both sides have agreed that the 2-leg travel is not worthwhile.

 

[Lance155]

It's a great idea.

I don't know for sure that this is the same scenario, but both the NSW Cup Raiders vs Warriors games are being played in Sydney/Wollongong this season. I've assumed that it is because both sides have agreed that the 2-leg travel is not worthwhile.

Did you hear that interview (maybe TWL) that we have to pay for all the visiting NSW cup teams to come to us. WILD

 

[tyrael]

Yeah boi !!!

 

[3rdstriker]

Yeah boi !!!


View attachment 12750

Websters got our discipline sorted, even when nuikore our most undisciplined or rugged player steps out he looks like a fish out of water.

 

[snake77]

Did you hear that interview (maybe TWL) that we have to pay for all the visiting NSW cup teams to come to us. WILD

That would suck. It's expensive enough as it is sending all our sides across the Tasman. You'd have to assume if we have to pay for the NSW Cup sides in also filters down.

I'm pretty sure when we first entered the competition we had to pay for the sides to come across.

The clubs get huge grants from the NRL now. Surely, they get paid enough to pay for travel. Yes, we are entering their competitions but they can't have it easy all of the time.

 

[snake77]

After losing so much experience. Coming into this season was a bit of unknown. We had to turn around poor form from 2024 and replacing Johnson was a big unknown. A lot of clubs struggle replacing a long term half.

So to me looking at our draw they all seemed pretty tough.

So far the one I was most confident on was last week. Mainly due to the Knights form.

Similar to the Raiders and the Storm game this week is a good test. The Cowboys have turned around a poor start to the season and are on a winning streak.

Obviously I want us to win this week. In this competition you are going to pick up losses. Any losses from now it would be good if they are competitive instead of getting blown off the park.

 

[Gods_17]

Looking forward to the battle between Ali and Vili. Two solid boppers present vs. past (or passed.) Somebody mentioned Leka vs. Jere already, but man the cowgirls are bringing a forward pack and a half aren't they (not a question.) I mean they'll need to just look at Ours!

Tuaupiki up against Taulagi? Gotta feel for Muzz, there's A Lot of traffic comin' 'is way this Saturday.

Up The Wahs!

 

[sup42]

Big game for us. With Canberra vs Storm, a win here puts us in outright 3rd and 2 pts ahead of 4th and 6 pts ahead of 8th. Also given 13 wins are needed for finals, we'd already be halfway to finals before origin hits. And that's before our triple bangers are even back in the side (DWZ, RTS, JFH).

Thanks for taking all the work out of the ladder predictor searches I used to meddle and fiddle with.

Much appreciated.

Been tracking your NRL round of the week machinations for this very reason to work out who to cheer for.

I used to do the same as you, and watch every game of our next opponent every weekend. Only slowed down in the last couple of seasons since Webster got here because I truly believe he is the one, and my focus is therefore on the Warriors internally as opposed to comp mathematics.

Webster like all Warriors coaches cops a lot of stick, people say he makes mistakes, people say he gets out coached, people say he is predictable, has favorites, plays it safe, is too soft on the players.

Look, all of that could be true right, but that does not mean that he is not capable of developing into the best coach this club has ever had.

See the thing about Webster that I suspected from the start, that he is now revealing, is that he is capable of learning, capable of changing his mind, capable of taking risks (Metcalf running the team over the safer option TMM).

And most of all, the reason my focus is all in on Webster and the club itself rather than the ladder, is that we are in a rebuild (look at the kids being given the keys in the forward pack this season after being molly coddled for two years - for good reason) and all of this proves Webster has had a long term plan all along.

And here we are, top four with a very under developed side with key players out, missing mega experience in our roster, missing our best player, and still looking focused.

In Rugby league performance is what gets everyone excited, Stats and shit, winning large looking flash while doing it.

We don't have any of that. What we have is the intangibles, we are focused, we have intensity, commitment, loyalty (not just hyperbole, think Adam FB last year). We have the excitement when we score Try's, for those who played sports at highschool, Metcalf, CHT, Leka, Dimitric, the young ones look like a highschool basketball team going crazy on every blocked shot.

Excuse the rant, I went off script. But this year has been unconventional, for some fans our top four status feels random, for others it is an anomaly that will collapse in on itself when we face the big boys, when the big boys get their bye round points......


Sorry but they are missing the point.

Let me take it back to the beginning.

The Warriors of all the clubs in the NRL have been a special case in terms of the mental side of Rugby league. And this is because of the grass roots systems the NZ players have come from, compounded by the rejected Aussie imports they can attract compounding the Mental issues at the Warriors.

So while todays fans call Webster Coach cuddles for his mental approach, his empathic, supportive, encouraging psychological style - he is the exception that proves that the Warriors did not need a Bellamy screaming at them.

The Old chestnut about Poly boys not needing a Man screaming at them since many were raised on the Jug chord or the fist.....is why Webster is the one.

This Warriors team were mentally tough under cuddles (fkn hate that name) year one, mentally disrupted year two with AFBs antics, and now they play with the confidence every week that they really shouldn't have since they according to many NRL experts are the shitest roster in the comp...who currently are running on fumes with their B side line up....yet look at them they are confident as fk coz yeah it turns out that the solver to a confidence side is to support them to feel more confident not yell at them to flog the confidence highs out of them.

If you are not convinced he is the one, let me remind you that every Warriors coach apart from one (Cleary) could not recover from a bad season.

And Cleary, didn't have the problem of losing the dressing room to the extent Webster did. His Alpha player, his mega star signing walked out of the dressing room. For every other Warriors coach that is the end right there, as the players get led away from the message by the ring leader, or in the case of the infamous stupid six the ring leaders.

Average rookie coahes do not survive that in the NRL.

Webster did, Webster turned it into a strength.

He is the one. He has introduced a very simplistic template to dominate possession and territory through off the ball work. That is it, all he has done on field, our attack less boring ass game plan. But when combined with the culture he creates off field it is addressing the core reasons NZ players struggle in a NZ system, the mental side.

End Rant.

 

[sup42]

Having 3 origin forwards and a kiwi captain in the pack would be pretty gangster

And an England international.

 

[CWC]

And an England international.

Who?

 

[Worried2Death]

Who?

Ganwah?

 

[sup42]

Who?

Gannon will be in the frame for England, and could well be the first ever Warrior to win their first cap while playing here.

 

[sup42]

Ganwah?

Ganwahdalf?