Post Match Warriors v Dolphins - [Round 22, 2025]

[MrFrankWhite]

Good effort from a severely depleted team

 

[wizard of Tauranga]

And on a positive note:

Clarke - great game. Mr reliable giving 100% every run. Battering ram!

RTS - similar to the good old days. Playing with confidence.

Leka - x-factor. Starting to expect a try a week now!

Healey - explosive but my highlight was the footy IQ. Passed wider when needed to unsettle the fast defence. Excellent game.

Capewell - plays better in the second row.

EIT - great debut. Did nothing wrong. Welcome to the big league!

CNK - injured or attitude? Lots of opportunity to get involved but pretty non existent.

Webster - changed up the team positively. Allowed offloads. For a conservative coach, he made some big moves.

 

[snake77]

It is always tough losing late. We got the joy of getting the late match winner a few weeks ago. The opposite this week.

I can accept this week more than last week. A depleted side battled away, against a better opposition.

 

[Inruin]

Loved how we used the ball more. Some exciting play by us. Thought the effort was outstanding for the most part. Considering it's a red hot dolphins side and we were missing so many players it was a heartening performance. Did pretty well considering we didn't really have any real go forward dominance for the majority of the game.

Up by two why aren't we taking the two and getting the ball back with the penalty next to the posts?

RTS MOM
Capewell and Clark not far behind.

 

[Defence]

Gutsy effort but with five to go, they’re a player down and stuck in their own end- u should close that out every time.
Looked like we put the cue in the rack.

 

[tajhay]

Roger with over 330 metres...

 

[Noitall]

Happy to eat humble pie over Tanah Boyd, he played a great game. TMM always threatening and was great as well. We were the better team with so many outs but dolphins did to us what we did to knights. Thought a lot of players really put their hand up despite the loss. Jackson Ford had his best game, needs to remember to stay on his feet playing the ball but don’t think anyone had a bad game

 

[Inruin]

Roger with over 330 metres...

He was breaking ankles all game. Starts to the sets he was beating the first man, finding the half gaps, and getting tackled on his front for a quick play the ball. I thought he was outstanding.

 

[sydneywarrior92]

some of you should just take the night off to cool off. Nothing constructive is going to be said when you are emotional. When you are pissed off, it's natural to look for someone to blame. As usual, it's Ford and DWZ who are copping the brunt of it again despite the fact both had amazing games.

The better team lost tonight. Just like the better team lost in Newcastle 2 weeks ago. We've been winning games like that all year, including against the Dolphins earlier in the year. What goes around unfortunately comes around. These things happen in professional sport. Just ask dragons fans who have had to put up with losses like that all year.

We just need to put that loss in the rear view mirror and move on.

 

[sup42]

We lost.

Once you get over the butt hurt there is a lot to like out of that game.

So Healy can't pass the ball properly consistently. That answers why he isn't picked every week that the horde cry out his name.

I thought he played well though, not hating on him.

Boyd and TMM did really well to use ball movement to counter our lack of Prop forward platform. Top game from both.

Said in game day Boyd needs to tweak his tackling, the heart is there, he doesn't stick, going in too hard and hap hazard, needs to calm down and switch that up for better should arm wrap timing.

Taine was really good.

Pompey was outstanding.

But the best of the bunch was Ford who took up the challenge and played a lone battle in the middle aided by Clarks usual direct game.

The Dolphins should have murdered us.

When we came out for the second half and played them to a stand still, had em clueless for most of that half, I was so proud.

We got burned at the end, no biggie. Shit happens.

Well done Warriors.

 

[Worried2Death]

Mad game, never seen so many last tackle surrenders in their 10 not even trying to put the nail in the coffin. Webby thinks so far outside the box he must be levitating above it, gotta hand it to him though they nearly pulled it off. Not sure about Tanah, he played the percentage gameplan pretty well, TMM looked more creative than Chanel. Dallin came up with a genius defensive read for that intercept, I swear he's an idiot savant.

 

[tajhay]

Folks, do the player ratings for the game on this thread (sidebar on desktop, at bottom of page on mobile).

Or directly at this URL : https://nzwarriors.com/mpt/games/21

Thanks!

 

[sydneywarrior92]

Really do not understand all the Ford bashing. It's as if people cannot get over his past discipline issues, which have become less and less common. That error he had tonight was absolute bs from Klein. Other than that, he was a beast for us in the middle again.

Jacko has really stood up this year. He is quite literally the only reason why our middle hasn't collapsed in a heap with the loss of Barney. He's also stood up in both games where we didn't have either Barney and JFH (Raiders game and tonight). 200+m in that Raiders game and 150m again tonight.

What more do you want him to do? He was not the reason that we lost tonight. He is just a convenient scapegoat for way too many people after every loss we have.

 

[RiceOwl]

Well, that was a heart-breaking game—and one that will have a real impact on our Top 4 and Top 8 aspirations. But despite the result, I thought it was a heck of a performance from a side so low on troops due to injuries. The effort was absolutely there across the board, and you’ve got to give them credit where it’s due. It’s just a shame that the “W” didn’t fall our way this time.

As someone else pointed out, sometimes those last-gasp wins go your way, and sometimes they don’t. Tonight was one of those nights that just didn’t, sadly.

There were still positives:

• Great to see another debut with Eddie. He didn’t look out of place at all—some big, strong carries, and another young forward who hopefully grows through the system to bolster that promising pack.
• Capewell was outstanding again—defensively excellent, with some great cover tackles. He seemed to miss fewer than usual tonight too, which stood out.
• Erin Clarke was strong up the middle, as always. But you could feel how much we missed big names like Fisher-Harris and Demi out there.
• I thought Charnze was very quiet at centre, and it should probably put the “Charnze to centre, Taine to fullback” discussion to rest. As much as I like Taine, Charnze brings physicality and size that really matters on yardage carries and contesting kicks—he just looked wasted out wide but possibly carrying a niggle?
• Sam Healey had a good stint and I would’ve liked to see more of him, though I get that he’s still young and needed a breather. Freddy also added some solid impact when he came on.
• RTS = Weapon. In some great form.

Defensively, I thought we held up reasonably well but that last play was terrible.

One moment that stood out—when Dal tried to kick through and regather, only for the ball to go into touch instead of diving on it. I noticed Erin giving him an absolute spray. Hard to know if that’s deeper frustration or just in-the-moment passion, which we’ve seen from Erin before.

As for Ashley Klein—he wasn’t the reason we lost, but he definitely wasn’t great. In the final 10 minutes, there were some moments where the Dolphins could’ve easily been pinged—especially for slowing the ruck and repeatedly pushing the offside line. They seemed to be consistently getting a jump on us.

Whether to take the 2 or not. Hindsight is a beautiful thing. If they had slotted it and gone 4 up only knock the ball on the next set and the Dolphins score there would be cries about it being a stupid decision. I was glad they backed themselves but their execution let them down.


Lastly, for those out there thinking the sky is falling or that we played too much dumb footy to deserve the win—I’d encourage a bit of perspective. That was a team missing not just regulars, but stars, and they went toe-to-toe with a side capable of putting 40 or 50 on anyone. They showed heart, grit, and fight.

Yes, it hurts. But we move forward knowing there’s still a lot to like about the direction we’re heading in.

 

[Stalefish540]

Can someone explain how Egan is better for us than Healey. Besides Marker deception, Healey beats him in every other aspect of the game

Egan's craft, passing, and game awareness is top teir. He can pretty much run the whole attack up field without the need for half's and get you to the exact spots on the field you want to be.

Healey is a good young player, but at this stage they aren't close.

 

[Natedogg]

Play should have stopped on this tackle, but nah have another tackle advantage, dont worry about the players, Ref should be stood down for this IMO



But lets just play over him, dont worry about how he is




Then hey just leave him on the ground, might be dead ? Who cares right, play over an injured player, fucking disgrace.




Would this have changed the out come of the game if that player was in the defensive line, i would say absolutely.

Is it an excuse to loose, no its not.

But seriously that is some fucked up shit.

 

[Roadrunner]

Well I've never had so much fun reading all the comments after this game.Thats what I like the passion that league fans have for their team and each other kill or be killed.My own view last night was the biggest disappointment I had was how we played out the last few minutes considering how much work we had put into it injuries, ref calls etc.There were some totally insane stupid dumb brain explosions but I enjoyed the 80 min ride.Freshen up fans and look forward to the fun nxt week now back to my meds

 

[Next Year]

Would love to hear any arguments to keep Ford in the team. His discipline is disgusting.

Okay, I accept the challenge:

IMO Ford and Clarke were the engine room throughout last night's game. The man has a V8 motor. If he is not there, a lot of work simply doesn't get done and the 'Phins roll over the top. He knew he was representing Barney and JFH last night and did not shirk the work.

• During his 68 minutes on the park, Ford made 121 running metres from 17 runs, the 5th highest in the team. (Clarke 166, 18 runs). 1x line break. The other three were our back three though Clarke ran a few more than DWZ.
• He made 46 tackles, a team high (Clark 36). Leka next best, made 40. For the 'Phins only Donoghoe made more - 52. Niukore made 22 as a comparison.
• Across the 2025 NRL season, Ford is ranked 8th most penalties conceded - just below Carrigan and above Tapine.
• His work isn't pretty, and sometimes there is a kind of unco-clumsiness that gives a penalty away but he is continually improving on that. His current average is 0.72 penalties per game.
• With Barney and Fish out of the picture, the team absolutely needs his relentless effort. The upside is way above any liability that comes with him.

Does that help..?

 

[3rdstriker]

Our fan base is too happy with mediocrity. We’re all sweet with sliding down the ladder because no one expected us to be in the 8 even. But we’re here in top 4, let’s aim high, take risks. yes we have injuries but webby needs to adapt, we ain’t doing shit with his conservative, no thrills play style and his team selections

As warriors fans mate, we have had to accept a standard that is well below mediocrity for years, so when a coach comes in and he had us in the top 4 for multiple rounds and a season let's try to keep to pitchforks off his back.
He's a young coach and hes gonna make mistakes but fuck hes better than Brown&Kearney put together.