Post Match Warriors v Storm - [Round 15, 2024]

[Five&Last]

Exact kind of game that knocks off the $$ in an SJ extension.

Absolutely invisible and TMM off his game the moment he returns as we all expected would happen.

 

[Makasene]

Exact kind of game that knocks off the $$ in an SJ extension.

Absolutely invisible and TMM off his game the moment he returns as we all expected would happen.

An easy target and much more complex than just that.

That team was getting rolled no matter what in the end.

Absolutely bashed from pillar to post by the Storm forward pack, as they have done to us for a decade.

 

[Five&Last]

An easy target and much more complex than just that.

That team was getting rolled no matter what in the end.

Absolutely bashed from pillar to post by the Storm forward pack, as they have done to us for a decade.

Of course, but we’re not just talking one game now

 

[CWC]

SJ becomes invisible playing second fiddle to TMM, what’s next, TMM is a ball hog and should play 6?

 

[Wigan Warrior]

Only watched the first half as I'd found out the outcome. They were never going to be as bad as they were for the opening 20 for the rest of the game and we never handled their good spell at all. Lucky first try, but once they got the wind in their sails we just seemed to fold.

That penalty though for the late hit on Hughes. Id be embarrassed if SJ was playing for penalties like that.

We talk about it over here with players staying down to get penalties for head contact and cards, but they need to stamp this playacting and diving out of the game.

 

[Makasene]

Of course, but we’re not just talking one game now

We scored 24 points. I just don't see the halves as being any issue at all in that game.

The conditions too really limit what we might expect.

Hard track on the GC in the sun next week, I think we bounce back in a big way.

 

[sydneywarrior92]

Everyone here is quite gloomy after the game which is to be expected. But I actually think Webby is right and there are positives to take out of the game. On many of the key stats we dominated. We outran the storm, both in total run metres and post contact metres, and for large chunks of the game I thought we were physically dominant. The early storm errors were caused by our physical brutality in defense.

Yes we had some bad moments- the middle 20 of the first half where we conceded 20 points was well below par. The storm were clinical, but we should have shown greater resilience in our defensive line. Granted, their first two tries were rather lucky. But their third and 4th tries exposed our edge and middle defence in a way that should worry us going forward.

Still, I thought we had wrestled the momentum back after the break. When Barney scored, we regained the physical ascendancy again and I thought we were close to winning back the lead prior to the TMM high shot call. Unfortunately the two sin binnings turned momentum back towards them in a way that we never recovered. We lost our nerve and reverted back to the uncontested kicks on the last play that were a hallmark of our 4 match losing run.

For me, SJ isn't solely to blame for many of these issues. I thought defensively our wingers played a much bigger part in the defeat. Their defensive reads and self-inflicted sin binnings cost us this game.

 

[Makasene]

Everyone here is quite gloomy after the game which is to be expected. But I actually think Webby is right and there are positives to take out of the game. On many of the key stats we dominated. We outran the storm, both in total run metres and post contact metres, and for large chunks of the game I thought we were physically dominant. The early storm errors were caused by our physical brutality in defense.

Yes we had some bad moments- the middle 20 of the first half where we conceded 20 points was well below par. The storm were clinical, but we should have shown greater resilience in our defensive line. Granted, their first two tries were rather lucky. But their third and 4th tries exposed our edge and middle defence in a way that should worry us going forward.

Still, I thought we had wrestled the momentum back after the break. When Barney scored, we regained the physical ascendancy again and I thought we were close to winning back the lead prior to the TMM high shot call. Unfortunately the two sin binnings turned momentum back towards them in a way that we never recovered. We lost our nerve and reverted back to the uncontested kicks on the last play that were a hallmark of our 4 match losing run.

For me, SJ isn't solely to blame for many of these issues. I thought defensively our wingers played a much bigger part in the defeat. Their defensive reads and self-inflicted sin binnings cost us this game.

Similar to how I feel.

Many games to be won for us still and I'm still certain we will make the 8.

Just won't be doing much if we get there.

Hard not to turn back to some youth though.

MGT and Ale I would have in the 17 next week

 

[wizard of Tauranga]

Their defensive reads and self-inflicted sin binnings cost us this game.

The ironic thing about the Montoya sin bin was he had the ball after the strip and had to give it back to them so they could run at him.

 

[Beastmode]

Can we discuss DWZ’s cloak hanger of a tackle that got him sent for 10?

For all his beautiful acrobatic tries which I love, his defence and reads is still absolutely shocking.

The whole reach out with the arm and grab is another example of his inability to read a simple 2:1 defence.

Too busy worrying about getting beat on the outside then realises he’s overcompensated to instinctively reach out his arm for a shirt grab. It’s really ameturish defending.

At that moment I knew we’d lost the game.

Is the game on defence really that hard to read? Is it going too fast for him to decide the spacing whether slide vs coming in????

Also dropped a fairly straightforward catch from which the Storm scored sooner after at the start of the game.

Unfortunately these were two pivot moments that contributed to our lost.

The Storm know our wingers out wide cant defend and they exploited that weakness beautifully

 

[Beastmode]

My thoughts on Montoya

Same as above.

Get RTS or Tuapiki onto the wing. Players with better defensive reads and reliable under the high ball

All our tries came from out wide. Could have been a problem with our small and old forwards not spreading enough but our wingers didn’t do a good job

 

[Makasene]

Can we discuss DWZ’s cloak hanger of a tackle that got him sent for 10?

For all his beautiful acrobatic tries which I love, his defence and reads is still absolutely shocking.

The whole reach out with the arm and grab is another example of his inability to read a simple 2:1 defence.

Too busy worrying about getting beat on the outside then realises he’s overcompensated to instinctively reach out his arm for a shirt grab. It’s really ameturish defending.

At that moment I knew we’d lost the game.

Is the game on defence really that hard to read? Is it going too fast for him to decide the spacing whether slide vs coming in????

Also dropped a fairly straightforward catch from which the Storm scored sooner after at the start of the game.

Unfortunately these were two pivot moments that contributed to our lost.

The Storm know our wingers out wide cant defend and they exploited that weakness beautifully

I can't understand the reaction from many. "He was going for an intercept" - wtf, you just can't do that shit.

I think we accepted a while ago that Dallin gets 2 and gives 1 on average. Last few weeks a lot more gets than gives. Last night not so much.

DWZ is an easy selection if available and probably easily replaced when he goes.

 

[Makasene]

My thoughts on Montoya

Same as above.

Get RTS or Tuapiki onto the wing. Players with better defensive reads and reliable under the high ball

All our tries came from out wide. Could have been a problem with our small and old forwards not spreading enough but our wingers didn’t do a good job

I hope the coaches be bold and pick MGT at right centre to replace the injured Berry.

RTS is coming in on the left. I think it will be for Montoya but Pompey has made it more difficult after last night.

In a weird twist it could be worth trying Montoya at centre and RTS at wing but time is short to keep making those sorts of changes.

 

[Completion Rate]

The ref was found guessing on a lot of calls early. 2 turning point calls: Pings Walker for markers not square, was an absolute guess. Walker tries to challenge and told he can't - watching it on replay Walker was right, he was 100% square. That ended our momentum in the first half.
The second was taking it back 2 plays to penalize TMM for an innocuous high shot. They simply don't do this to other teams - that is a Warriors fuckover special.

 

[Tragic]

I like Pompey but he does tend to let his man get outside him and the wingers don't trust him enough to stay on their man. He is a good defender and usually gets his guy on the outside so we either need a winger who trusts him and stays in their man or we need a quicker centre.

We definitely need more speed in the back line somewhere.

 

[wizard of Tauranga]

The ref was found guessing on a lot of calls early. 2 turning point calls: Pings Walker for markers not square, was an absolute guess. Walker tries to challenge and told he can't - watching it on replay Walker was right, he was 100% square. That ended our momentum in the first half.
The second was taking it back 2 plays to penalize TMM for an innocuous high shot. They simply don't do this to other teams - that is a Warriors fuckover special.

‘Guessing’ is a nice way to put it

 

[sydneywarrior92]

In line with other opinions aired, the problem with the team right now is positions 2-5. Our forward pack has been doing its job. In almost all of our games this season, even the ones we've lost, we have outrun the opposition, in both total run metres and pcms. Even yesterday, we outran the storm by almost 300 metres and only 2 storm forwards made 100+ metres (Katoa and Loieiro). Conversely we had 5 (AFB, Ford, Barney, Tohu and Walker). Ford in particular has been a revelation up front. Barney and Niukore clearly add a hardness to our edges that was missing in the earlier rounds. I'd be tempted to replace Capewell with Ale/Bunty but overall I think the forward rotation is fine and one of the most versatile in the comp.

Our backs are letting this team down. I think the defensive issue is beyond just the wingers (DWZ and Montoya)'s edge defense which I agree has been suspect for a long time. Our backline is visibly much slower than many other backlines in the comp and it's starting to gets exposed on a regular basis. It concerned me last week how quickly DWZ gave up on the chase on Drinkwater last week and it happened again for the Storm's 4th try. Once the linebreak was made, none of our backs had the pace to prevent the try. The tries melbourne scored on our edges (#3, #5) was simply a case of our centres getting burned by their faster opposites (Meaney in particular).

Admittedly, this issue was exacerbated in this game by the injury to Rocco and our having to move an injured walker to replace him. Not to mention the 11-12 man issue. But the problem is something we need to address moving forward. Metcalf is really the only one in our side with top level speed and he's sitting out on the sidelines atm.

 

[sydneywarrior92]

The ref was found guessing on a lot of calls early. 2 turning point calls: Pings Walker for markers not square, was an absolute guess. Walker tries to challenge and told he can't - watching it on replay Walker was right, he was 100% square. That ended our momentum in the first half.
The second was taking it back 2 plays to penalize TMM for an innocuous high shot. They simply don't do this to other teams - that is a Warriors fuckover special.

I don't disagree that these calls were rough, but we need to be better at defending our errors/ill discipline. Last year we would have survived the adversity, but this year we are folding way too easily. The fact that the resilience has dissipated this year is what is truly concerning. Refs screwing the Wahs over is nothing new and isn't changing anytime soon. This is why our discipline has to better than the rest of the comp. It's unfair but it is what it is. The lack of discipline is what killed our momentum and lost this game for us.

 

[Tookey 2.0]

The ref was found guessing on a lot of calls early. 2 turning point calls: Pings Walker for markers not square, was an absolute guess. Walker tries to challenge and told he can't - watching it on replay Walker was right, he was 100% square. That ended our momentum in the first half.
The second was taking it back 2 plays to penalize TMM for an innocuous high shot. They simply don't do this to other teams - that is a Warriors fuckover special.

The Ford phantom strip as well.

The non penalty for the high shot on Egan who had blood coming out of big mouth (apparently the video ref chose not to look at that one like the Faalogo one).

The Eli Katoa not square at marker one too.

To be fair - the way we played at times you can't blame the ref solely for that loss.

But that's 5 instances that the ref has gone against us and they're not even 50/50. He blows a penalty for the Storm when we were square, and then doesn't blow it when the Storm arent square at marker. We get called back several plays for a high shot on Faalogo, and then Wade collects one in the mouth with blood and it's not given.... Just be consistent!

And that's on top of 2 poor calls the ref gave us that we overturned....

 

[Warriorshopeful]

The Ford phantom strip as well.

The non penalty for the high shot on Egan who had blood coming out of big mouth (apparently the video ref chose not to look at that one like the Faalogo one).

The Eli Katoa not square at marker one too.

To be fair - the way we played at times you can't blame the ref solely for that loss.

But that's 5 instances that the ref has gone against us and they're not even 50/50. He blows a penalty for the Storm when we were square, and then doesn't blow it when the Storm arent square at marker. We get called back several plays for a high shot on Faalogo, and then Wade collects one in the mouth with blood and it's not given.... Just be consistent!

And that's on top of 2 poor calls the ref gave us that we overturned....

And then on top of that, if you have a look every time we have the ball the ref allows the Storm players to be standing around the ruck getting in the way when they're not involved in the play, and a couple times we were hot on attack with fast PTB's where there's no way the Storm players had gone 10 and then come back up for defense, absolutely rubbish ref'ing, and then got the feeling as we were on their line on attack the ref had blown so many penalties and 6 agains already he was hesitant to blow any more.