Bostock would walk in but is still out for a few more rounds. Cobbo had as many issues last night as our outside backs and Kodi was let go so I don't see the correlation with the Dolphins. Would be interested to know who these players are and if they would be more ready for FG than some of the players we have coming through or who are sitting in NSW cup?
Post Match Wests Tigers v NZ Warriors - [Round 4, 2026]
- Thread starter NZWarriors.com
- Start date
Emerald
🦋
no I don’t have anything like the coaching experience of someone like Webby or most likely any of you guys,, but even I can see that upsetting a winning combination of players because our nearly million dollar man is "ready" (even tho he hasn’t been tested properly since nearly a year ago) but we need to justify the price tag is fvkkd in the head.
We’ve all seen it so many times before, the game which on paper we’ve already won, but we lose coz half the team forgets to turn up. And with this re-set of the spine, halves and full back, who was sure who was doing what?
Can’t imagine Bellamy ever putting a team on the pitch where the players don’t know exactly who’s playing what and where, because they’ve worked those combinations over and over and over. The boys had little chance of that happening, but Isn’t that the difference between a premiership winning team and the also rans?
We’ve all seen it so many times before, the game which on paper we’ve already won, but we lose coz half the team forgets to turn up. And with this re-set of the spine, halves and full back, who was sure who was doing what?
Can’t imagine Bellamy ever putting a team on the pitch where the players don’t know exactly who’s playing what and where, because they’ve worked those combinations over and over and over. The boys had little chance of that happening, but Isn’t that the difference between a premiership winning team and the also rans?
Muddogz
👍
We lacked the quality fast ball that we have had the last few games that is critical to our attack. Credit to the Tigers
Back five collectively seemed off their game, would be close to RTS’s worst game for the Warriors and Pompey was poor. The Boyd/Metcalf combo is going to need to be tried for a few weeks but not a great start.
Thought TSS was really good in his stint and both Boyd and JFH had their moments. A bit of a reality check, but even the best sides still lose 4-5 games a season.
Back five collectively seemed off their game, would be close to RTS’s worst game for the Warriors and Pompey was poor. The Boyd/Metcalf combo is going to need to be tried for a few weeks but not a great start.
Thought TSS was really good in his stint and both Boyd and JFH had their moments. A bit of a reality check, but even the best sides still lose 4-5 games a season.
Webster has a lot of Fg coaching lessons he has yet to learn
Hopefully bringing back Mets too early is one. Hopefully both of them will be better for the experience
Dropping Ali was a mistake also imo Thought he was building even if slowly
TT for mine is better on a dry track
JFH is a machine and probably tried too hard.
Just hope lessons have been learned and never repeated
Turn the page but don't remove the bookmark
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WAH MAN
⭐
Good on him. He's a big mouth git but his team had their sledging licence renewed. Leave him be.
Yes because it distracted Roger. He mentioned in his vids that if it distracts him then he'd stop. And that happened and he played a stinker. He's not lost to us and is professional enough to pick up his bundle for next week.
But he is an 80min prop. And he did show signs of it up to this point. We were pumped by the Tigers like how the Raiders pumped us last year.
Players in motion is fundamental to our attack being lethal or predictable. We have scored tries through almost every position ie fullback wing centre halves lock back rowers props. Don't think Healey or Egan have scored. But without runners running lines for Boyd and Metcalf we get what we got which was a Tigers enforced humbling.
Gotta take our medicine and go again. We are still a great team. But not last night. We were proverbially out house
WAH MAN
⭐
Yeah I get ya. I have a forum PhD and a YouTube degree in online speculation.
Indetrminant? Never hear of it. Indeterminate reminds of different types of spuds and tomatoes for those who grow veg.
Wrighty Analysis
Only two observations this week. Before I make them I just want to remind people that we all analyse things differently and that is ok. My style is to identify one or two key moments in the game that defined the whole match, while many others on this forum believe every moment over the 80 minutes is equally important. And that is ok too.
With that context in mind here are my two observations:
1) The losing of the match was Adam Pompey's extremely cynical professional foul that got him sin binned. We were winning comfortably 10 zip at that point and that sin bin changed the course of the match notwithstanding that we killed it off with no tries allowed.
2) After we fell behind at half time we had to chase the game and they kept their composure and the score board pressure forced mistakes out of us. Had we not had that sin bin we would have run away with the game and won by 30 points.
In terms of highlights from the match - I really enjoyed watching our super star back line. I thought Charnze in the first half looked like the elite centre we have been waiting for. I thought Taine was strong at full back and I thought Metcalf warmed into the game nicely. I thought our halves gelled nicely. I really hope Webster stays the course with this back line and gives it another 3-4 games before reverting. Let there be teething problems. The only thing that made us lose in my mind was Adam Pompey. He, as others have posted, was not switched on to the game probably due to family concerns on his mind.
No flames for this post please from Pompey fans.
Only two observations this week. Before I make them I just want to remind people that we all analyse things differently and that is ok. My style is to identify one or two key moments in the game that defined the whole match, while many others on this forum believe every moment over the 80 minutes is equally important. And that is ok too.
With that context in mind here are my two observations:
1) The losing of the match was Adam Pompey's extremely cynical professional foul that got him sin binned. We were winning comfortably 10 zip at that point and that sin bin changed the course of the match notwithstanding that we killed it off with no tries allowed.
2) After we fell behind at half time we had to chase the game and they kept their composure and the score board pressure forced mistakes out of us. Had we not had that sin bin we would have run away with the game and won by 30 points.
In terms of highlights from the match - I really enjoyed watching our super star back line. I thought Charnze in the first half looked like the elite centre we have been waiting for. I thought Taine was strong at full back and I thought Metcalf warmed into the game nicely. I thought our halves gelled nicely. I really hope Webster stays the course with this back line and gives it another 3-4 games before reverting. Let there be teething problems. The only thing that made us lose in my mind was Adam Pompey. He, as others have posted, was not switched on to the game probably due to family concerns on his mind.
No flames for this post please from Pompey fans.
Here is my analysis for what it is worth to add to what you have said:
Not telling you how to suck eggs disclaimer, this is for people that might not get the fundamentals of league yet (any quotes and corrections or improvements welcome with this post-lets help each other out, share the knowledge rather than drop jargon and leave...).
There are two main ways that halves play in formation (traditional stacked or linear formation and the modern way of split halve's I will explain using our halves). And in the last four games we have seen clear bias towards one over the other.
Traditional Linear or stacked halves formation:
Halfback is first receiver (means what it say's almost always gets the ball first from the dummy half who is usually the hooker). The stand off (real name for five eight) gets the pass from the halfback or is the second receiver. If the Ruck is ground 0 then the pass to the halfback is 1st receipt, pass on to Stand off is 2nd receipt or to put it another way. Dummyhalf - halfback - Stand off....it is that simple.
This is how Tanah and CHT play, the old way, stacking one side of the field to create an overlap (Roosters game, everyone raves about CHT and RTS because we have a formation that is going to load up the left all night) Boyd even scores on that left side by using the Roosters anticipation that it is going to keep going wide on the left, then Tanah holds onto it and cuts through a hole made by Cherry Evans who is too slow to chase inside out.
And as we know using stacked halves or same side halves, we turned out normally dead left side attack into a million dollar looking backline.
We need to remember that CHT and Boyd had all offseason to practise and know each others games. We need to caution overreaction here to what happened with Luke last night.
So along comes Metcalf and the game plan changes to the other formation that halves play - the modern way - "split halves"
Why? because this is now a new combination and they are making Metcalf's return as simple as possible (good call Andrew Webster) "Mets you run our right Side - Tanah you make the call when to go right".
But that is not all there is to it. A major part of a halves roll is direct the forwards in how, where, and when to run. And that aspect of a half's game is quite complicated for both the half and the forwards being called onto the ball.
That takes familiarity and a lot of practice. But done well you will see halfbacks form close bonds with specific forwards, especially your wide running forwards.
It all comes down to communication as demonstrated by the legendary Shaun Johnson here:
View: https://youtu.be/2Ilgo6BYE3s?si=HUCbOFwL9yHKfIaq
So it is easy for fans to say "why don't they just switch around and do what they did last week?" which I get it....it is frustrating....but you have to remember the reason Metcalf and Boyd can't "Just play like CHT and Boyd" is that there are multiple moving parts to that stacking that Boyd and CHT run, and that takes time together to develop.
And lastly, Webster had a huge call to make this week, how to protect Boyd's form and to protect Metcalf's return to the NRL. He chose to split them and thereby give them an easier platform (for Metcalf) to familiarize himself with his portion of the team, those players on our right.
Webster himself has been quoted as saying that the clubs halfbacks have been working on split play potential which gives you a lot of information. It means Webster is fully aware that his halves have major work on's to reach that Nirvana of Halve's play "the stacked half - split half variation" first pioneered by the great Peter Stirling and Brett Kenny (Stirling was an organizer Kenny had lightening speed and started popping up anywhere on the field, sound familiar?) they were the first two to do it successfully, but it wasn't called split halves yet.....that term started to appear around the time the legendary pairing of Stuart and Dally (there is a reason Dally is mock nic on this forum).
Excuse the history lesson people.
Long story short, expect to see Webster force Boyd and Metcalf to play split for some time and grin and bear it, he obviously wants them to ground out an understanding of their respective 'side's of the field before becoming a 'couple' first date is awkward......
Here's a tip....when you see Metcalf pop up on the left, get excited, real excited, it means that Webster is happy to pull out the Nuclear option.
Noitall
👤
I get the feeling having Metcalf at five eighth is easing him back into the team and this is his team at 7 in a matter of time. CHT is proving a great foil for either player and can feel hard done by with getting knocked out the only thing that’s gone against him. Boyd’s form could be what changes this but as bad as I feel saying it after his great form, he couldn’t own a moment that was important and came with pressure again. Perhaps goal kicker isn’t good for him?
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Mr Drag
⭐
You worried about goalkicking?
Noitall
👤
No, just that he doesn’t seem to be able to ice big moments. This wasn’t a kick to take the lead, but an important one all the same, just like the knights game where Halasima saved him from a similar situation. The difference is Metcalf has shown he can own those moments as volatile as his injury history wise. I feel stink saying that because Boyd has been awesome and could be premature, but look at Jock Madden. I think it’s widely recognised you need a good backup until you get a good young guy at nrl level as backup and Madden has been around from tigers to broncos back to tigers. As much as some might disagree, I see Boyd as depth and Metcalf back at 7 in a week or two. I could well be wrong and this configuration stays? Webster could feel this way about CHT too, that we need more at five eighth? But mucking around with what CHT and RTS had cooking isn’t something we should continue to do in my opinion. As Sup said, they’ve had a full preseason along with last year and seem really familiar with each others game. Sorry it’s a bit longer response than you were probably expectingYou worried about goalkicking?
Great Analysis - learned a lot from that. Thanks Sup.
I agree, webby has made a call he should at least see it out for a month or so. I thought it was harsh on Ali Leiataua, considering we need him to come good. He's now been demoted, and that will now open the door for berry.
I actually thought Ali was coming good, yes hes been shady on defense, but we need young energy.
Some members of this forum are fickle.
For many up until game time we were 40 pont winners with a championship winning team. And then after the game we want to replace the backline and some of the forwards. And teach the coach how to coach. I think sprinting out of the blocks like we have has made people forget reality.
Last years issues haven't gone away. We are still short of a right centre. CNK, Adam Pompey, RTS, and DWZ are still our best available backs in their positions. They are all competent tradesmen and individually in a better backline they would shine. Together they are ok. When we are winning up front they look good. When we're not they get exposed.
Pompey and RTS are catching flak after last night. 9 times out of 10 both do a good job.
Our forwards have shortcomings that need managing. Leka is not a starting player. Not yet. And he is definitely not a centre. Niukore has experience but he also has issues. Jackson Ford is superman when we are on top. When he's been bashed for an hour he can have handling issues. That's on the coach to spell him before he does. Capewell is getting older. The other young guys coming through are great but they are a long way from being experienced established players.
We need to cut these guys some slack. Yes they got beaten by what was on paper a weaker team and we were out coached and outplayed. We have done the same to other clubs. We'll learn
I also think Tanah Boyd may have caused some issues for the club. He has taken a caretaker role and he has shone beyond most people's expectation. The club has gone all in on Luke Metcalf and it is going to take careful handling to get both players performing at their best. But their best may take time to come out.
We will get beaten this season. We will probably even get our pants pulled down at some stage. But we're on track I'm sure. I'm not expecting a premiership this year. But I am looking forward to the rest of this season and to the next few seasons after this one
For many up until game time we were 40 pont winners with a championship winning team. And then after the game we want to replace the backline and some of the forwards. And teach the coach how to coach. I think sprinting out of the blocks like we have has made people forget reality.
Last years issues haven't gone away. We are still short of a right centre. CNK, Adam Pompey, RTS, and DWZ are still our best available backs in their positions. They are all competent tradesmen and individually in a better backline they would shine. Together they are ok. When we are winning up front they look good. When we're not they get exposed.
Pompey and RTS are catching flak after last night. 9 times out of 10 both do a good job.
Our forwards have shortcomings that need managing. Leka is not a starting player. Not yet. And he is definitely not a centre. Niukore has experience but he also has issues. Jackson Ford is superman when we are on top. When he's been bashed for an hour he can have handling issues. That's on the coach to spell him before he does. Capewell is getting older. The other young guys coming through are great but they are a long way from being experienced established players.
We need to cut these guys some slack. Yes they got beaten by what was on paper a weaker team and we were out coached and outplayed. We have done the same to other clubs. We'll learn
I also think Tanah Boyd may have caused some issues for the club. He has taken a caretaker role and he has shone beyond most people's expectation. The club has gone all in on Luke Metcalf and it is going to take careful handling to get both players performing at their best. But their best may take time to come out.
We will get beaten this season. We will probably even get our pants pulled down at some stage. But we're on track I'm sure. I'm not expecting a premiership this year. But I am looking forward to the rest of this season and to the next few seasons after this one
I don’t disagree on most comments here but let’s be honest, not nearly enough blame is being put on that referee. Andrew GEEzus… mate, you were shit. BOO. BOO. BOO.
Pompey’s binning was an absolute joke. Watch the replay, Tigers player is literally standing in front of the catcher, blocking his view of whether the winger was even in front of the line. The whole thing happens in one fluid motion — catch, turn, try to get out. At worst it’s a penalty. But 10 in the bin? You’ve got to be kidding me.
And from that moment on, the ref just kept feeding the Tigers repeat sets on 50/50 calls, while we couldn’t buy a single one no matter how much $$$$& we put in his brown paper bag!! We were rolling early, but the sin bin, the soft penalties, the six-agains… they killed our momentum stone dead. You could see the frustration building, and once the concentration slipped, the Tigers pounced. All thanks to Andrew GEEzus you suck ref!
Then the errors start piling up
• DWZ drops a kick return.
• RTS can’t take a contested bomb to save himself.
• Metcalf is grabbing at jerseys.
• Pompey is leaving massive holes because he’s babysitting Metcalf on the inside.
• Ford suddenly forgets how to catch
• CNK thinks he can kick
Meanwhile the Tigers just played simple, direct footy and exposed our soft underbelly.
Everyone can talk about our attack, but honestly, the thing that disappointed me most was conceding 32 points. That’s not us. That’s not the standard. That’s not Webby bal.
And whoever said Metcalf is a good defender… no. Just no. He was targeted all night and breached multiple times. Give me CHT any day — he’s a rock. Metcalf’s sideways crabbing kills our shape, kills our rhythm, kills our backline flow.
There’s a lot for Webby to sort out — and that’s actually a good thing. We don’t need to be peaking now. We celebrate the wins, and when we lose, we stay grounded and focus on what needs fixing.
But man… that ref…
Pompey’s binning was an absolute joke. Watch the replay, Tigers player is literally standing in front of the catcher, blocking his view of whether the winger was even in front of the line. The whole thing happens in one fluid motion — catch, turn, try to get out. At worst it’s a penalty. But 10 in the bin? You’ve got to be kidding me.
And from that moment on, the ref just kept feeding the Tigers repeat sets on 50/50 calls, while we couldn’t buy a single one no matter how much $$$$& we put in his brown paper bag!! We were rolling early, but the sin bin, the soft penalties, the six-agains… they killed our momentum stone dead. You could see the frustration building, and once the concentration slipped, the Tigers pounced. All thanks to Andrew GEEzus you suck ref!
Then the errors start piling up
• DWZ drops a kick return.
• RTS can’t take a contested bomb to save himself.
• Metcalf is grabbing at jerseys.
• Pompey is leaving massive holes because he’s babysitting Metcalf on the inside.
• Ford suddenly forgets how to catch
• CNK thinks he can kick
Meanwhile the Tigers just played simple, direct footy and exposed our soft underbelly.
Everyone can talk about our attack, but honestly, the thing that disappointed me most was conceding 32 points. That’s not us. That’s not the standard. That’s not Webby bal.
And whoever said Metcalf is a good defender… no. Just no. He was targeted all night and breached multiple times. Give me CHT any day — he’s a rock. Metcalf’s sideways crabbing kills our shape, kills our rhythm, kills our backline flow.
There’s a lot for Webby to sort out — and that’s actually a good thing. We don’t need to be peaking now. We celebrate the wins, and when we lose, we stay grounded and focus on what needs fixing.
But man… that ref…
CWC
🔍
I might cop it but I thought Dallin minus the knock on had a solid game, I don’t know how we end up getting outnumbered in our red zone many times but he and maybe CNK rushed up to stifle the attack multiple times or stayed wide when we had the numbers, I don’t think he did the no man land once in the game?
Their tries came from 2 mistackles long range and 2 failed bomb diffusals from Roger
And I thought Luke was a great defender last year multiple try savers on the line and Boyd is putting his body on the line as well, he got obstructed but overlooked for a try, not blaming the Gee but coincidentally they laid all over us so many times and we never got the 6-again like previous 3 weeks even when likes of Clark beat the defenders and got shoved back second time
Their tries came from 2 mistackles long range and 2 failed bomb diffusals from Roger
And I thought Luke was a great defender last year multiple try savers on the line and Boyd is putting his body on the line as well, he got obstructed but overlooked for a try, not blaming the Gee but coincidentally they laid all over us so many times and we never got the 6-again like previous 3 weeks even when likes of Clark beat the defenders and got shoved back second time
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