Crucial game tonight. Going into the bye in 2 weeks time sitting 3-1 on 8 points will give us a decent buffer going into the tough run of Melbourne and Brisbane after the bye.
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'For my family': Emotions run high for Whyte's NZ homecoming
Sydney Roosters prop Naufahu Whyte has opened up on the emotion of representing New Zealand as he prepares to play his first NRL game in his hometown.www.nrl.com
Expecting a big one from Naufahu Whyte
Far out reading that he sounds like a Wahs player through and through, all the whanau back in Auckland...
Can be negotiated with in November this year for 2027, how much are we offering him?
Marata will be gone then (likely), so maybe we chuck a good 600k his way
Nicotine and alcohol are as addictive as cocaine and probably ruin more lives, there's so much hypocrisy within the law. Meth is just a poison though imo, according to water samples NZ's meth use is out the gate. I was way more gutted about Manu than this.
Took me a long time to re-watch the second game but here are my thoughts on it.
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
Good:
1. Really enjoying the cuts back to the middle on attack. When executed at speed, they work like a treat—either punching a hole in the defense or clustering the opposition into the tackle. A big improvement over last game's predictable pass-to-the-edge, followed by a bomb to the opposite wing. Would love to see it happen more on the left-hand side.
2. Egan’s biggest impact in this game was recognizing when someone was offside and running straight at them. Not just him—Marata even pivoted his line to exploit an offside defender. This helped regain momentum in the first half.
3. The minutes rotation for Barnett and Fish was much better. One was always on the field. Both started, and then Barnett stayed on until Fish was ready to return. This feels like the best way to start a game. Silly mistakes and poor defensive reads are the only things stopping us from starting strong, but those errors seem to decrease as the half progresses.
4. We created a lot of line breaks. Metcalf was involved in both the JFH offload and the Taine intercept. Last year (and even last game), we just weren’t in position to support offloads or line breaks.
5. That Ali try and Marata’s attempt were our bread and butter in 2023—glad to see we’re still going for it. With Ali and Marata there, it must be twice as dangerous compared to 2024’s Ford and Pompey.
6. The ref made just enough bullshit calls to give us a fair preview of what the season will be like. Feels good to win so convincingly despite that.
7. How the hell did Tuapiki score that try? That’s pure X-factor. Webster, you’ve got to keep him in the team—though I have no idea how, once DWZ returns.
8. That defensive line speed... If there’s one thing I hope we keep from this game, it’s that.
9. CHT’s short kicking game is excellent.
10. We seem to be communicating a lot more. A key moment was Walker trying to strip the ball, telling Marata to exit the tackle. It resulted in a knock-on against us, but I love those heads-up plays.
11. The celebrations and team chemistry are top-tier! We’re right up there with the Storm and Panthers in terms of culture. Even the players on the bench were hyped after every point.
12. No pointless arguing with the ref—just asking the right questions without backchatting. If we want better calls in the future, this is the way to go, especially with the crackdown on dissent.
13. The one positive from RTS’s defense was his handling of Olakau’atu. He chopped him down one-on-one twice—shoulder straight to the shin—allowing Pompey and CHT to rush in and smother him.
14. Great fucking captain’s challenges.
15. Love that the halves are backing their running game. CHT even takes quick play-the-balls like a prop sometimes.
16. Our scramble defense looks solid.
17. Underrated hit of the game: Leka rushing out of the line and smashing Brooks, forcing him to throw a pass at his center’s feet for a knock-on. That killed Manly’s comeback hopes. 18. Nailed every single conversion.
Bad:
1. This will improve over time, but right now, there’s a bit of a clash with having both Clark and Walker at lock. They’re both great, but they play different styles—Walker is a ball player first, runner second, while Clark is the opposite. Sometimes, the team seems to expect a Walker-style pass from Clark, or they wait for Walker to run when he’s actually looking to pass. As chemistry develops, this should turn into a real asset, giving us great attacking variation.
2. Rust. This team needs more time to gel. A more motivated team would punish some of our defensive overlaps and misexecuted set plays. We overcame it through grit, but when we don’t have the energy to cover for mistakes, it could get rough.
3. Long-distance kicking wasn’t great. In the second half, we were losing about 10 meters per set. Manly consistently kicked between our 10m and 20m line. Some kicks had good height, especially Metcalf’s in the last 10 minutes of the first half—one even led to a try. But overall, kicking (especially from CHT) wasn’t strong, and in a grinding game, this could cost us.
4. CHT can’t match Metcalf’s kicking height right now. Twice, RTS chased to compete for a kick, but even though the kicks traveled 48m to their 20m line, they didn’t hang long enough for our edge to get under the ball.
5. Slow starts. It happened in Round 1, and again in Round 2 at the start of both halves. This needs to be fixed, or better teams will bury us before we can fight back. Once we regain momentum, we hold it well, but we can’t keep gifting teams early dominance.
6. RTS’s defensive reads are off. Not sure if it’s a communication issue with Pompey, but even if Pompey isn’t talking, RTS should trust him to mark his man—or at least communicate better himself.
Ugly:
1. Jamming in the centers to shut down the wings worked more often than not, but it still feels like an all-or-nothing gamble. I get it against Manly—given their height advantage, even if we win the one-on-one tackle, they could still offload easily. Maybe it could work consistently if we drill it more, but I’m not sure.
2. Barnett kept getting bounced off tackles in the first 10 minutes.
3. In the first 18 minutes, possession was 60-40 in Manly’s favor, and they only scored once. By the 35th minute, we flipped it to 60-40 in our favor and scored three tries. We’re still clunky, and one try came from Tuapiki’s insane evasiveness, but the attack is sharpening—just still a bit ugly.
4. I love Walker and hope we re-sign him for at least another year, but he made poor decisions in this game. He tried to do too much—like taking a grubber instead of passing to CHT on the fifth. Hopefully, he was just overhyped.
5. Way too many errors. Some were saved by captain’s challenges, but only because of other infractions, not because we didn’t actually make mistakes.
6. Nearly had a repeat of Round 1’s intercept disaster—Metcalf threw a bad pass under pressure.
7. During the sin-bin period, Metcalf made another costly mistake. He had some shaky moments throughout the game, but also some brilliant ones. This halves pairing has a massive ceiling—I’m sure it will improve over time and make Round 1’s struggles look like a fluke.
Overall:
This was a solid win, despite some shockingly bad referee decisions. The game was closer than some might think—Manly were just a few fumbles away from staying in it. There’s still plenty to improve on, but this match gave us a much better idea of how the boys want to play.
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
Good:
1. Really enjoying the cuts back to the middle on attack. When executed at speed, they work like a treat—either punching a hole in the defense or clustering the opposition into the tackle. A big improvement over last game's predictable pass-to-the-edge, followed by a bomb to the opposite wing. Would love to see it happen more on the left-hand side.
2. Egan’s biggest impact in this game was recognizing when someone was offside and running straight at them. Not just him—Marata even pivoted his line to exploit an offside defender. This helped regain momentum in the first half.
3. The minutes rotation for Barnett and Fish was much better. One was always on the field. Both started, and then Barnett stayed on until Fish was ready to return. This feels like the best way to start a game. Silly mistakes and poor defensive reads are the only things stopping us from starting strong, but those errors seem to decrease as the half progresses.
4. We created a lot of line breaks. Metcalf was involved in both the JFH offload and the Taine intercept. Last year (and even last game), we just weren’t in position to support offloads or line breaks.
5. That Ali try and Marata’s attempt were our bread and butter in 2023—glad to see we’re still going for it. With Ali and Marata there, it must be twice as dangerous compared to 2024’s Ford and Pompey.
6. The ref made just enough bullshit calls to give us a fair preview of what the season will be like. Feels good to win so convincingly despite that.
7. How the hell did Tuapiki score that try? That’s pure X-factor. Webster, you’ve got to keep him in the team—though I have no idea how, once DWZ returns.
8. That defensive line speed... If there’s one thing I hope we keep from this game, it’s that.
9. CHT’s short kicking game is excellent.
10. We seem to be communicating a lot more. A key moment was Walker trying to strip the ball, telling Marata to exit the tackle. It resulted in a knock-on against us, but I love those heads-up plays.
11. The celebrations and team chemistry are top-tier! We’re right up there with the Storm and Panthers in terms of culture. Even the players on the bench were hyped after every point.
12. No pointless arguing with the ref—just asking the right questions without backchatting. If we want better calls in the future, this is the way to go, especially with the crackdown on dissent.
13. The one positive from RTS’s defense was his handling of Olakau’atu. He chopped him down one-on-one twice—shoulder straight to the shin—allowing Pompey and CHT to rush in and smother him.
14. Great fucking captain’s challenges.
15. Love that the halves are backing their running game. CHT even takes quick play-the-balls like a prop sometimes.
16. Our scramble defense looks solid.
17. Underrated hit of the game: Leka rushing out of the line and smashing Brooks, forcing him to throw a pass at his center’s feet for a knock-on. That killed Manly’s comeback hopes. 18. Nailed every single conversion.
Bad:
1. This will improve over time, but right now, there’s a bit of a clash with having both Clark and Walker at lock. They’re both great, but they play different styles—Walker is a ball player first, runner second, while Clark is the opposite. Sometimes, the team seems to expect a Walker-style pass from Clark, or they wait for Walker to run when he’s actually looking to pass. As chemistry develops, this should turn into a real asset, giving us great attacking variation.
2. Rust. This team needs more time to gel. A more motivated team would punish some of our defensive overlaps and misexecuted set plays. We overcame it through grit, but when we don’t have the energy to cover for mistakes, it could get rough.
3. Long-distance kicking wasn’t great. In the second half, we were losing about 10 meters per set. Manly consistently kicked between our 10m and 20m line. Some kicks had good height, especially Metcalf’s in the last 10 minutes of the first half—one even led to a try. But overall, kicking (especially from CHT) wasn’t strong, and in a grinding game, this could cost us.
4. CHT can’t match Metcalf’s kicking height right now. Twice, RTS chased to compete for a kick, but even though the kicks traveled 48m to their 20m line, they didn’t hang long enough for our edge to get under the ball.
5. Slow starts. It happened in Round 1, and again in Round 2 at the start of both halves. This needs to be fixed, or better teams will bury us before we can fight back. Once we regain momentum, we hold it well, but we can’t keep gifting teams early dominance.
6. RTS’s defensive reads are off. Not sure if it’s a communication issue with Pompey, but even if Pompey isn’t talking, RTS should trust him to mark his man—or at least communicate better himself.
Ugly:
1. Jamming in the centers to shut down the wings worked more often than not, but it still feels like an all-or-nothing gamble. I get it against Manly—given their height advantage, even if we win the one-on-one tackle, they could still offload easily. Maybe it could work consistently if we drill it more, but I’m not sure.
2. Barnett kept getting bounced off tackles in the first 10 minutes.
3. In the first 18 minutes, possession was 60-40 in Manly’s favor, and they only scored once. By the 35th minute, we flipped it to 60-40 in our favor and scored three tries. We’re still clunky, and one try came from Tuapiki’s insane evasiveness, but the attack is sharpening—just still a bit ugly.
4. I love Walker and hope we re-sign him for at least another year, but he made poor decisions in this game. He tried to do too much—like taking a grubber instead of passing to CHT on the fifth. Hopefully, he was just overhyped.
5. Way too many errors. Some were saved by captain’s challenges, but only because of other infractions, not because we didn’t actually make mistakes.
6. Nearly had a repeat of Round 1’s intercept disaster—Metcalf threw a bad pass under pressure.
7. During the sin-bin period, Metcalf made another costly mistake. He had some shaky moments throughout the game, but also some brilliant ones. This halves pairing has a massive ceiling—I’m sure it will improve over time and make Round 1’s struggles look like a fluke.
Overall:
This was a solid win, despite some shockingly bad referee decisions. The game was closer than some might think—Manly were just a few fumbles away from staying in it. There’s still plenty to improve on, but this match gave us a much better idea of how the boys want to play.
Not sure you can put RTS in there currently - 180m average after 2 games, 4.5 tackle busts a game, 2 line breaks and 2 tries. Plenty of go forward.
So far he's looked elite imo. Still early days tho.
It's quite funny looking at the difference in him playing centre last year and wing this year. He looked a fish out of water at times, and with his big price tag he was underperforming so probably had a bit more pressure on him.
This year he looks more comfortable, and while the price tag is still there he's able to play that roll well, so there's a fair bit of value for the team.
I think he'll finish the year with 15-20 tries and loads of running meters and tackle busts
My thoughts from the game were that Boyd and TMM are starting to form a very good combination and understanding. Berry looked good for the hit out and a step above Cup level. I'd continue to play him there for the next 4 rounds with a view to bringing him back in to first grade after the Broncos game. Laban is in the right grade for now IMO. Might be an unpopular view but I think he is still improving and needs to develop a little bit more of a harder edge. I think he is still finding out what he is capable of and I'd look to start introducing him in the back half of the season to first grade if there aren't injury forced changes before then. Those 4 players are the most obvious ones pushing for first team. Behind them Healey,Lussick, Ale and Afoa. Bunty doesn't stand out but he does absolutely nothing wrong, just does his job and does it well IMO.
Kosi is a definite never again from me.
probably the wrong forum, but good to see the reserves continuing to pressure the first team. Haven't been able to watch the full game and hopefully someone can comment on whether Laban, Berry,TMM, Boyd etc looked this good through the whole game
www.nswrl.com.au
I feel like Berry's back soon for Pompey, which is why they're keeping Metcalf kicking (Tough for Pompey though, I still feel he's better than this board gives him credit for, but couldn't pick him ahead of Ali or Berry). Laban is the unluckiest not to be in FG, hell of a turn of pace in the wing try too. Would be a risk to have 3 young guns on the bench, but if he's playing 80m, 177m he's more likely to bump ford rather than Leka or Demi.
While our 1st team lacks genuine star power, I don't remember a time we've enjoyed this much depth. Ever.
The Knock-On Effect NSW Cup Highlights | Round Two - Warriors v Sea Eagles
All the best action from Friday's thrilling Round Two clash between Warriors and Manly Warringah Sea Eagles.
www.nswrl.com.au
I feel like Berry's back soon for Pompey, which is why they're keeping Metcalf kicking (Tough for Pompey though, I still feel he's better than this board gives him credit for, but couldn't pick him ahead of Ali or Berry). Laban is the unluckiest not to be in FG, hell of a turn of pace in the wing try too. Would be a risk to have 3 young guns on the bench, but if he's playing 80m, 177m he's more likely to bump ford rather than Leka or Demi.
While our 1st team lacks genuine star power, I don't remember a time we've enjoyed this much depth. Ever.
The new Tavlova post match video dropped.
This is some of the best sports content out there.
View: https://www.instagram.com/p/DHO8ZA_pzCa/?hl=en
This is some of the best sports content out there.
View: https://www.instagram.com/p/DHO8ZA_pzCa/?hl=en
Just watching the highlights again and the thing I love most about Tauapiki's try is it was a high IQ play.
Tauapiki went across the park and singled out Jazz and Sipley specifically.
It was eyes up footy and something that he created from nothing.
I think that now we've seen he can handle being in the back 3 and the obvious targeting he will get because of his size, I feel the benefit of him being at the back with his hands on the footy more, is only gunna be a good thing for this team. I think by the seasons end well see it as more important to us than what Charnz can provide
Tauapiki went across the park and singled out Jazz and Sipley specifically.
It was eyes up footy and something that he created from nothing.
I think that now we've seen he can handle being in the back 3 and the obvious targeting he will get because of his size, I feel the benefit of him being at the back with his hands on the footy more, is only gunna be a good thing for this team. I think by the seasons end well see it as more important to us than what Charnz can provide
This is the most optimistic I have been about RTS in years. Wing is his skillset and once he tidies a couple of things up, he will be great for us I think.
He is nuggety these days with great power to go with his step. He will be very hard to stop close to the tryline
The funniest thing reading through all of this is Websters supposed bias against local players. Bloody hell. Demetric and Leka are both very young but have become mainstays in the 17. EIT has been rewarded for hard work with a contract and being 18th man lately.
Yes we are running with two battle hardened second rowers at the moment but you can see the succession plan with Laban and Halasima.
Also the handshake between Demetric and Luke on full time hardly seemed to scream a cultural divide
Yes we are running with two battle hardened second rowers at the moment but you can see the succession plan with Laban and Halasima.
Also the handshake between Demetric and Luke on full time hardly seemed to scream a cultural divide
View: https://www.tiktok.com/@nzwarriors/video/7352426385618554119
This was the place in 2023 and true fortress vibes that we need to return to and was an encouraging step in the right direction. Even last year in a poor season we had 1 draw, 5 wins and 5 losses at home. Away we had 9 losses and 4 wins, so we perform better at home as an indication. Probably helps the crowds we got, but we seem to get decent support away too
As Lukey said in the post match it’s about building the relationships in the team and with CHT and feeding off each others energy. They all look stoked to be around each other, support when there’s a mistake, know your role, but keeping grounded. Time will tell, but looked like a happy team and ready to make MT Smart a fortress
Interesting dynamic when CHT scores his try. He's sedate, points to his wrist band and the sky, gets a bit excited when teammates rock up, but when Luke rocks up to congratulate him, Chanel gets SUPER worked up and excited. Interesting when you consider that neither halves are "rated" and are both probably under pressure.
That reaction makes it look like they are pretty tight duo, which maybe a really important factor the way we chop and change halves.
That reaction makes it look like they are pretty tight duo, which maybe a really important factor the way we chop and change halves.
I lifted my confidence we might win when I saw Fish in the warm ups. He visually looks inspirational. I felt like flying to Auckland and running on the field to follow him into battle.
On the bench use of Leka and Vaimauga - as the season wears on Webster will give them more minutes and obviously of an injury strikes then they will move up the bench rotation pecking order. Finallly having them out there fresh in the final twenty gave us good energy during the championship minutes.
Great win !!! I hope for the competition's sake thar DCE and Turbo pull up ok.
On the bench use of Leka and Vaimauga - as the season wears on Webster will give them more minutes and obviously of an injury strikes then they will move up the bench rotation pecking order. Finallly having them out there fresh in the final twenty gave us good energy during the championship minutes.
Great win !!! I hope for the competition's sake thar DCE and Turbo pull up ok.
Watched it from my usual seats in bay 27. It felt good to be at home. I’m sure the boys appreciated the support too, although I did notice that it was a lesser crowd than last seasons sellouts.
Some thoughts on the game:
Bench use: I noticed at about the 20mins both Leka and Dem were up off the bench warming up and thought they may have come on then, but tbh I was glad they were held back till the 60th min or so yesterday. The old heads were playing well (thought Capewell stood up, and even Niukore had some big charges), so imo would’ve been risky to bring those young bucks on. Where possible I think knits best to still manage their minutes.
Egan: Cracking game from him. Some probing runs from dummy half.
Clark: He was the enforcer out there last night. Really pleased with him as a buy and do think he is a Jazz upgrade.
TT: Got to be in the 17. His footwork and pace are too big of an asset. F’n loved his try leaving Jazz clutching at straws.
JFH vs AFB: Though Fish had another strong game. The big difference I’ve noticed in comparison to AFB is how he shores up our middle on D. Does a fantastic job with that.
Metcalf: A better game but just needs to be given more time. A few poor options at times and can be a bit clunky with set moves at times. More time needed but felt pleased for him to have a much better game.
Webby: I’m a big Webby fan and supporter. He is the coach for us imo. Calls for him to get the sack were way too premature after one terrible game imo. The club have put in so much ground work with development and we just need to be patient.
Wearing my jersey proudly today! Well done boys to restore some pride and confidence.
Some thoughts on the game:
Bench use: I noticed at about the 20mins both Leka and Dem were up off the bench warming up and thought they may have come on then, but tbh I was glad they were held back till the 60th min or so yesterday. The old heads were playing well (thought Capewell stood up, and even Niukore had some big charges), so imo would’ve been risky to bring those young bucks on. Where possible I think knits best to still manage their minutes.
Egan: Cracking game from him. Some probing runs from dummy half.
Clark: He was the enforcer out there last night. Really pleased with him as a buy and do think he is a Jazz upgrade.
TT: Got to be in the 17. His footwork and pace are too big of an asset. F’n loved his try leaving Jazz clutching at straws.
JFH vs AFB: Though Fish had another strong game. The big difference I’ve noticed in comparison to AFB is how he shores up our middle on D. Does a fantastic job with that.
Metcalf: A better game but just needs to be given more time. A few poor options at times and can be a bit clunky with set moves at times. More time needed but felt pleased for him to have a much better game.
Webby: I’m a big Webby fan and supporter. He is the coach for us imo. Calls for him to get the sack were way too premature after one terrible game imo. The club have put in so much ground work with development and we just need to be patient.
Wearing my jersey proudly today! Well done boys to restore some pride and confidence.