Warriors V Illawarra Steelers Reserve Grade Report

[RHYTHM AND STEALTH]

From That Guy called Fan In The Stand

Not often do Warriors get back to back reserve grade games here in sydney but this week they find themselves back here to face the Illawarra Steelers down in Wollongong so this week the Fan In The Stands back in the car travelling down the M1 to cheer on the boys.

Id say about 98% of the time ive been to Wollongong it has rained even when i come down here to watch the Breakers dunk all over the Hawks in Summer in the NBL it rains but when i got up this morning the sun was out so im thinking its going to be a fast expansive game. Pack the family in the car grab the aux cord and crank the sounds up Adele instrumental with Tupac rapping over the top and away we went. I checked the Warriors website before we left and said the Albert Vete and Ata Hingano have been added to the team. Awesum news as they are weapons coming into an already dangerous arsenal. Of course though Im gutted that they are not in the first grade team.

Just finished driving down Mt Ousley and about 10 minutes out from WIN stadium when it starts bloody raining so the streak continues grrrrr.

Get there and the boys are out the back field warming up doing drills etc. First instinct is i notice their body language. Focused but calm. Excited to see Ata hopefully carve up. Those that know me know i rate him hugely and in my opinion he is the 2nd best Junior the Warriors have produced in their system. Konrad Hurrell #1 Ata #2 and Johnson at #3. Some people may disagree but yeah nah. I watch Ata and Vete as they do their drills. Lots of talk and are professional. Even though they must be dissapointed not playing first grade after being originally named they dont show it.

We take our seats and their is quite a healthy crowd. Possibly 200-250 people as the local SG Ball and Harold Matthews Cup teams (under 16s and 18s) are in the curtain raiser. The boys come out ready for kick off. I go over the team and see there is massive positional changes as well. Sam Cooks on the wing he was 5/8 last week. Semisi Fotu is 18th man, bit rough as he was the one of the best from last week. Erin Clark starting hooker with Jazz and Roache on the interchange bench. 3 hookers in the team???? But what a good selection headache for Coach Henry to have when his team is in form. Me and the wife cringe at the ground announcer trying to name our Polynesion players in the line up. FFS if you cant say them get someone in there who can or do your bloody research. Teams get named on Tuesdays so put in the work all week. I find it very disrespectfull. These players are professionals how bout you treat them as such. Bye the way its started bucketing down so could be a forward dominated game. And the Steelers have some big boys in Mose Masoe, Hame Sele and Luciano Leilua.

Steelers kick off and we have a safe set and kick on the last. On the Steelers first tackle Mason Lino and Pat Sipley tackle the fullback and clash heads and both stay down. Ref stops play as they get attended to. We defend well and on our next set Ayshford makes a 15m hitup getting out of trouble and gets a penalty. So far so good. From that our forwards march up and we force a goal line drop out but our next set we make an error going for a low % play. Steelers forwards are hitting hard in their line. Can hear the hits from the stands. The Steelers half makes a break on the last and kicks it but Charnze fumbles it but to be fair it was a bullet kick straight to him. Our defence is holding strong but we give away a penalty so the Steelers have a repeat set in our 10. After 11 straight tackles defending the goal line former Warriors Liva Havilli goes over for the first try from dummy half. They convert and we are down 6-0 after 11 minutes. More Steelers pressure sees another goal line drop out to them, we are under the pump but their is an injury to the Steelers that holds the game up for about 5 minutes. Good time to regroup and Rubin Wiki is out there talking heaps and rallying the boys. Composure boys and stick to the defensive structures.

Play restarts and more pressure and another goal line drop out forced. Our goal line is unreal though. We hold out the Steelers again when they put in a grubber but Charnze is there to clean up. Yip another goal line drop out. Again we hold out the relentless pressure as the Steelers put in a chip it ricochets off Matt Allwood into a Steelers player, FMD 6 more tackles. More defence but after 29 straight tackles on our try line it takes a Steelers cross field bomb for them to score their 2nd try. To rub it in they convert from out wide to go up 12-0 after 21 minutes. First sub sees Tevita Satae replace Pat Sipley who has tackled his ass off. Again i cant praise our defence enough as i think we have had next to no ball and when we do have it we are looking dangerous. 2 tries from a quick play the ball dummy half sneak and a cross field bomb, certainly nothing to panic over. Finally we get a couple of sets in possesion as Nathaniel Roache comes on for his first game of the year. 3 tackles later he makes an impact by crashing over for a try and hopefully momentum can turn. Mason misses the kick 12-4 down. After getting points we make an error on the first set after it GRRRRRR. Just what we need more defence but on the 4th tackle we force an error by our defence being up and in. We get possesion and earn a penalty. Setting up a whole set in Steelers half for the first time in ages. We asking heaps of questions and Vete gets tackled 1 metre out but Hingano knocks on when spreading wide. Vete gets subbed after a solid 33 minutes of good defence. Jazz Tavenga on. We march upfield again anforce our own repeat set after an Hingano kick. The following set sees Mason Lino slice and dice wheel and deal and beats 3 before finding our winger #2 Fetalaiga Pauga diving over for an awesum try. Great finish by Pauga who got airbourne. Lino misses the kick from the corner and we head to halftime 12-8 down.

I duck down to the canteen for a pottle of chips and coke zero. Friggen rip off at $11 defiantly sneaking in subway next time. I go over my notes again as the majority of the crowd leaves to go home since all the juniors have finshed and showered up. I look for any other Warriors fans around. Nope just me the wife and Son. Excellent becos that means we have to cheer louder now.

 

[RHYTHM AND STEALTH]

Positives at halftime

Its stopped raining.

Also i cant believe how much Mason Lino has improved. He has taken his game to another bloody level. Hes calm and controlling, the boys listen and respect him and he doesnt shy from the tough stuff. On attack if someone wants the ball he gives it to them. If a winger wants a kick he kicks it to them, if there is an opportunity to attack he leads it. When we have possesion in the oppostion 20 they spread out in like a duck formation with Lino on the right, Ata on the left block runners and decoys around them and everyone knows where they are supposed to be. Even all the little things i noticed. We were defending pretty much all the first half and when we got a penalty he took so much time to take the kick for touch to give the guys a spell. Even taking the conversions he took well over 2 minutes so the guys could refocus.
Our big guns are quiet due to all the defence eg Cook, Nicoll-Klokstadd, Ayshford Sipley and Papalii. Vete very strong and James Bell great tackle technique cutting down anything that moves. So if we can get a even share of possesion i believe we will go on and get the 2 points.

2nd half we kick off, give away a penalty, get possesion, lose possesion then 3 tackles later hold up Mose Masoe from scoring. Its all happening. Dragons attack right and James Bell does a massive hit on the ball carrier forcing a spill and Sam cook picks it up and scootes away. As i jump outta my seat the ref calls it back and i turn around and see some Biff. about 8 players pushing and shoving and swearing at each other after the Bell it. Nothing comes of it but we get penalised as its ruled a shoulder charge but Bell and the Steelers player have blood everywhere as they both have gashes from a head clash. Bullshit call as it was a good hit. Dragons take the penalty goal and i knew from there we would win. Going from 4 point lead to a 6 point lead with 35 minutes still to go shows once again our Defence aint gonna be broken. 14-8 to Steelers. Couple of sets later we penalised and defending our line again but no points conceded as Someone (i think it was Satae) puts a mass hit on Havilli who loses the ball. Another sub sees Ofa Ogden off playing a solid 50 minutes straight. Albie Vete back on and makes an immediate impact with a strong hitup. WE put a backline move and Sam Cook goes over in the corner. Good try. No easy kick again for Lino but he nails it from out wide 14 all 23 to go.

We have another good set by going 80m but the ref says we are offside from the steelers first tackle. Again a good tackle dislodges possesion after 3 tackles and we have a whole set in their half. We pressure them but cant get a repeat set with Steelers ball 2m out from their line but Tavenga penalised for a ruck infringment. During the Steelers set our #2 Pauga intercepts the ball but they catch him 30m out our forwards bash it up then a quick play the ball sees Roache fire a bullet pass to Tavenga to burrow down throught the defenders to score a try then gets up and starts pushing everyone. Biffs on again lol. Everyone breaks it up and Lino converts 20-14 to us 15 minutes to go. Games starting to get a bit niggly. Not a good set after that as Lino kicks out on the full. Steelers march up field and put in a kick and our winger Sam Cook catches it on the full in goal for a 20m tap but the Steelers winger pushes Cook in to the metal fence, BIFFs on again. Matt Allwood runs in and grabs every Steeler he can get his hands on, Jazz runs 30m to get involved. Everyones angry and it takes a while to break up. Which is good for us as the clock isnt stopped. Ref gives the captains his fifth caution of the day and its playon. Should of been a penalty to us. 8 minutes to go and Vetes smashes a Steelers player who slipped in the tackle and gets cleaned out. Penalty to STeelers WTF!!!!! ref wrong again and the penalty count seems about 34-26 to Steelers. Games getting a bit nasty, heaps of niggle lots of penaltys and no flow to it. We are defending tightly again on our line with 5mins to go. CMON boys hold on. We stay strong from another Steeler raid and Charnze makes a great defensive read to be there for the last tackle to save a try. Goal line drop out 49 to the Steelers. Penalty to us from that set as the Steelers block runners obstructed our defence. Phew. We kick out and go up field on attack then Lino kicks a field goal, CHAAAAA HOOOOOO 21-14 1 minute to go, we got this. We hold on for an excellent gritty come from behind dont panic victory.

Few things that got my attention today

No noticable injuries and none put on report
Again no players had bad games, couple of errors hear and there but everyone knows and does there job.
I cant believe how hard and good our halves are hitting in defence. Ata and Lino today first up contact is strong. Sam Cook was the same last week and we all know how well Shaun Johnsons defence has improved as well.
Coach Ricky Henry seems a master with the interchange. From memory only 2 subs used by halftime then in the 2nd half kept everyone fresh. I was wondering pre game how having 3 hookers in the team would work. Roache mad an impact when he came on, then when Clarke came back on he made an impact with some stinging tackles. Tavenga was used as a ball playing back rower and was awesum when he came on. Every flair up that happened he was involved in, some people will say hes over stepping or he needs to calm down blah blah. BS!!! Hes making a statement saying that he or the team are not going to be intimidated. Hes got everyones back 100.
Due to all the defence we had to make we didnt have any magic standout plays like last week. Charnze was well contained, Ayshford and Allwood as well but they all got in their to do hit ups when needed. James Bell and Isaiah Papalii both played 80 and were very very busy, Sipley tackled all dae. But my Man of the Match was Captain Lino. As mentioned above, just his calm demeanor respected by all and led the team around.

At the end of the game as they were leaving all the players yelled out to my family and thanked us for coming out. Rubin, Isaiah and Channze came up and thanked us personally for driving down in the rain and making the effort to come and support. Awesum. Isaiah Papalii gave his headgear to my 7 year old Son who was so chuffed he wore it in the car all the way home. Had a chat to Rubin asked if was staying for the first grade game on sunday, he said nah got to go back and run these guys through their paces, still lots to work on. Wow. Not content thats awesum. Rubin Spoke a bit about first grade how they get bagged heaps but no one knows what goes on internally. Which is true, he said they are very close and working their asses off. Good to hear as i mentioned nearly all the players we just watched in reserve grade are ready to step up. He agreed. He wished us a safe drive home and again for the support of coming out to cheer the boys. As i walked to the car still cant wrap this team enough. They play good hard footy and play to their strengths. But most of all they are united as a team. You can see it in the way they play, the way they encourage and support each other. There next game is Sunday 2nd April back at Mt SMart in Auckland against Blacktown workers who are Manlys reserve grade team. I encourage everyone thats in Auckland and who reads this to get out if you can and support them. They play great free flowing footy.

As i hop in the car for the 45 minute drive home. Actually make that 60 minute drive home cos we will stop for a family burger box at Engidine KFC the rain starts again "suprise suprise" the Warriors football club have achieved the first leg of the double. Tomorrow night im off to Kogorah for the first grades first game in Sydney for the year. Its a good footy ground to watch from as well. And with Forans club debut its going to be a huge game and i believe we can get the 2nd leg of the double.

Fan In The Stand from Wollongong Out

 

[Cold Roses]

Good read as usual. Thanks mate. I think Illawarra were top of the table last year weren't they? So it's good to see that our reserves can grind out a win.

Sounds like the Mt Smart game could get televised on Foxtel because it's before 1st Grade. Won't be much use to me because I'm out of the country next week until the morning of the Anzac Day Storm game. I'll be looking out for the write up though if you decide to do a lounge room version.

Fan on the Couch maybe?

 

[Big Marn]

Thanks for the good read.
You mentioned how much Pat Sipley was doing on defence, but how has he been going on attack? Do you think he will get a run in first grade soon, and who would you swap him with?

 

[Rich102]

Great read R&S.
Totally agree about Lino. The guy has a great football head and totally unites the team. He and Ata make a great pair.I remember a game last year where his forward pack was out on their feet in the second half defending a slim lead. Scrum awarded to the opposition 20m out from our goal line. Forwards walking to the scrum and Mason goes down clutching his ankle. Medic comes on and ref trying to re-start the game but Mason is sitting where the scrum should form. Anyway 5 minutes later Mason stands up and hobbles back into place, then sprints up to make the first tackle.. The forwards have caught their breath and defend the line and see the game out. You can't coach that (and I hate it when the opposition do it to us)..
I was interested to read your comments about team spirit, all playing for each other. Despite what Reuben may say I think this is lacking in FG; they play more for themselves than each other.
Watched a bit of the Backtown Worker Sea Eagles vs Dogs game. Both lower ranked sides. Scrappy game.
Blacktown have Pita Godinet playing for them as well as Shaun Lane.
Hopefully it will be televised next week.

 

[Blair]

Thanks for another top read. Sounds like a pretty entertaining afternoon.

It sounded a bit odd that Wiki won't stick around for today's first grade game, although he's obviously seen hundreds of those games. He was number one trainer up there but may have been shunted down to reserves. I wonder how long the Warriors spokespeople have been saying, "We're not too far away"?

There's a game in a couple of weeks against Mounties at some godforsaken place called Aubrey Keech Reserve in Liverpool. Have you been there?

You definitely won't be the only Warriors fans at the Bears game at NSO in a few weeks. That's my old stomping ground, did event staffing during the dying days of the mighty first grade Bears.

After nearly two months of solid rain it's a beautiful day today in Sydney. Have an awesome one at Kogarah. I should've gone, but that first grade side just gave me the sh*ts last weekend. I have no faith in them making my evening a good one, and if the 'Keep The Faith' crowd have a problem with that then so be it.

I hope I regret not going. I hope I REALLY regret not going, actually.

 

[RHYTHM AND STEALTH]

Good read as usual. Thanks mate. I think Illawarra were top of the table last year weren't they? So it's good to see that our reserves can grind out a win.

Sounds like the Mt Smart game could get televised on Foxtel because it's before 1st Grade. Won't be much use to me because I'm out of the country next week until the morning of the Anzac Day Storm game. I'll be looking out for the write up though if you decide to do a lounge room version.

Fan on the Couch maybe?

Nah mate i do the reports when at the game, like watching everything that the cameras dont pick up, body language communication etc but i like the fan on the couch lol. Ill have to record it as im working anyway. Illawarra have a decent side and it was a good hard fought game. I think they came 2nd after the regular season. Mounties the raiders reserve grade team are the team to beat, Steelers had heaps of first grade experiance to, Kalifa fai fai loa, taane milne, mose masoe, havilli, leilua, jake marketo.
If u can make any of there games this year get to them. Great to watch

 

[RHYTHM AND STEALTH]

Thanks for the good read.
You mentioned how much Pat Sipley was doing on defence, but how has he been going on attack? Do you think he will get a run in first grade soon, and who would you swap him with?

2 different games from last week to this week
Last week we had heaps of ball and Sipley was super strong with his hit ups
This week we had no ball but Sipley was super strong in defence.
Hes a chance for the 4th prop position that Vete/Gubb/Sao share. IMO he deserves his chance as hes delivering in reserve grade but hes young and his time will tell. Be interesting when Matulino is back

 

[RHYTHM AND STEALTH]

Great read R&S.
Totally agree about Lino. The guy has a great football head and totally unites the team. He and Ata make a great pair.I remember a game last year where his forward pack was out on their feet in the second half defending a slim lead. Scrum awarded to the opposition 20m out from our goal line. Forwards walking to the scrum and Mason goes down clutching his ankle. Medic comes on and ref trying to re-start the game but Mason is sitting where the scrum should form. Anyway 5 minutes later Mason stands up and hobbles back into place, then sprints up to make the first tackle.. The forwards have caught their breath and defend the line and see the game out. You can't coach that (and I hate it when the opposition do it to us)..
I was interested to read your comments about team spirit, all playing for each other. Despite what Reuben may say I think this is lacking in FG; they play more for themselves than each other.
Watched a bit of the Backtown Worker Sea Eagles vs Dogs game. Both lower ranked sides. Scrappy game.
Blacktown have Pita Godinet playing for them as well as Shaun Lane.
Hopefully it will be televised next week.

Remember in 2015 when SJ went down Mason got 2 games late in the season and the weight of NZs league fraternity was on his shoulders. Hugely unfair. Matured heaps since then, know what to do at the right time. The more i think about it i reckon cos the forwards in front of him always hold there own and never lose the ruck

 

[RHYTHM AND STEALTH]

Thanks for another top read. Sounds like a pretty entertaining afternoon.

It sounded a bit odd that Wiki won't stick around for today's first grade game, although he's obviously seen hundreds of those games. He was number one trainer up there but may have been shunted down to reserves. I wonder how long the Warriors spokespeople have been saying, "We're not too far away"?

There's a game in a couple of weeks against Mounties at some godforsaken place called Aubrey Keech Reserve in Liverpool. Have you been there?

You definitely won't be the only Warriors fans at the Bears game at NSO in a few weeks. That's my old stomping ground, did event staffing during the dying days of the mighty first grade Bears.

After nearly two months of solid rain it's a beautiful day today in Sydney. Have an awesome one at Kogarah. I should've gone, but that first grade side just gave me the sh*ts last weekend.

I hope I regret not going. I hope I REALLY regret not going, actually.

Thanks mate
Yeah ive been there to Aubrey Keech reserve. Nice footy ground played in like a basin. Park ur car up on the hill and look down. But its way past liverpool bro its in Camden another 20 odd km past liverpool. Funny last time i went they rope off one side of the field and i was walking up and down with the play beside the touchie and in the 2nd half i was into him about mounties being off side, in his ear for about 2 sets and i was only abut 3 metres away and we got the penalty lol
But i wont be going as this game is on Easter Saturday and im working
Perhaps a substitute in the stand?????

 

[RHYTHM AND STEALTH]

Heres the official review from the Warriors site


Mason Lino snapped a 78th-minute field goal to seal a vital 21-14 away win over Illawarra today keeping the Vodafone Warriors on top of the Intrust Super Premiership ladder.

The Ricky Henry-coached side was behind for much of the contest but muscled up to stay in it and grind out a fourth straight victory.

The Steelers, with two wins and a loss in the opening three rounds, led 12-0 after 19 minutes with former Vodafone Warrior Siliva Havili one of their try scorers.

For the next 60 minutes, though, the Vodafone Warriors restricted Illawarra to just a penalty while scoring four tries and 21 points to secure success.

Unconverted tries by hooker Nathaniel Roache - making his return from injury - and wing Junior Pauga kept the visitors in contact at the halftime break.

The Vodafone Warriors showed plenty of defensive steel on their line to deny the Steelers early in the second half although the home side took a 14-8 lead with a Shaun Nona penalty.

They kept grinding, though, with Sam Cook - switched to the wing to make way for Ata Hingano to come into the halves - finished spectacularly out wide in the 54th minute. Lino converted brilliantly to have it all locked up 14-14.

Soon after Pauga intercepted near his line creating the opportunity for Jazz Tevaga to score the go-ahead try, again converted by Lino.

The halfback, typically dictating the tone of the game, calmly potted his field goal to wrap up the points with time running out.

As well as having Hingano returning from the NRL side, the Vodafone Warriors also had Albert Vete starting in the front row and Erin Clark at hooker.

Details | WIN Stadium, Wollongong

Illawarra Steelers 14 (Siliva Havili, Patrick Herbert tries; Shaun Nona 2 conversions, penalty)

Vodafone Warriors 21 (Nathaniel Roache, Junior Pauga, Sam Cook, Jazz Tevaga tries; Mason Lino 2 conversions, field goal).

Halftime: 12-8 Steelers.

Vodafone Warriors | Chanze Nicoll-Klokstad; Junior Pauga, Blake Ayshford, Matt Allwood, Sam Cook; Mafoa'aeata Hingano, Mason Lino (c); Albert Vete, Erin Clark, Patrick Sipley; Ofa Ogden, Isaiah Papali’i; James Bell. Interchange: Jazz Tevaga, Nathaniel Roache, Chris Satae, Daniel Palavi.

 

[RHYTHM AND STEALTH]

Lame as

 

[Rich102]

Prefer your report R&S.

 

[Blair]

Thanks mate
Yeah ive been there to Aubrey Keech reserve. Nice footy ground played in like a basin. Park ur car up on the hill and look down. But its way past liverpool bro its in Camden another 20 odd km past liverpool. Funny last time i went they rope off one side of the field and i was walking up and down with the play beside the touchie and in the 2nd half i was into him about mounties being off side, in his ear for about 2 sets and i was only abut 3 metres away and we got the penalty lol
But i wont be going as this game is on Easter Saturday and im working
Perhaps a substitute in the stand?????

I'd love to go but won't, due to all the city driving, which I don't do anymore.

I train to all Warriors fixtures, but that means I can still go to the reserves games v 'Manly' at Blacktown, Penrith, NSB, and Newtown. Only one of those games do I have to put up with our first grade as well! Oh, and many of those first grade fans, who seem a different bunch than the ones who graft it out at the unglamorous 'reggies'.