3 2 1 v Slippery Eels

[Philip_Smith007]

3 - Berrigan, didnt have any Super League rust, good dummy half runs.
2 - Rapira, just soild, good meters, no errors, nothing stupid.
1 - Brown, back into the slog, wants to be there and wants the ball more than other seem too.

Nice Crowd, pitty they didnt get up for them!
Handling seemed a big issue. Luck was in the team but not on our side.
Maloney will be getting a 4-6 week rest for something that was plan STUPID. At least look at the ball.
Birds first try seemed iffy, with Ropo bumped off a guy not jumping for the ball (but at least looking at it).
Manu cant take a break, get the boy on calcium, glucosamine, the works, We need him back.
Dont know what Lance was doing letting the ball bounce at the back, Fishi hands let him down at important times.

First game of the season, so plenty to improve on.

 

[Martli]

3 - Sam Rapira: Most devastating hit ups of all the forwards I felt. Hopefully this season he'll get to have the season injury robbed from him last year
2 - Jerome Ropati: Had big boots to fill covering for Manu and filled them well scoring some crucial tries
1 - Lewis Brown: looked likely to make something out of nothing a lot of the game

I also thought Seymour had a decent game (given what little possession we had) made some crucial tackles at times. Mateo was OK but nothing special, a few errors from trying to create stuff. Berrigan is also worth a mention.

You've got to hold on to the ball to win it. We had f**k all possession and it wasn't helped by the fact that we dropped the ball every time we got it. We needed to force more repeat sets of six but failed to do so. The Eels on the other hand played like they had super-glue on their hands; fantastic completion rate which I think was the key to their victory. I was pleased to see us come back the way we did after being down 18 points, Maloney showed how crucial goal-kicking is (u20s take note).

Lance Hohaia has some problems under the high ball which is worrying. I'm also concerned that our attack STILL seems to be based around the "bomb to Manu" option. Fish had a fairly hot and cold debut, credit to him though: he bounced back after he dropped those balls. I also don't think Mannering is captain material: he's too quiet, never seems to be revving the team up or anything, just standing behind the try-line silent...

 

[Fast Eddie]

Piss poor. Lance is overated as hell and I have been going on about him being the worst defensive fullback in the league for quite some time now but tbf I'm not sure we can chuck The Fish in at fullback or not so I will have to continue to put up with it I spose. PS there is no way Maloney will get 4-6 weeks for that.....well I hope not anyway.

 

[Dr Crane]

how good was our kicking game? down by 18 and softly punt it to hayne on the full. repeatedly.

 

[Auckland4ever]

Think Mara's dummy half running would have been just the tonic for the situation we found ourselves in for much of that game, which was being pretty well contained up the middle.

 

[Fast Eddie]

How good was our last set? Try needed to win, 30 seconds on the clock.....lets take 4 hitups.

And on the hookers Berrigan really outplayed Heramaia.

 

[armchaircritic]

3- Berrigan
2- Ropati
1- Packer (would have been higher until the knock on)

We never looked in the game, to get within 6 points was a good effort. TBH the eels should have killed us off earlier. Manu was a massive loss & we never recovered.
I have never rated Hohia as a fb, i really think its time for the Fish or Locke to be thrown 3 or 4 games at the back. However the only realistic change will be Inu in for Manu.

 

[Constraint]

3 - Ropati
2 - Berrigan
1 - Rapira

 

[Fast Eddie]

Also I don't know about everyone else but Cleary should be playing in what my opinion is our two best props Rapira and Ben more the 30 odd minutes....I can see myself getting really pissed off with Clearly again this season.

 

[KeepingTheFaith]

Starting with Rapira and Mateo on the bench was a massive blunder. An Eels untested team and Cleary gives them 20 minutes to settle the nerves by playing the most conservative/defensive team he has to start with. Absolutely ridiculous.

Pumped to have the league back, but from a Warriors POV this is the least excited I've been leading into a season. I give the Black Caps more chance of winning the WC than I do of us having a shot at the premiership, and I've been saying this all off season so it's not some knee jerk reaction to a poor performance.

 

[Rich102]

3. S Kearney.
-1. I Cleary.

Again...the Warriors go out and start like pussies. It takes 60 minutes for them to fire up. It's not like Paramatta did anything brilliant, they just played good aggressive football; and we had no answers.
Their forwards completely dominated ours.
Kearney has done a great job. Targeted our weaknesses brilliantly.
Makes you wonder if Manu should have had the surgery?

3. L Brown. Tried hard, and kept trying.
2. S. Berrigan. Should have started.
1. Luck. Awesome job.

Seymour's field kicking was very poor - usually straight to Hayne.
Nice tries to Ropati - but the rest of his play was poor.

How come Inu didn't play for the Vulcans? Is that beneath him?

 

[JoeD]

Kicking game was by far teh worst aspect for me. I cant recall one good attacking kick that put Hayne under pressure.

 

[northmanlywarrior]

I thought Heramaia looked much sharper than Berrigan, Berrigan was solid enough but cant believe people are giving him man of the match. Heramia was the one scooting out of dummy half and getting the eels going backwards and getting the warriors on a roll forward. Id have Mara ahead of Berrigan as well, get Ukuma on the field to.
3 Heramaia
2 Ropati
1 Brown

 

[Warmess]

3. Berrigan
2. Brown
1. Rapira

I don't even really know what to say about that game. Looked like the same old Warriors. Hohaia is still sh*t and Maloney is an idiot. We've got no attacking structure, but don't worry about that, because we'll just give away penalties and drop the ball anyway.

I know it was the first hit out, but jesus, that looked exactly like every other bad game we had last year.

 

[Izz]

Why Mateo and Rapira didn't start is beyond me.

I felt bad for the Fish, but he should've been much better under the high ball than that.

Couple of terrible refereeing calls, but it wasn't like we deserved to win the game.

Will have to think some more about a 3,2,1.

 

[One Warrior]

Massive blunder by Cleary not to start Rapira and Mateo, totally took the edge of our forward pack, you do not start your no. 1 prop and your new marquee signing backrower from the bench. This started us off on the back foot, then Hohaia drops the first bomb, facepalm stuff.
We were jinxed playing at Eden Park, mostly a horrible performance, dumb play by Maloney, terrible at the back from Hohaia, he hopefully won't play that bad again. I believe Fishiiahi will bounce back ala Manu, he was already looking better in the backend of the game. Heremaia was mud, back to the Vulcans for him, Mara to the bench, Berrigan to start. Steve Lyons was abysmal, some of the calls were shocking and that so called tackle on Manu should be looked at, same guy that Manu ran over the top of in Rotorua.

3. Berrigan
2. Ropati
1. Luck

 

[Philip_Smith007]

. PS there is no way Maloney will get 4-6 weeks for that.....well I hope not anyway.

On watching the reply the only thing he has got going for him is that it wasnt high.
The things he has going against him, Hayne was in the air, he only had eyes for Hayne, Hayne stayed/layed down, he had one angery look on his face! and he plays for the Warriors!

 

[hitman82]

^ Agreed.
As soon as I saw Rapira and Mateo on the bench I WTF'd.

Rapira, our most aggressive and dominant prop, who also happens to be the leader of our pack, starting from the bench - against an unknown quantity in the Kearney-coached Eels. STUPID.

Mateo, our marquee signing and potentially most dangerous attacker, starting from the bench. STUPID.

As soon as Manu got injured I knew we were going to lose - what's our winning percentage without him? Something fairly pitiful from memory. Next few weeks could be painful TBH.

Ropati was good, but Brown imho showed why he should never be anything more than a stop-gap at centre.

We started horribly, seemed to panic when we got the ball, and deserved to lose. I'm really pissed off with that performance. sh*t handling, sh*t kicking, sh*t discipline, sh*t aggression.

I also hate how in games like that we manage to claw back to within striking distance only to just fall short.

Sure, we COULD have won it, but in reality it felt like we lost by about 20 points.

The refereeing was rubbish but not as bad as us.

Fish will be sweet. His first game in a star-struck team which didn't show up to play, he was never going to shine.

Anyway:

3.Ropati
2.Luck
1.Packer

HOHAIA SORT YOUR LIFE OUT DUDE. Kiwi's fullback, our most experienced Warrior, you're a leader and need to play as such.

Mannering was average too.

 

[Micistm]

Ropati, Brown,Rapira.

Disappointing start, and always seems to happen with a big home crowd pumped. First round rust I guess, poor excuse but seemed to fire a bit later. But disapointing and hard to watch early on.

 

[Fast Eddie]

I don't see how Brown can get points, too many errors and was the reason behind their first try when he didn't come off the line at all.