Warriors Turnaround

[Broomball#1]

Hey Warriors fans,

Just wanted to commemorate the turnaround in the Warriors performance. First it was 6 losses in a row, then WWW L WWW, 6 wins in 7 weeks.

I am a not a warriors fan. but the team is great to watch.

Other than the Cowboys match (bad refereeing i know), the warriors have been the best team in the comp the past 7 weeks. It quite possibly could have been 7 in row.

If anyone can knock the storm over, its the warriors.

 

[Dr Crane]

Where are the Fire Clearly / Fire Scurrah brigade?

 

[Rich102]

Form is a fickle thing. Can anybody explain why this team, who were playing so badly mid-season, has suddenly turned into real contenders?
I can't! But I am very pleased and will continue to support them.
Go the Warriors!

 

[Micistm]

Yeah, to be fair the form mid year wasn't the best...but it wasn't as doom and gloom as many seemed to be saying (The Sack Cleary & half the team brigade). The losses weren't massive ones, and it wouldn't take much for confidence to come back, just a couple of good performances. Some of the crap thrown at them was partly justified, but most was very unfair IMO.
And if you could work out what causes form and click on and off, and how to get it back when the mind is in doubt...You'd make a fortune as a coach in any sport!

 

[Manu Vatuvei]

90% of the reason for our "turnaround" is the opposition.

There has been a subtle (say, 10%) adjustment in performance, but mostly we've just finished playing all the good teams and started playing the crap ones.

There are really only two really "good" teams in the comp, so I reckon we're capable of coming just about anywhere this year, but I don't rate us to get past Melbourne or Manly.

 

[Mixmasterreece]

There are really only two really "good" teams in the comp,

Feel free to define "good teams"

 

[Iafeta]

Where are the Fire Clearly / Fire Scurrah brigade?

Exactly, especially the fire Scurrah brigade, what a deplorable bunch of misfits who had few to no ideas as to how to gain long term rugby league club success but thought they had all the answers as opposed to Scurrah.

 

[Lego_Man]

The Sharks werent a good team. Neither was the storm PL side that we lost 4-2 to...

 

[Mixmasterreece]

The Sharks werent a good team. Neither was the storm PL side that we lost 4-2 to...

thats descriptive, thank you.

 

[Micistm]

No doubting Storm & Sea Eagles are the teams to beat this year, but I still believe any team can beat another on the day. Roosters proved that Friday night, the Eels took the Eagles damn close yesterday (good game).
Warriors are more confident now, and I would rate them to give any team a run for their money in the form they're in. I wouldn't say they'd win, but they have a decent shot. Against Manly, at home, earlier in the year most expected the Warriors to get thrashed. They did pretty well IMO. To beat them they would have to do better though...but it's all about the confidence.
I believe credit should be given when it's due. To knock them because the 'opposition wasn't crash hot' takes away the efforts and hard work the team has done over the past few weeks, and a very 'Telfer' attitude. They've done well to get in the position they have from the slump they were in- And I bet if they went further than most expected they'd still be those knockers saying it was only due to the opposition not playing well or injuries etc. At some stage credit needs to be given. Maybe not that gushy 'They're gonna take the title' crap TVNZ has suddenly leapt out of nowhere with...but at least a nod for a good performance, tkane on a week by week basis.

 

[SpaceMonkey]

I think Cleary deserves a lot of credit for sticking to a game plan and having faith in his personell. During the slump there were a lot of games in which we weren't genrally playing that badly, it was mostly a case of our attack just not quite clicking, or our discipline letting us down. Both issues were things that could be worked on and were, and now we're seeing the results.
Our for and against isn't so good just because we're hammering teams now, it's also because even during the 6 game slump were were defending well and putting in the effort.

 

[ozbash]

think Cleary deserves a lot of credit for sticking to a game plan and having faith in his personell.

deja vu from last year, ivan has done it his way.

 

[AuckMel]

They've released the shackles a bit and it's paying off.

 

[umosay]

Rovelli and Gatis playing well has made a huge difference i think.

 

[ozbash]

yea, gotta agree with you re ravs, umosay.
He is starting to show a bit of last years form and its moved the whole side up a gear.

 

[JoeD]

No injuries

 

[Skinner]

No injuries

I think you're on to it Joe. At the start of, and during, the form slump, there were injuries,
suspensions and Rep duty (Price). All that has gone away, and look where they are.

Any one of those things can cause a team to lose form....with all three, it must be difficult
to keep on track.

 

[Manu Vatuvei]

Feel free to define "good teams"

Manly
Melbourne

(Broncos with Lockyer, possibly full strength Bulldogs as well)

At the start of the season I thought we would come 6th-8th, I'm revising that now because we are playing better than expected and I believe we can achieve anything EXCEPT win the comp- Manly, Melbourne, or the Dogs will win the comp.

We are still a class behind, due simply to our roster of players, but given said roster, we are playing very well at the moment- but it's only a subtle difference from when we were narrowly losing.

 

[Manu Vatuvei]

oh...and a fully fit Tigers side....

 

[Skram]

I put it down to four key things: injuries, the halves pairing, gameplan/combinations and form.
The start of the season (first 6 games) these all seemed to be going well aside from the players still recovering from injury. Then we hit the 6 game losing streak, during that
period all four of those reasons mentioned were prominent:

Injuries: The lineup changed multiple times over the 6 games, Anderson and Ropati returning at the beginning. Hohaia, Wiki and Martin attaining/recovering from injuries as well. The healthy squad also puts heat on players to perform.

Halves Pairing: While it seemed logical to drop Ravs after his form was slumping, Ropati played #6 for 4/6 games, I don't think this was coincidental to the losses.

Gameplan/Combinations: This is the biggest of all the changes I believe, with having a fully fit squad Cleary has been able to throw away some of the combinations he tried during the losing and has found a halves combo (from Ropo and Witt to Witt and Ravs), a hooker rotation (Gatis to Fien, during the slump Gatis only played 3/6 with Ropo and Hohaia filling in the other 3), a center combo (Mannering and Ropo after Hohaia, Byrne and Martin all spent time there during the slump) and settling on a second row by discarding Lawrie and Anderson and pushing Mannering into center where he belongs for now. Also Cleary has seemingly given the all clear to throw offloads, something sorely lacking before.

Form: Lauaki seemed to making the team on promise more than anything during the slump, Wiki was making the team on name only, Mannering was playing below his best, Rovelli wasn't taking the line on and as a result was effectively replaced by Ropo, Vatuvei had the worst game ever and took a few games to recover and (most importantly McKinnon had the suspension to begin the losing, once he returned he was a shadow of who he is now and was at the start of the season.

Credit to Cleary for not throwing everything away or trying something radical, the continuity has helped too I believe.