What's wrong with the Warriors this year?

[Peach & Apricot]

I thought they would win the premiership this year after their strong performance last year.

What's wrong with them? Is losing Luke Metcalf for the season a killer blow?

 

[coolumsharkie]

We kick started their great season off last year, letting them run down a 20 point lead and win. They showed a real resilience in defence last year which seems to have disappeared. Coincidentally we ran down a 12 pt deficit in rnd 1, so maybe they need to beat a few teams early in order to maintain their run.

Seriously, it's got to be an attitude thing, it's virtually the same side as last year.

 

[Rod]

Just my opinion but, I think last year might have been the outlier and raised expectations a bit too high. The squad is possibly a bit overrated on paper and the Capewell signing has been a bit of a bust so far. The back row and outside backs have also regressed this year.

Injuries have played a part of course, although obviously they aren't the only team dealing with injuries. Johnson is expected to do too much and he's been playing injured too. Teams are reading their set plays too easily, you'd think with the likes of Johnson and Tuivasa-Sheck in the side there would be more off the cuff stuff but it hasn't eventuated.

 

[Vee]

Just my opinion but, I think last year might have been the outlier and raised expectations a bit too high. The squad is possibly a bit overrated on paper and the Capewell signing has been a bit of a bust so far. The back row and outside backs have also regressed this year.

Injuries have played a part of course, although obviously they aren't the only team dealing with injuries. Johnson is expected to do too much and he's been playing injured too. Teams are reading their set plays too easily, you'd think with the likes of Johnson and Tuivasa-Sheck in the side there would be more off the cuff stuff but it hasn't eventuated.

Like the Cowboys, tell me when they put two good years back-to-back.

 

[Wizardman]

To put my two cents in, I think the pack are going fine. Last week was a bit out of the box as the Easts pack is pretty bloody strong while the Warriors pack has done a lot of tackling lately. Despite the Warriors issues, their pack does seem to still get up the field well and give the backs opportunities.
Their real issue is with the halves. Johnson is just not in the same form as last year and I'd attribute that most likely to injury. Metcalf took a lot of pressure off SJ last year and started this season even better than last year. To lose him this early is a bigger blow than most would have anticipated. Guys like CHT and Martin have been nowhere near hitting the mark this year...leaving an injured Johnson with all the pressure. Their red zone attack has been very poor this year.
The poor form of the halves have left their backs with a lot less room this year. RTS solid but not groundbreaking, Berry regressing and Montoya/DWA with shithouse room most of the time. This comment may seem dumb, but this season has been a missed opportunity to develop Pompey as he certainly had his good moments in attack and certainly look more explosive than RTS/Berry has this year.

 

[Manu Vatuvei]

Just my opinion but, I think last year might have been the outlier and raised expectations a bit too high.

Basically this.

What is interesting is that based on stats, we should be top of the league. We are (or were) leading the competition in metres gained and most of the key metrics suggest we are dominating games.

The issue, and it's not so different from last year, is that we play a hyper-structured style with only a modestly talented side. We have a very solid core in the middle forwards and spine, but no strike on the edges at all.

Last year we were able to get by with a very simplified attacking game based around good middles and literally one or two set plays, always to the right edge, which we ran ad nauseum. This year opposition teams have largely cottoned on to our repetitive attack and so, despite dominating territory and possession, we can't score tries. It's about as simple as that, and there's no easy fix because we have no threatening backs or edge forwards to add to the mix (although we could really do with Niukore back from injury).

 

[Woody90]

Just my opinion but I get the feeling that after their season last year they sort of just assumed that things would just happen for them, especially in attack, without putting the work in to earn it. They keep throwing that same set play out to the right over and over expecting it to come off like last year without building any pressure on the opposition first and sides are easily reading it.

I think the Broncos and Knights (also good attacking teams last year) have also been guilty of doing something similar early in the year, but the Broncos squad have more dynamic individual players to be able to get away with it and Knights realised their error pretty quickly after round 1 and have been trying to adjust their style. Not sure the Wah’s have worked it out yet though and seem to just be waiting for things to click again like last year.

Their side is the same as last year and while they have some injuries, it’s not in the same ballpark as some teams. So I think it’s tactical/effort based. They need to just go back to playing a simple game using their middle forwards and running over the top of teams. Teams are onto their set plays now and they don’t utilise their strength which are their middle forwards.

 

[Wheeled Warrior]

We kick started their great season off last year, letting them run down a 20 point lead and win. They showed a real resilience in defence last year which seems to have disappeared. Coincidentally we ran down a 12 pt deficit in rnd 1, so maybe they need to beat a few teams early in order to maintain their run.

Seriously, it's got to be an attitude thing, it's virtually the same side as last year.

Injuries. People need to check the casualty ward out before they post. What team do you know that could win games with 8 of your 17 first picks are not available? If we had our cattle on the park we'd be higher on that table. We just lost to Sharks and Storm. We are off but its explainable. We will rise above this once we get em back. Some are due back soon so don't write us off just yet.

 

[Wheeled Warrior]

Like the Cowboys, tell me when they put two good years back-to-back.

2001-2003 2006-2008

Educate yourself a bit more.

 

[Wheeled Warrior]

I thought they would win the premiership this year after their strong performance last year.

What's wrong with them? Is losing Luke Metcalf for the season a killer blow?

We have a high injury toll with our first choice picks. Its that simple.

 

[coolumsharkie]

Injuries. People need to check the casualty ward out before they post. What team do you know that could win games with 8 of your 17 first picks are not available? If we had our cattle on the park we'd be higher on that table. We just lost to Sharks and Storm. We are off but its explainable. We will rise above this once we get em back. Some are due back soon so don't write us off just yet.

Yeah true. Didn't realise you had that many injuries tbh. Go the Wahs!

 

[Canard]

2001-2003 2006-2008

Educate yourself a bit more.

Haha you got told @Vee

The Warriors had 2 good seasons in a row twenty years ago!!!.........................

 

[Penrith fan]

The Warriors franchise are holding back development of our great game in New Zealand

They have become an embarrassment to the kiwi people

At a time our game could have taken over from Rugby Union as re Number 1 sport there.

Its such a shame.

 

[Woody90]

We have a high injury toll with our first choice picks. Its that simple.

I think the "injury toll" is overstated and hiding the bigger issue there.

This is the side named to play the Broncos in the prelim last year

• Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad
• Dallin Watene-Zelezniak
  Rocco Berry
• Adam Pompey
• Marcelo Montoya
• Te Maire Martin
• Shaun Johnson
• Addin Fonua-Blake
• Wayde Egan
• Mitchell Barnett
• Jackson Ford
• Marata Niukore
• Tohu Harris
• Dylan Walker
  Jazz Tevaga
• Bayley Sironen
• Josh Curran

Vs the team named on the weekend:

Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad
Dallin Watene-Zelezniak
Rocco Berry
Roger Tuivasa-Sheck
Marcelo Montoya
Te Maire Martin
Shaun Johnson
Addin Fonua-Blake
Wayde Egan
Bunty Afoa
Jackson Ford
Mitchell Barnett
Tohu Harris
Dylan Walker
Tom Ale
Jazz Tevaga
Adam Pompey


There's not much different there at all? Not saying they haven't been effected but you'd want to hope the club aren't putting it all down to injuries because it would be hiding other issues.

 

[Valheru]

I predicted this in the ladder thread and was ridiculed.

In regards to last year's comp there were only two serious teams (the two grand finalists) so it was wide open for a bolter in the top 4 and full credit to the warriors they went on a run and got there on the back of stoic defence.

This year I think there are 5 serious teams and one of them is not the warriors. The warriors are also one of those clubs that just never seem to back up from a decent season.

 

[Penrith fan]

They are a bunch of over paid, over pompous underachieving softies who are taking up the space until the glorious All Bleaks take centre stage in the New Zealand sporting Psyche

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct...usg=AOvVaw2Y9_u_Qo1Opm14cjzHsc6X&opi=89978449​

.

 

[Nutz]

Letting go of Josh Curran was a mistake imo. He and Ford are machines.
I honestly thought that the return of Roger Tuivasa-Sheck would see them giving the title a real good shake but they have been disappointing.
I got rid of AFB from my Fantasy Coach side because he's hot and cold. His pending departure might have something to do with this.
The warriors have always been a red hot or very cold side and last year I thought they had dished that tag.
They had something like 140+ points differential in the run home.
This year they've already hit the negative.

 

[yobbo84]

They were going fine until they played us. We infected them with our awfulness.

 

[Bazal]

Injuries haven't helped but to a certain extent I'm not sure there is anything wrong with the Warriors this year specifically? I think this is just the Warriors. The up and down has always been there and I think it's more a club issue than an individual season issue, like my own shit club.

Plus I think that rebuilding looks a bit like this anyway. There will be ups and downs while they try and turn deeper issues around, that's just kind of the way it goes. But I think long term they're still on a good path and reading too much into immediate form is a bit of a trap. I don't even think they're playing that badly, they just need a bit more spark from the back 5 and the halves which is where injuries also come in

 

[Manu Vatuvei]

They were going fine until they played us. We infected them with our awfulness.

Either that or

- We were going fine until we signed JFH, his signing somehow destroyed the club
- We were going fine until Shaun took a dive for that penalty against Manly, it's been karma since then