Diary Of A Warriors Fan: Throw Caution To The Mt Smart Breeze
Albert Vete/The Vet
It doesn't get much better than Sunday afternoon at Mt Smart, there's nothing in kiwi rugby league that's better than Warriors x Mt Smart x Sunday arvo. In a slow start to the season that has everyone's knickers in a twist, the Warriors have struggled to find any cohesion, settle on any specific style of play and show any improvements in their defence.
People have asked me what my over-arching concern is regarding the Warriors and my answer has consistently been that the Warriors don't have a signature style, an identity and/or appear to have the wrong game plan. This was evident against the Broncos, as the Warriors did extremely well to stay in touch with the Broncos despite a lame attack and key injuries. The Warriors tried to play safe footy, completing sets, kicking long and not really firing any shots.
Why the Warriors continue to play safe footy, or try to emulate teams like the Broncos is beyond me. Break the shackles I say, throw the footy around and have some fun.
That's how the Warriors have become Melbourne Storm's bogey team. There's been a myth that the Warriors do like to play with a splash of razzle dazzle, a myth that led to those 'coconut ball' comments. Very much a myth as I can't remember the last time I saw this from the Warriors and if the Warriors are to pose a threat to Melbourne's stingey defence, they'll need to be unpredictable and creative in attack.
One time for CoocSina Coconut Oil. Made from Samoan coconuts, supporting local Samoan farmers and pretty damn good for you!
There's a few staples that must happen if the Warriors are to win, staples that give the Warriors a point of difference in the NRL. Issac Luke and Shaun Johnson must run the footy and the Warriors need to offload, both of these enable the Warriors to play quickly and attack against a scrambling defensive line; imagine trying to tackle Roger Tuivasa-Sheck when you're on your heels.
The Warriors don't have a single player in the top-20 offloaders. That means that no Warriors player has more than 3 offloads in two games, the Storm have Jesse Bromwich and Will Chambers on 4 and 3 offloads.
Luke and Johnson haven't been running and the Warriors have ignore the offload, no coincidence that the Warriors are 0-2.
This - along with the general vibe that this feels like a game that the Warriors usually win - has me confident that the Warriors will beat the Storm on Sunday though. It's a concern that the Warriors have failed in key aspects of their games, or even ignored these aspects but it would be incredibly dumb not to expect Luke for example to run the footy at some stage, that's what he's built an NRL career on so it will happen.
All the huff and puff about Ben Matulino's charge was a bit silly, I was looking forward to Matulino not playing which would open the door for more game time for Albert Vete or Charlie Gubb. I don't doubt that Matulino is our best prop, however he hasn't been at his best, hence why the Warriors are 0-2 and the lack of Matulino on the offloader rankings isn't good, not when he and Simon Mannering were near the top of the rankings last year.
Silly local media who got in a huff and a puff about Matulino must have been watching different games to me as I thought it was clearly obvious that our best middle forwards in the first two rounds were Sam Lisone and James Gavet. Two lads who offer mongrel, intensity and effort, so it's a bummer that Lisone is out injured this week.
Luke's inability to play 80 minutes will probably mean that this doesn't happen, however with Thomas Leuluai out injured I want to see a bench that has Lisone, Gubb, Vete and Gavet. Talk about impact, that's a signature element that the Warriors can hang their hats on and ruffle a few feathers.
This will be our first look at Vete and Gubb this year, two middle forwards who should add a lot to the Warriors. Vete is extremely similar to Lisone (ponder the 1-2 combo these two could offer) in that he simply runs extremely hard while Gubb is all effort, effort which Warriors fans want to see but rarely see. Expect to see Vete steaming off the back fence and Gubb making tackles around the ankles.
Hopefully, touch wood, we get to see Bodene Thompson and Ryan Hoffman play 80 minutes without having to cover an injury. Thompson has shown what a dynamic ball-runner he is so I want to see more of this and if Thompson/Hoffman are defending on the edge with either Johnson or Jeff Robson, they should be a bit better defensively on the edge. Injuries bring in new combinations and you've got to know what your homie beside you is up to when teams like Brisbane and Melbourne are throwing complex plays and lots of bodies your way.
Who knows whether Manu Vatuvei and Blake Ayshford will play. Manu has been one of our better players in the two losses so I'd love to see him out there on the Mt Smart turf. As for Ayshford, we've been given a very small sample size so I don't mind seeing more of him because I've pretty much settled on Konrad Hurrell being on the outer thanks to a possible move to Gold Coast.
If Hurrell is going to the Titans, don't believe anything out of the Warriors as it's pretty clear that he isn't getting picked because he's out the door.
Alternatively, Ayshford could be absent, Hurrell could play and play extremely well. That would be ideal, that and Hurrell not going to the Titans.
Regardless of what the Storm dish up, this simply feels like one of those games that the Warriors tend to win. I've got a sneaky feeling that Luke will run the footy, that Jeff Robson will put in a solid 'do-your-job' shift allowing SJ6 to sprinkle his razzle dazzle, that the forwards will ooze aggression and play with a sense of funk, squeezing offloads out for the arsenal of weapons in the backline to enjoy.
Last week I watched the Tigers put on a show in front of their fans at Leichardt Oval. This is what I want from the Warriors, put on a show and have some fun (instead of looking so uptight) for the Mt Smart lovers.