Diary Of An Aotearoa Warriors Fan: Same Ol' Melbourne Storm? Nah.
Same old Melbourne, same old Aotearoa Warriors.
Right?
Sure it was the same Warriors; same Warriors from after Roger Tuivasa-Sheck's season-ending knee injury last season.
There's no detail that I've harped on about more than the importance of Tuivasa-Sheck to the Warriors and when the talisman left the field with concussion, any hope of the Warriors beating Melbourne went down the drain. No big metres from Tuivasa-Sheck in returning kicks and taking tough carries in the midfield, too few attacking options to trouble an always-on-point Storm defence.
Last season people somehow clung on to the same expectations of a Warriors side without Tuivasa-Sheck as a Warriors side with Tuivasa-Sheck. In losing to the Storm, the over-reaction suggests that the importance of Tuivasa-Sheck hasn't quite had the time to sink in with many, nor has the thought of the Warriors team that finished against the Storm not quite looking like a full-strength Warriors team.
Don't get me wrong as there are far more negatives from this Storm game than positives, it's just that issues like our forward pack simply not doing enough to get the team into good field position were highlighted last week and have been highlighted for a long time.
Other issues such as Shaun Johnson's kicking game - which was in vast contrast to that of Cooper Cronk's, or Tuimoala Lolohea's struggles as a winger who gets out-jumped/fullback who was blatantly out-classed, or Ata Hingano's string of errors that allowed the Storm to march down field; these feel more down to circumstance and when you are off your game like that against Melbourne, the only result is that you pay the price.
There was a moment in the second half before Hingano let fatigue scramble his brain, when he had the footy and I thought he would be required to step up and make a big play; a repeat set or a sparking a try. I didn't expect him to because the kid is still learning about the NRL and all but I was just interesting to see how he responded as the team needed him and Johnson needed someone else to take some responsibility as he wasn't quite in vintage touch.
Hingano, understandably struggled to make that jump up from playing his role in a Warriors spine with Johnson and Tuivasa-Sheck last week to seizing his opportunity against quality opposition without Tuivasa-Sheck. No dramas, it just shows where the Warriors are at right now as they are in these contests but have a lot of growth left in them; Hingano has already proven himself to be an eager defender and much like we've seen positive signs in the Warriors, that's a fabulous sign for young Hingano.
The rain didn't lend itself kindly to my razzle dazzle predictions, however this highlighted a low key concern for me - along with the lack of metres - as the Storm had 10 offloads to the Warriors 5 with a 50-50 split in possession. Doubling the Warriors' offload count came with the Storm making 11 errors to the Warriors' 6 errors and while Craig Bellamy won't be happy with that, the offloads/errors show that Melbourne were keen to push the footy around and create chances.
No Warrior had more than a single offload and if you are not forcing opposition defences to make repeat efforts and shift the defence around through offloads, you will struggle in the NRL. Cameron Munster and Will Chambers both had 3 offloads, Cronk had 2. Melbourne backed their skill in the rain and it kinda worked but kinda didn't at the same time, the Warriors just aren't good enough right now to play it safe.
Then again, if the Warriors offloaded 10 times and made 11 errors (as Melbourne did) y'all would rip on the Warriors for not playing to the conditions, or playing like typical Warriors.
That's a bit silly.
The major concern right now is this forward pack that isn't really doing anything and all was amplified by the loss of Tuivasa-Sheck - who is good enough to cover the holes of an entire forward pack. All of the Warriors middle quartet of Albert Vete, Charlie Gubb, Jacob Lillyman and Sam Lisone averaged under 8m/per-carry, even another all-round impressive effort from Simon Mannering only saw him average 7m/per-carry; we don't judge Mannering on big metres though.
The major difference between the two teams were Melbourne's outside backs who put all the Warriors (outside backs and forwards) to metre-eating shame. Jordan McLean still averaged 9.5m/per-carry though and the Nelson Asofa-Solomona/Vincent Leuluai combo averaged 8.27m/per-carry. The Warriors don't have a middle forward who resembles McLean, let alone Jesse Bromwich who wasn't playing and that's a major problem.
Think about how many bombs Johnson put up, in the exact same spot that we saw Johnson put up bomb after bomb last season; 40m out, too deep to contest and instead of creative kicks 15m out from the try-line (as the Storm did), these bombs hand the footy over. That's because the blokes who have the job of marching the team into good territory, don't do that.
We also saw how ineffective the Warriors are in slowing down the ruck, getting quick play-the-balls. People love to whinge about this as they've seen the Storm do in to perfection in their back-yard, but that's the game and the Storm are the best at it while our Warriors are further down the rankings.
Watch this play on repeat as you ponder the thoughts above. Erin Clark came on late in the game to make his debut and was severely out-classed by the Storm's play-making trio as he over-chased Cam Smith out of marker; Melbourne know exactly what they are about and how they go about their business while our Warriors are still figuring everything out.
There's a long way to go folks.