Diary Of An Aotearoa Warriors Fan: Snatching Souls At Mt Smart
Late shot central and we love it.
Getting a win over in Perth against the Rabbitohs was super important for a variety of obvious reasons, most of which stem from that being the first game of the season. The result, the performance and vibes we got from the Warriors has set the tone for the season, but perhaps more important than all of that peripheral stuff, snatching 2 points early was huge.
The NRL is excessively competitive right now and while the sorting sands will suss the better teams from the weaker teams out over time, picking results is going to be near impossible.
From that, I'd suggest that we all take a chill pill and don't over-react when the Warriors lose as they are going to lose games without much rhyme or reason; it's how the NRL is.
When trends become evident, when losing becomes a trend, then we have an issue.
I say that because the Warriors face Gold Coast Titans at Mt Smart tomorrow and as I think the Rabbitohs or Titans will end up being lower-tier teams, a couple wins to start the season will be lovely. Next week the Warriors are away to Canberra Raiders and that's not a nice away trip, yet the Raiders aren't a scary prospect right now either. Ideally, the Warriors would be able to go at least 2-1 in this opening stanza or better still 3-0 because after that, shit gets real.
Away to Roosters, vs Cowboys, vs Broncos, vs Dragons, away to Storm.
Three home games help, although I can say with near certainty that the Warriors will lose one of those five games, maybe even three; that's the beauty of the NRL. Those teams are all mid/top-tier and I've got our Warriors as being a mid-tier team at the moment, going 3-0 early will help the Warriors absorb the coming onslaught.
That starts with 2-0 and that requires a win over the Titans.
Coach Stephen Kearney has kept the same group which is understandable. I still think Karl Lawton will eventually get Sam Cook's bench spot, perhaps even Manaia Cherrington and for this Titans game, I am low key expecting Agnatius Paasi to come into the top-17. Leivaha Pulu, Sam Lisone and Bunty Afoa did nothing wrong vs Rabbitohs so it would be rough to drop them and it would be risky to drop Cook for Paasi though, thus I'm not sure how Paasi gets a look in.
Paasi would be in my strongest 17, as would Simon Mannering and Gerard Beale. I reckon Lawton's more versatile and robust than Cook as well, which means that we are yet to even come close to seeing the strongest Warriors team possible play footy this season.
There isn't much in the Titans forward pack that will strike fear into the Warriors, especially not when they are moving the footy and using their speed around the ruck as they did vs Rabbitohs. It's not that the Titans forward pack isn't rugged, good or big, this is more about the Warriors forwards being able to handle the physical stuff and then sprinkle offloads, footwork, passing and support play into the mix.
Perhaps the most exciting aspect of the Warriors forwards from last week was how often two or more forwards went to the line; one with the footy and the others in support. This stops the defensive line loading up on the ball-carrier, thus the ball-carrier can use his footwork to get between defenders or because the skill level is higher this year, he can pass or offload if a defender makes a bad read.
This is not just about being in support to pounce on an offload. The support players have to be respected and defenders can't pile numbers into a tackle, slowing the play-the-ball down which can then have a flow on impact of the set, let alone the game as the Warriors tempo has an impact on their opponents fatigue.
All summer I had said how Tohu Harris would play left edge and then he runs out on the right edge. My ego was dented and I was a bit puzzled as Harris and Blake Green share a Melbourne Storm left edge combo, a combo which would help out Solomone Kata and Ken Maumalo's defence. Unless there's a change here, Kata will line up against Konrad Hurrell in a battle of the tokos that has me fizzing.
I had to let that last sentence breathe - how awesome will Kata vs Koni at Mt Smart be!?
Scratch deeper though and you'll find the Titans' best attacking weapon in Hurrell and the Titans best attacking zone (right edge vs middle/left edge), coming up against a Warriors left edge with Isaiah Papalii, Green, Kata and Maumalo. That's the Warriors least-experienced zone and Papalii is going to be in for an interesting evening as he tries to deal with Kevin Proctor's lines running off Ash Taylor, as well as dealing with Koni.
The Titans will look to isolate Koni vs Green, meaning that Papalii will have to offer some support to Green. Also look for Adam Blair to play some sort of role here - Blair lines up on the left of the middle zone, defending inside Papalii and Blair's efforts will help Papaplii, in turn helping Green. A lazy middle forward may leave Papalii by himself, but Blair's game is built on such plays that don't get attention.
Blair will also niggle the fuck out of Taylor and it will be glorious. I don't know about youz, but I've waited a long time for Mt Smart to be a graveyard, not just a graveyard in terms of winning games but a graveyard where your soul is snatched by the ruthlessness of the Warriors.
This will be led by Blair's late shots and fans at Mt Smart should embrace what this can do for the team.
This will come in conjunction with James Gavet charging off the back fence, with every tackle being felt by those in attendance. Think of the physicality the Warriors can play with at Mt Smart and then also factor in the speed of their play, the ball movement, the dummy half runs.
My Mt Smart graveyard vision will end with opposition teams wanting to get out of Aotearoa asap, knowing damn well they just played a ruthless game of footy.
And that's where most of my excitement sits ahead of this game. We've watched our team fill us with pride on Australian soil and this is our first chance to see them in the flesh, to feel the spirit of the team, to feel the speed, physicality and skill of our Warriors.
The colour black resembles a graveyard right?
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Peace and love 27.