Although I could feel what was coming prior to this game, I was still optimistic that Aotearoa Warriors could either A) churn out a ruthless performance and blow away Brisbane Broncos or B) showcase their 'find a way to win' abilities which we have seen a few times already this season. Very early in this game, option A was ruled out and despite being in the contest right up until the last few minutes, option B just never felt like it was going to be on display.

And it's completely all good.

What I felt prior to this game was that the Warriors had been playing at a very high level for five weeks and maintaining that week in, week out is bloody difficult. Your energy and execution only has to be off by a smidge and you meet a desperate team like the Broncos, who have their backs against the wall and fresh vibes with Jack Bird in the halves, and your winning streak is broken.

The Warriors weren't crap, just not as good as they have been and even though the Broncos steam-rolled them through the middle, the Warriors never fell away. It was as though the Warriors were never really in the game, yet they were and we can take that away as a positive given that this Warriors group toils hard even when nothing's quite working.

Matt Lodge, Alex Glenn, Josh McGuire, Sam Thaiday, Joe Ofahengaue, Jaydn Su'a and Tom Opacic all averaged over 10m/carry. As well as those forwards, Darius Boyd, Corey Oates, Jack Bird, James Roberts and Jamayne Isaako averaged over 10m/carry. That means that the Broncos strolled down-field and while it's the Warriors job to stop that, I'm leaning towards highlighting a weary, perhaps tired footy team coming up against a rampant team; this is an anomaly performance given what we have seen from the Warriors so far.

All signs pointed to the Warriors being tired. Their decision making wasn't good enough in defence or attack, they didn't show up on the inside in defence, they lacked the crisp attacking execution from previous games and the buzz/hype/vibes from previous games was absent. As though the Warriors didn't have their coffees before the game, while their previous games featured three coffees before the game.

Losses are never good. After flying high though, this will give Stephen Kearney an opportunity to show the players where they went wrong and they now have a reference point in what not to do - how the Warriors don't want to play. I'm sympathetic because it was an anomaly performance, it's come at a decent time with a big game against the Dragons at home this weekend and despite being far from their best, the Warriors stayed in the contest.

Here's some observations...

Shaun Johnsons jammed on Anthony Milford as the Warriors are out-numbered, Warriors recover well with Tohu Harris moving across:

But then Tohu and Johnson go a wee bit too far across. Had they formed a defensive line, the hole for Corey Oates wouldn't be there. Sam Lisone and Adam Blair don't cover the inside either, but this is more the fault of Tohu over-committing:

Agnatius Paasi was awesome once again and he was again used running out near the edges (what a right foot step). Nice play here to get Paasi the footy and it's a lovely pass from Green, tight behind Leivaha Pulu:

Simple but effective play for a right edge try. Anthony Milford has to take care of Tohu, ball goes to Johnson who is already outside Milford and it's 3 vs 2:

You can't see David Fusitu'a, but Johnson throws a face-ball that brings Oates up on to Hiku and boom:

Blair's ball-playing is and will be low key crucial throughout the season. He gives a pass to Lisone in this example, but the shape he's working with could lead to a longer pass to Paasi, or out the back to Johnson and hit the right edge:

Before Blake Green earned a repeat set, he set up on the right and went to the left where Issac Luke had intentionally slid back from the play-the-ball to receive the pass. Peep how Roger Tuivasa-Sheck is ready to get the footy out the back of Pulu:

The next play has the Warriors doing the same thing with Johnson on the right and Green on the left. Darius Boyd is up in the defensive line as it's the 3rd tackle and this pass takes Boyd out of the equation, allowing Green to kick for a repeat set.

The James Roberts break for Jamayne Isaako's try came right where Pulu would have been, while Pulu was in back play injured. Yeah Paasi and Green should have made the tackle, but it was it the exact spot where Pulu would have been defending:

Peep the width of Tohu, with all three Warriors right edgers in that wide channel. Tohu simply has to get the footy and he's already outside Milford, plus he's far bigger than Milford with sublime footwork and a passing game and an offload. In this instance, Tohu uses the offload:

This was one of those plays that made it feel as though this wasn't the Warriors night. Tohu could have passed for Fusitu'a, but chose to kick and that's all good, more an example of how amazing Tohu is. But the kick went dead and instead of a try, or a repeat set, Brisbane re-start with 7 tackles:

Mt Smart looking sexy. A certain kiwi sports media personality always hated on the fact that Mt Smart was in Penrose, like who would want to go to Penrose and blah blah. I love Mt Smart and everything about it:

I also love the fact that Tuivasa-Sheck is a fine passing fullback. His best asset is his running game and while this is a nice play that is easily shut down by Roberts, I want Tuivasa-Sheck running. I want Tuivasa-Sheck stepping off his left and doing what he does best, especially when the Broncos have matched up well against the Warriors options (3 vs 3):

Another super low key annoying thing as Jazz Tevaga goes the wrong way to put kick pressure on Milford. Milford's only going to kick off his right footy and as soon as Tevaga bites on trying to get to Milford's left, Milford goes right and Tevaga is eliminated. Tevaga should have put pressure on Milford's right foot:

Tuivasa-Sheck again passed when he could have ran, he passed to Hiku and there was nothing doing for Hiku even though he dropped the footy. Tuivasa-Sheck has two defenders at his mercy (Milford chasing, Opacic retreating) and he made life easy for those defenders:

Jaydn Su'a put on some nice footwork for his try, but the inside efforts weren't there for the Warriors this week:

Fusitu'a is trying to mark up against Caspar:

Oates dropped the pass from above and this is the Warriors reaction. A few high fives and what not, but not the mad celebrations we have seen in earlier rounds when they force an error:

I only want two types of runs for Solomone Kata; early footy out wide and dummy half runs. Kata caused carnage on the burst running at outside backs:

Fast and direct is the Warriors best friend through the middle, of which they did little vs Broncos. For whatever reason, Bunty Afoa is running sideways here:

Execution was off in this game. Fusitu'a dropped this pass and it was a poor pass from Johnson, as well as being the hardest option. Johnson could have easily had hit Hiku out the back as Opacic went in on Tohu, giving Hiku a 2 vs 1 with Oates. Instead Johnson throw a long ball to Fusitu'a and that also allowed Oates time to recover:

Inside efforts once again. Look at the players on the outside of Johnson as they are all engaged in the play, while Paasi, Tevaga and Afoa are chillin' on the inside:

Now look at where Paasi, Tevaga and Afoa are. They got lazy on the inside and left a big hole for Oates on the inside of Johnson, they are all within 2m of each other and didn't bother to chase up alongside Johnson:

I'll never blame marijuana for anything as it's the glorious medicinal herb, I just found this funny:

The good thing is that if I'm noticing all this errors and lack of inside effort etc, imagine the video session afterwards and Kearney ripping into the team (who the fuck's the guy behind Kearney):

Last but not least in summing up the vibe of the Warriors, Milford has time and space to land a kick on a dime. No kick pressure at all, zilch:

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Peace and love 27.