Diary Of An Aotearoa Warriors Fan: Purple Army Purple Swag
Smoking that purple.
Back to back wins. How good does that feel? And not just any old wins either, two classy wins over St George Illawara Dragons and Newcastle Knights in which the Warriors scored points when they needed to, while flexin' with their defence. The Knights didn't quite pose the same threat of the Dragons, although who knows what kinda threat the Dragons are serving up right now as they continue their slide.
Despite having attacking weapons, Newcastle weren't allowed to use those weapons as the Warriors effectively shut down the Knights. This is a fine example of the Mt Smart soul snatching that we haven't seen for a number of weeks now; Knights come to Mt Smart with their plans and schemes, none of which work thanks to the Warriors smothering the Knights with their own plans and schemes.
There are two parts to shutting down the Knights. The Warriors were first and foremost dominant in the middle of the park, flowing into how effective they were in limiting the impact of Kalyn Ponga. Newcastle did score the first try through a beastly run from Ken Sio, outside of that though, Ponga was shut down by Adam Blair, Shaun Johnson and Gerard Beale.
Think of how hard it is to shut down Johnson; if you rush him, he steps you and is now on the prowl. Same goes for Ponga, so it ain't easy but it was kinda easy for the Warriors as they have consistently jammed up on play-makers all season long. The Warriors tend to make good reads in defence on the edges, simply by identifying the play-maker who will get the ball out the back of a decoy play and then jam up on him. Newcastle's reliance on Ponga makes it that little bit easier as the Warriors just needed to scope out Ponga, then pressure him without missing.
Jamming is a lot easier when the play-the-ball speed is slow. Defences can be far more aggressive when they have time to set their defensive line and suss out the attacking scheme. If we're talking most improved awards, Ken Maumalo gets the most improved player award and the whole team gets the most improved wrestler award because the Warriors have low key leveled up in how they slow the ruck speed down.
Newcastle couldn't counter it. Every time they ran the footy, they were wriggled on to their back. Or, the Warriors got numbers into the tackles and then peeled off one at a time to slow things down. I reckon that this focus on the wrestle in 2018 has seen the Warriors concede a lot of penalties, but when they get it right, they're bloody good. Remember last week how the Warriors conceded a few early ruck penalties to test the referees, then they settled into their wrestling groove.
Highlighting Roger Tuivasa-Sheck's work is easy, just have a geeze; 24runs/338m/94pcm, 2 line breaks, 11 tackle busts, 1 offload.
Ken Maumalo was also at his monstorous best; 23runs/223m/101pcm, 3 tackle busts.
How about James Gavet stepping up huge with 43mins, compared to his 19mins last week. Gavet had 14runs/151m and that's the efficiency that is overlooked when people are given running stats. NRL commentators etc rely on number of runs and number of metres, which is largely dependent on the minutes played. That surface level analysis doesn't offer any analysis on how useful the player is with their work.
For Gavet to take 14 runs and average over 10m/run, sets the tone for the Warriors. Agnatius Paasi wasn't too far behind the magic 10m/run mar with 109m from 11 runs and things then get funk when we come to the bench were Leivaha Pulu (4runs/47), Bunty Afoa (8runs/102m) and to a lesser extent Peta Hiku (2runs/24m) all averaged over 10m/run.
That's impact, like the definition of impact off the bench. Tuivasa-Sheck, David Fusitu'a and Solomone Kata all averaged over 10m/run, Maumalo was slightly below 10m/run but had a crazy 103 post contact metres. Then you've got the forwards off the bench poking through the line with every run and any time Issac Luke gets out of dummy half, he's averaging a whopping 13.25m/run ... and with 3 offloads in this game, Luke's likely to run 10m and then offload just to shake things up even more.
Pulu only played 10mins, but still had 4runs/47m. That's a bloody good 10 minutes mid-way through the game. I've turned a big focus on to the likes of Gavet, Paasi, Pulu, Afoa and now Hiku because their roles in this team has become crystal clear over the past two weeks. We know exactly what we are going to get from Isaiah Papali'i, Adam Blair, Simon Mannering and Jazz Tevaga; big minutes, lots of work and good work at that.
The other forwards offer the oomph and do so in bursts. I'm not convinced Gavet will play big minutes every week and I reckon coach Stephen Kearney juggles minutes nicely, given that Gavet's minutes are staggered week to week. My feel is that the norm is for Gavet, Paasi, Pulu and Afoa to hover around 25mins, that may be split in two stints and that allows them to condense their efforts defensively and with the footy, into more efficient spells.
This week, Kearney threw a curveball with Hiku named on the bench and then coming on for Papali'i. Hiku replaced Papali'i, but there wasn't enough time to suss out whether Hiku was playing left edge or if Afoa had slid out to the edge. A few times Hiku started out on the edge, then I saw Hiku hovering around the ruck and Afoa had pushed wider - so dunno.
Either way, Hiku was used as a forward. Hiku did play some edge forward before leaving Penrith Panthers and this was our first glimpse at what Hiku could offer as a bit of an x-factor player. Much will depend on Tohu Harris' return, as he'll likely push Blair back into the middle, Mannering to the bench and Hiku drops off the bench.
On Tohu: Blair's doing a delightful job at right edge. Obviously we want Tohu back because he's awesome, but the Warriors aren't really losing anything with Blair at right edge and Mannering in the middle. I can't say they are better without Tohu, this is just another example of the Warriors depth allowing them to absorb the ins and outs of a season without much fuss.
On Tuivasa-Sheck: after last week's game the skipper said how his job is to be at his running best. After this week's game, Blake Green did an interview with ABC radio in Australia and backed that up...
This is fabulous in every aspect. It seems as though the team's leaders - what a group of leaders it is (!!) - came together and tinkered with a few things. As captain, Tuivasa-Sheck has a lot to ponder and the beauty of having such a strong leadership group is that others can first identify a little problem and then help offer solutions. For the Warriors to be a force, Tuivasa-Sheck has to be at his best and that means that the other leaders need to handle the other little jobs on the field, to allow Tuivasa-Sheck to solely focus on what he's fucking nek level at.
No one runs the footy like Tuivasa-Sheck.
Finally, I'm low key impressed by how the Warriors are scoring their tries. Last week it was two of three tries coming from offloads and this week, most of the tries appeared to be unplanned. Earlier in the season, many tries came from backline moves and the Warriors still have all their plays at their disposal, but these two wins - best wins of the season? - have featured 'off the cuff' tries.
David Fusitu'a's try
The aim may have been to get the footy to Fusitu'a, but Green had to react to the defence and step inside, then Johnson had to react to the defence and hit Fusitu'a long. Then Fusitu'a had to suss out multiple Knights defenders.
Adam Blair try
Tuivasa-Sheck gets the footy on the left, steps back across field and passes to Johnson. Johnson has to react to Tuivasa-Sheck and the defence, then turn Beale under and Beale offloads. None of that was planned.
Blake Green try
Blake Green running like Johnson or Tuivasa-Sheck? Not planned. Maybe him running was planned but surely not for a try like that.
All three tries involve the Warriors reacting to what's in front of them and that makes them very difficult to stop. Defences can be prepared for set moves, but if Tuivasa-Sheck, Johnson and Green are reacting to what the defence gives them and most importantly, everyone else is tuned in, defences will struggle.
Love this new Warriors vibe of celebrating others and what not, especially when all the players are on board. Look at how intently they are listening to Green giving Matt Chechin a big chur:
I do think that these last two wins have been the best Warriors footy of the season and it looks as though they have turned it up a notch. The win over Newcastle was class, pure class and the Warriors didn't have to over-extend themselves to win. Other teams in the 5th-8th range are faltering, or like the Penrith Panthers have a crazy situation lingering, the Warriors have quietly found a sweet spot.
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Peace and love 27.