Aotearoa Warriors Diary: Good Vibes Only
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For Aotearoa Warriors to really bask in their fringe top-eight NRL glory, wins against teams in a similar spot and teams beneath the Warriors are mandatory. We know these wins don't come easily and a rugged contest against Wests Tigers in which plenty of mahi was done around moments of brilliance saw the Warriors claw their way to a delightful win.
With the game on the line in the second half, the Warriors spent 20 minutes with a bloke in the sin-bin (Ben Murdoch-Masila then Eliesa Katoa). That's 20 of 40mins with a man down and on top of this the Warriors finished with 47 percent possession. All of that smells like the lovely stench of gritty win and within this there are small signs of a Warriors club that appears to have their business in order.
Skipper Roger Tuivasa-Sheck and Addin Fonua-Blake apparently told coach Nathan Brown to start Reece Walsh at fullback. I previously noted how engaged Fonua-Blake was in leading the Warriors when he was playing, while the humility of Tuivasa-Sheck is on par with Steven Adams and coach Brown also said in the post-gamer that Tohu Harris was the best Warrior as he danced around Walsh questions. The mere presence of Tuivasa-Sheck and Harris as leaders sets the tone for the Warriors and the signing of Walsh is nifty not only because of his wizardry, but also because he seems to be a hearty young bloke who is in tune with that vibe set by his elders.
Yes, Walsh is kinda mandatory viewing at this point. Plenty of Warriors stuff has to happen to put Walsh in these positions and I'm all here for highlighting Harris as well as the other steady performers. Let's start with Harris who has made 40+ tackles in all 11 games this season with 93.1 percent efficiency and rolled through 18 runs for 160m @ 8.88m/run vs Tigers.
Harris has 49 tackle busts this season (4.45 per game) and with 11 offloads he's averaging an offload per game. Sprinkle 3 tries in there, plus 3 try assists and Harris is about as complete as an NRL forward can get. But wait there's more; Harris has 6 line break assists to flex his play-making ability amongst the mahi.
The Warriors had Jazz Tevaga averaging 10+ metres per run with 12 runs for 121m @ 10.08m/run and Leeson Ah Mau casually got through 11 runs for 112m @ 10.18m/run. Per NRL.com, Ah Mau does register the odd 'ineffective tackle' but other than those he has 1 official missed tackle this season with 291 made tackles. Ah Mau is tackling @ 96.6 percent efficiency.
Good bounce back game from Eliesa Katoa as well. Katoa played five games to start the season and had not played since round five which resulted in Katoa rolling out his best game of the season. With 58 Post Contact Metres and 124m (11.27m/run), this was Katoa's first game of the season with at least 50pcm and 100m.
There was a slight shift in the forward pack, although Harris playing 80mins (fourth game in a row) and doing middle and edge duties was the same. Murdoch-Masila played through the middle more than he has done prior to this game, thanks to Katoa coming back to the left edge and Jack Murchie played 56mins out on the right edge. As far as versatility goes and the ability to cover positions mid-game, the Warriors have four legit edge forwards in that group.
Wayde Egan is solid
80mins, 1 try, 4 runs - 42m @ 10.5m/run, 55 tackles @ 96.5%, 1 kick.
Egan has 4 try assists this season and has made 460 tackles @ 92.2%. Egan is also averaging 22.53 kicking metres which is a big jump from last season’s 10.57 kicking metres per game.
Adam Pompey vs Adam Doueihi
Pompey: 10 runs - 88m @ 8.8m/run, 4 tb, 10 tackles @ 90.9%.
Doueihi: 8 runs - 53m @ 6.62m/run, 1 tb, 3 offloads, 11 tackles @ 84.6%.
"Why would you want RTS on wing - he won't be able to help as much?"
20 runs - 272m @ 13.6m/run, 2 linebreaks, 1 try assist, 2 tackle busts, 1 offload.
Tuivasa-Sheck put up a season high 272m on the wing and this was the first game this season in which Tuivasa-Sheck had a try, a try assist and a linebreak in the same game. The simple vision I have of Tuivasa-Sheck catching the ball with defenders scattered around him (not a straight line) feels like the exact space I'd love Tuivasa-Sheck to be in and I'd suggest how Tuivasa-Sheck gets the footy as a winger may be more beneficial than fullback.
We've come to know the Warriors with Tuivasa-Sheck at fullback and the David Fusitua/Ken Maumalo duo as wingers. Fusitua and Maumalo didn't play vs Tigers, Tuivasa-Sheck played as a winger and I don't know which is better but it's just a different collection of styles. Fusitua hasn't played since round five and that round five game vs Manly was the last time Tuivasa-Sheck, Fusitua and Maumalo played together - this was also Tuivasa-Sheck's second best game for run metres...
Round Five vs Sea Eagles
Tuivasa-Sheck: 259m.
Fusitua: 153m.
Maumalo: 194m.
Round 11 vs Tigers
Walsh: 170m.
Tuivasa-Sheck: 272m.
Marcelo Montoya: 169m.
There are a bunch of factors and context to those numbers, I'm chucking them up merely because they look similar. The back three combined for 606m vs Sea Eagles and then combined for 611m vs Tigers. The fact that these numbers are similar is a bit crazy considering what we have come to know and love about the Fusitua/Maumalo duo. Take time to at least ponder that Tuivasa-Sheck could be just as effective as a winger as he was as a fullback.
Which kinda swings back around to Walsh; the vibe of Walsh passing to Tuivasa-Sheck is a glorious thing. The ability to pass over 10m and land those passes in the bread-basket fills me with joy, as does Walsh's major play-making stats to start his NRL career...
5 games, 3 tries, 7 try assists, 6 linebreaks, 18 tackle busts, 6 offloads.
Here are Walsh's try involvements from last night's win...
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