Aotearoa Warriors Diary: Winning Footy Notebook vs Raiders
Halfway through the NRL season, NZ Warriors have already dished up some delightful wins in Australia and the raid of Canberra may be the funkiest. The comeback win against Sharks was fabulous but came with a painful first half, while wins away to Cowboys and Bulldogs can't be overlooked as sneaky markers of Warriors mana. The trip to Canberra saw Warriors absorb an emotional start to the game, settle into their grind and rip the Raiders apart.
For the second game in a row, Warriors have scored 30+ points after being down at half-time. Warriors were down 4-6 after 40 minutes against Dolphins and Raiders led 6-8 at half-time in Canberra. Two vastly different games with the same need to stay solid through the opening stanza as Warriors had to grind a hearty Dolphins team down, then they had to ride the wave of Jarrod Croker's 300th game in Canberra.
This yarn from earlier in the season highlighted how Warriors started games slowly before the injection of Dylan Walker. Keep that stashed away for when Walker returns. The update from the last two wins is how Warriors absorbed their opponent's momentum in the first-half, staying calm through adversity to emerge as the better team.
Warriors also battled through Mitchell Barnett's sin-bin in the first half. The mana and attitude of Warriors is evident in different ways as they can grind through adversity with 13 blokes on the field, also battling through patches defending with 12 blokes. Ideally, Warriors have the footy for most of a sin-bin and control the game. Defending their try-line can be a good thing as Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad sits in the defensive line, keeping a line of 13 blokes.
Combine Nicoll-Klokstad's willingness to tackle with his ability to mop up kicks. Nicoll-Klokstad is always in the frame to snuff out a grubber or catch a bomb and he doesn't allow his defensive output to impact his role in attack. When Nicoll-Klokstad is taking two runs every set early in the game, he can be monstered in tackles as his runs come around the ruck where he is running into forwards. His footwork and power challenges defenders every set, which fits nicely into how Warriors work over opposition middles.
Before Warriors find their passing groove, Nicoll-Klokstad is hunting every gap in the middle and Dallin Watene-Zelezniak is sprinting into contact. Addin Fonua-Blake and Tohu Harris have footwork to challenge defenders as well, balanced by Bunty Afoa, Marata Niukore and Jackson Ford running straight lines.
Nicoll-Klokstad has had a linebreak in three consecutive games, with at least three tackle busts in the last three games. Averaging 4.16 tackle busts per game, Nicoll-Klokstad is tricky to tackle and many of those tackle busts come against middle defenders. Add his support play and his zip out on the edges that saw him scoot around Croker for one of the best fullbacks in the NRL right now.
Plenty of Warriors players missed tackles and they finished with 30 missed tackles, five more than Raiders. Tackling Raiders isn't easy given how lads like Jordan Rapana and Matthew Timoko bounce around, or Joseph Tapine's mobility in the middle. Warriors kept their feet moving, covered inside shoulders and stunted Raiders edge attacks through their defensive reads.
Despite that, Fonua-Blake has not missed a tackle in three consecutive games. These three games also sit as Fonua-Blakes best running performances, featuring two games with 200+ metres and his third highest run-metre tally this season.
Ali Leiataua was solid on debut. That translates to Leiataua looking comfortable as an NRL centre in the same way Demitric Sifakula looked comfy with NRL physicality and intensity when he debuted. Leiataua made his tackles and flashed his powerful running. Even though Leiataua appears tall, he lowers his body when running and bursts through defenders. There was no obvious drop-off with Leiataua replacing Berry and the competition for NRL minutes is immense in this crop of outside backs.
Without Walker, Harris had 23 passes vs Dolphins and 22 passes vs Raiders. 40 tackles and no official missed tackles, along with 16 runs - 130m @ 8m/run in a typically Tohu display. Warriors have Harris grabbing try assists and linebreak assists nearly every game thanks to his passing, while Fonua-Blake is cooking with his distribution flow as well; Fonua-Blake disguised a pass behind Harris to Shaun Johnson for the kick to Watene-Zelezniak.
With Walker, Warriors have three high quality passers in their middle forward rotation. These forwards are excellent at their other roles as Fonua-Blake is eats metres, Harris does everything and Walker is a quick middle forward. Other teams barely have one top-notch passing middle, Warriors have options.
Those options have resulted in Warriors tearing opposition middles apart. Broncos busted that attacking system in notable defensive performance while Bulldogs sit at the other end of the spectrum after their two losses vs Warriors. Raiders aren't nimble defensively in their middle forward group and through their running variety noted above, along with Ford and Niukore running tight lines, Warriors worked over the Raiders middle.
Warriors also stretched the Raiders middle and Luke Metcalf offers a nice example of this. Coach Andrew Webster appeared to whip up a play with Metcalf out on the wing while Marcelo Montoya played the ball midfield. Raiders condensed their defensive line and Warriors shifted to Metcalf who used his speed down the flank.
Metcalf's try came from a Johnson pass under the posts though. Along with Harris passing to Tom Ale and Wayde Egan's dummy to score, Warriors peppered the Raiders middle and scored fairly easily. It looks easy because of all the mahi done prior. Chasing Metcalf. Trying to tackle Nicoll-Klokstad. Tracking Egan's dummy half runs. Getting a shoulder on Fonua-Blake and then sliding off Harris as he shifts the footy. Trying to read Johnson’s play-book and so on.
This was Ale's best game in a while as well with 7 runs - 83m @ 11.85m/run in just 12mins. Ale offered more footwork than usual and had a dummy half scoot, which could fit into the system of challenging the Raiders middle. Ale and Metcalf were the only players aside from Egan to have a dummy half run, both offer different running styles from the same starting point.
Johnson was fantastic as he has been all season. This is career-best SJ7 although that isn't unique to Johnson as many Warriors are in career-best pockets. Johnson's five tries is the most he has scored in a season since 2017 and he has 14 try assists which is already the same tally as last year. Johnson is thriving as a tough bugger and his kicking is top-notch as well.
Warriors absorbed the Raiders pressure early in this game partly thanks to Johnson sending kicks deep into Raiders territory despite being 30-40m from his own try-line. Johnson can land kicks on a Jahtearoa vitamin baggy and bend grubbers either way, yet his long kicking game is the funkiest asset. Especially when Warriors are whacking in defence, challenging the other team's ability to grit and grind.
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Peace and love.