Aotearoa Warriors Diary: Winning Footy Notebook vs Dolphins
NZ Warriors defeated Dolphins 30-6 in Auckland, so let's take a trip deep into the mangroves. There is plenty of footy to yarn through but there is a hefty trend emerging for Warriors home games in Auckland and Aotearoa to break down first.
Warriors had a crowd of 23,686 in Auckland for last night's win. This is the third home game in a row with at least 20,000 folks in attendance and second game this season with at least 23,000 folks there. The home win over Cowboys had a slightly bigger crowd with 23,695 and the home win over Bulldogs had a crowd of 18,595. That's four home games in Auckland and all four have had crowds of at least 18,000.
Folks love rugby league in Aotearoa and this is most evident in how they rally behind a solid Warriors team. Warriors have also played a few games outside Auckland where they have enjoyed decent crowds, highlighting the thirst for NRL footy around Aotearoa.
Warriors vs Storm in Christchurch (trial): 12,000
Warriors vs Knights in Wellington: 16,676
Warriors vs Broncos in Napier: 16,195
These games outside of Auckland are important to reinforce Aotearoa's appreciation for rugby league. Other codes worry about their crowds and fandom, yet Warriors can draw a bigger crowd in Wellington than any Wellington Phoenix home game during the last A-League season for example. Let alone other what's happening in rugby union.
Let's balance some Shaun Johnson ideas here as Johnson is playing something close career-best footy and there is so much more funk to enjoy in Warriors wins. For Johnson, it would be kinda crazy for him to retire when he is performing at a high level. Ponder how invigorating it can feel to lead a Warriors to victory in Auckland and letting all of that go to chill in retirement.
In 13 games, Johnson already has four tries this season. The last time he scored four tries was in 2018, hitting that exact number in 2017 and 2018. Johnson has scored 10 tries twice (2013 and 2016), with 12 tries in the 2012 season. Johnson also has 11 try assists this season and he has had more than 20 try assists just once (2020). Halfway through this season, Johnson is on track to give his best try-scoring tally a nudge and he is likely to register 20+ try assists, perhaps a career-best mark over 23.
Meanwhile, Johnson averages 560 kicking metres per game. This is the first season of his career averaging over 500km/game and only the second season averaging over 400km/game (2017). Johnson is averaging 51 running metres per game which follows on from 49m/game last season as the least running mahi of his career. Johnson is still sitting on 1.2 missed tackles per game, so his tackling stats previously mentioned in the Winning Footy Notebook after defeating Bulldogs still applies...
2018: 3.6 missed tackles per game
2019: 1.8 missed tackles per game
2020: 2.6 missed tackles per game
2021: 2.5 missed tackles per game
2022: 2.2 missed tackles per game
2023: 1.2 missed tackles per game
The total package feels like career-best SJ7. Johnson still has a lively running game as seen vs Dolphins which now comes with hearty defence and game control. There is no reason for Johnson to retire and he is helping Warriors win NRL games.
As always though, there is more to Warriors footy than Johnson. Even Johnson's highlights feature other blokes playing their roles in attacking shape, which comes before and after those shapes have seen the footy go elsewhere. Other players shine in their roles and the coaching staff are generating lots of opportunities in attack. Under coach Andrew Webster, the entire squad loves to tackle as well and Johnson's defence is merely aligned with Warriors defence.
Johnson's first try has Addin Fonua-Blake and Tohu Harris as possible receivers, while Luke Metcalf is out the back. Three options for Johnson and the defence is worried about all three, allowing Johnson to flex...
On the right edge it's all about Johnson and Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad. The no-try for Dallin Watene-Zelezniak saw Johnson play out the back to Nicoll-Klokstad. Then Johnson had a similar shape with Nicoll-Klokstad out the back, allowing Johnson to bounce behind the ruck and score...
After Marata Niukore ran ruthless lines as a receiver and a decoy for 70mins, Johnson plays out the back to Nicoll-Klokstad for a basic overlap try...
Johnson is pulling the strings in Warriors attack and all Warriors are executing their roles. This came with no Dylan Walker as a distribution point as well which is evident in Harris having 23 passes. For context Metcalf had 25 passes as a half.
Two plays show how important instincts and 'push' can be. The first is Wayde Egan's break that led to a Kodi Nikorima intercept where Nicoll-Klokstad and Mitchell Barnett (behind a Dolphin) burst forward in support of Egan. The second has Johnson playing the ball and Nicoll-Klokstad shuffles Bayley Sironen into space, Niukore pushes in support and Metcalf scores. Peep where Metcalf starts the second play...
Egan is averaging a career-best 52m/game.
Nicoll-Klokstad is averaging a career-best 187/game.
Dallin Watene-Zelezniak is averaging a career-best 173m/game.
Funky weird stat: Warriors had 26 dummy passes, Dolphins had zero.
Rocco Berry left the field after 13mins which was a bummer because he is settling into his role nicely. This allowed Warriors to showcase their versatility again as Josh Curran covered Berry's right centre slot. When Marcelo Montoya left the field in the second half, Curran moved to left centre with Adam Pompey covering wing and Bayley Sironen covering right edge with Niukore.
In Magic Round there was a moment when Tom Ale and Demitric Sifakula were playing as edge forwards. Curran has already plugged all sorts of holes along with Niukore who has played centre for Aotearoa Kiwis. Sironen is now emerging as a crucial bench player thanks to his versatility with the ability to play middle, edge, hooker and centre if required.
Injuries and head-knock assessments during games suck. They will happen though and Warriors are showing multiple options in covering different positions. The win over Dolphins also saw Barnett return and play 50mins off the bench which not only provides a rugged edge to Warriors (he whacks with every tackle), Barnett's presence allows others to embrace their roles.
Ponder Tom Ale.. Ale played 25mins or less in the first five games this season before jumping up to 30+ minutes in five consecutive games. In the last three games Ale has played 21mins, 31mins and 15mins vs Dolphins. At this stage of his development, Ale is best suited to high energy stints in less minutes and this was evident in his 6 runs - 65m @ 10.83m/run (5 tackles no misses too).
Big up tackling...
Addin Fonua-Blake: 30 tackles, no misses
Wayde Egan: 38 tackles, no misses
Bunty Afoa: 22 tackles, no misses
Tohu Harris: 40 tackles, no misses
The ability of Nicoll-Klokstad to mop everything up at fullback is a fundamental element to Warriors defence and really fun to observe. Nicoll-Klokstad is always in the right spot to handle various attacking kicks and he hasn't made an error in three consecutive games, while also averaging just 0.7 missed tackles per game. One could make a strong case for Nicoll-Klokstad being among the best defensive fullbacks in the league and his attack is sizzling as well.
Dolphins were down 4-6 early in the second half and Anthony Milford's sin-bin impacted the flow of this game. This highlights how Dolphins stay in contests and compete under coach Wayne Bennett, which probably caused some angst for Warriors folks as Dolphins were hanging on for 50-odd minutes. The process of Warriors footy plays into this as they embrace the grind and we have seen Warriors beat down various teams all season.
This is evident in a few stats starting with Johnson's kicking. Johnson had 378km and Warriors had 426km as a team, both are well below Johnson's season average of 560km/game. Warriors kept running the ball on last tackles, not because their attack sucks but because they want to whack blokes in defence.
When Warriors did kick, they restricted Dolphins to 111 metres on kick returns. Warriors had almost double that with 207 kick return metres. Dolphins averaged 2.35 post contact metres per run and Warriors averaged 3 post contact metres per run. Dolphins averaged 8.52m/run and Warriors averaged 10.06m/run.
Warriors scored four tries in the second half thanks to Milford's sin-bin and their own grind. While Warriors weren't as efficient with their completion rate as they would have liked, their intensity and commitment to beating up their opponent deep in Dolphins territory was impressive. Combine that with slightly different attacking plays or style for an intriguing learning pocket for Warriors footy.
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Peace and love.