Aotearoa Warriors Diary: Finals Preview vs Knights
NZ Warriors host Newcastle Knights on Saturday evening and after being brushed aside by Panthers, Warriors will receive a mana boost from the Mt Smart faithful as well as the hopeful return of Shaun Johnson. This boost should help all Warriors folk flush the dunny from last week's loss. There is no need to bring that baggage into this encounter with Knights.
Knights will be missing edge forward Lachlan Fitzgibbon and halfback Jackson Hastings. Fitzgibbon offers a similar hole-running threat as Jackson Ford and this could ease the challenge of defending the Knights left edge. Hastings has done a fine job in steering Knights around this season, handling the basic halfback duties to free up others. Hastings has done the most kicking for Knights this season and averages 307 kicking metres per game, while the halves named to face Warriors in Tyson Gamble and Adam Clune average 160km.
Not only do Warriors receive a mana boost in returning to Mt Smart and having their halfback leader back in the mix, Knights have key omissions. The injection of Clune at halfback also presents a clear weakness to target as he leads Knights for missed tackles per game this seaso on 4.67. This is far more than Hastings (1.52) and as Clune is likely to defend on the same edge as Marata Niukore, he will be asked to make plenty of tackles as well as making slick defensive reads under fatigue.
The return of Johnson is obviously immense. As he was ruled out after the Aotearoa Warriors Diary preview for Panthers, the same notes about his kicking game and allowing Te Maire Martin to run short-sides are applicable for Knights. Johnson is the only player in the NRL averaging over 500km per game and this is crucial in setting up the Warriors grind.
Despite barely sniffing the grind against Panthers, Warriors still managed to dominate early tackles and drive Panthers back. Johnon's ability to consistently land kicks on the opposition 10m allows Warriors to build pressure through their defence. A few sets of this usually opens them up to build pressure in attack by winning the territory battle. Regardless of what happened against Panthers, expect to see Rocco Berry and Warriors kick-chasers wait for the Knights player to catch the footy and then lay all over them to spark that defensive pressure.
Martin's shortsiderz attack didn't happen against Panthers. Warriors barely had footy deep in Panthers territory and without Johnson stretching Warriors shape out to the right, Panthers could sort their defensive line out with correct numbers and cover from the inside. Warriors need all their attacking threats available to break down the best defences. This means a buffet of options for Johnson and Martin on either side of the ruck.
Dylan Walker is part of this as a middle forward and he is far better in this role, than the halves role. Walker's speed is a key asset as he will probably be the fastest middle forward in the game against Knights and in conjunction with Tohu Harris, their passing is a genuine attacking weapon in the middle which then creates space out wide.
Warriors need all the mobility they can get against a Knights team that will have Ponga swinging from either edge. This is evident in the threat of Mangere East junior Greg Marzhew and Dominic Young, who have been equally as potent as each other thanks to Ponga popping up on both edges. While Warriors will need to control the middle through aggression and physicality, Knights are most potent on their edges. Warriors have a speed/mobility combo in their forward pack to keep their feet moving and chase attacking raids from Knights.
No Warriors player averaged 10m/run against Panthers except Wayde Egan. Warriors usually have Addin Fonua-Blake over that 10m/run mark, at least a few more as well. That will change against Knights and it may flip to every Warriors player hitting 10m/run in front of a fizzed up Mt Smart.
Egan again showed his class against Panthers with 8 runs - 84m @ 10.5m/run and 52 tackles @ 88%. Egan's try started with an offload from Mitchell Barnett and while it was a teeny weeny detail, as soon as Egan got the footy his first few steps went towards Scott Sorenson's inside shoulder. This is a basic example of how Egan straightens the attack around dummy half and it's all about running towards the opposition goal-posts, which can be continued to make metres or Egan can fire any one of his tricky passes out either side.
Warriors attacking movements start with Egan playing direct, straightening the attack. At every stage of the attacking shape following Egan's involvement, there is a 'straighten the attack checkpoint'. This may be a decoy runner flying through, a middle forward faking the pass to run, Johnson or Martin running a straighter line before passing or one of the centres running straighter to create space for the winger. If Egan is able to explore his quiver of tricks, Warriors are flowing. This usually leads to more space for the attacking shape and being able to repeat these cycles is crucial in Warriors building into their process.
NSW Cup Warriors have a finals game against North Sydney Bears in Sydney at 4pm (NZT) on Saturday. The winner will face Rabbitohs in the NSW Cup Grand Final and all the big donnies are named for Warriors, but we will have to wait and see who takes the field on Saturday. Ali Leiataua (Papatoetoe), Zyon Maiu'u (Te Atatu) and Jacob Laban (Randwick) are all named as three local juniors who are among the best youngsters in NSW Cup. Keep track of these lads in finals footy as they will thrive with another summer training block with the NRL team.
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Peace and love.