Post Match NRL 2018 - Round 2 - Warriors vs Titans Post Match Discussion

[gREVUS]

long story short had to watch the game on NRL app. Its damn hard to see the detail on something so small.

However Great result. Very Happy. Credit to all players and staff in recreating a dynamic and intense warriors side.

Tohu Harris was my MOM.

Kata owned Konnie.

Vete in next week and continue rolling them up. DO NOT rush Mannering back in.

Shaun Johnson however disappointed me hugely. Any time he kicks a bomb and hes not on the oppositions 20 meter line hes wasting the ball. If his extra work with the ball has affected his kicks to the goal, find someone else who can handle it. Those will come to cost us down the track, and its about the team not the individual. Which brings me to my main point, his playing touch rugby in the middle of a game of League. Ive seen it before, hated it then, and hate it now. Love it when he runs straighter and steps players to drive forward, but that shit running sideways not passing the ball and running everyone else out of space sucks. It is an ego trip that the warriors have never needed and certainly dont need now. Keep the stepping, but calm down a bit and think occasionally. And if your holding the ball and running towards the sideline after just having run at the other sideline, pass it to someone who can straighten it the fuck up and make 5 meters.

IMO every player can stand proud for putting in for his team. And Shaun Johnson might be only 5-10% off from the rest of the team, but thats the shit that has kept the warriors from getting anywhere for years now.

 

[Upyerjumper]

Congratulations on a good win for the NZW, from a Wigan Warrior.

 

[Mr Frank White]

Gotta give major props to Harris. He's a footballer through and through, and shows what an imposter Hoffman was.

His draw and pass is a thing of beauty, forces multiple defenders to commit before putting his man away, and isn't shy of taking a monster hit.

 

[Four Red Stars]

Observations from the game.
Thought we started a little lethargic and let Titans take control but was impressive how quickly we could repel this and apply pressure of our own.
Hiku looks short of a good gallop. Wasn’t there in support for any line breaks and missed some tackles. Wouldn’t drop him but improvement needed.
Thought Pulu struggled playing the longer minutes but don’t recall any glaring mistakes or missed tackles.
Offloading was entertaining but we never sent anyone to be direct and play off that momentum.

Loved our scramble defence. Was emotional to watch a team care about protecting their line like that.
Shaun Johnson is loving the time and space Green allows him to have. And Roger Tuivasa-Sheck is snooping for offloads in most sets.
Team looks incredibly United. They love being together and tight. Senior players take every opportunity to compose and reset targets.

Great signs but tougher games ahead.

 

[Miket12]

Just looked at the ladder, unless the Knights beat the Raiders by at least 24 points, we’re finishing this Round in second place and only two differential points behind the Dragons.

 

[Tonbridge (Swanley)]

People rightly remember how shit we were for last five years. One swallow does not make a girlfriend.

any swallow makes a girlfriend...get it right.

 

[Tonbridge (Swanley)]

I gave this game a B. Excellent effort shown again and it is very pleasing to see.

I thought this week they tried a bit too hard if you get my drift and tried pushing things that were not on. Too many risky offloads.

Forward pack went well considering they were a man short for most of the game. I still cannot see the benefit of carrying Cook on the bench, I would like another big bopper on there.

Cannot wait until next week now, they are becoming a pleasure to watch.

On Hiku, yes he missed some tackles, but most of the time he is trying to slow the play down while support comes over and he seems very atp now of putting david F into space.

Looks like the harris/hiku/fusitui combination is a winner.

 

[Mr Brownstone]

Lol. You can. It's a free world. It's just me pissed off with posts about things that didn't happen. If you're going to run a critical eye over things be prepared for people to run a critical eye over your comments too.

My big peeve is that some people are not really making fact-based analysis . They actually just want to say " The Warriors are still not good enough because if I admit they are, I'd be shitting on my own past comments " .

What exactly is it that I've said that didn't actually happen? I haven't criticised Hiku's attacking game, in fact I said it was very good. His defence however was once again weak - he misses his man a lot and I believe it will cost us games.

As for the overall performance yesterday, I don't believe it was close to how well we played against the Rabbits. Remember Ash Taylor was out injured, he is the Titans best player and playmaker and they were lost without him. A better side would have made the Warriors pay for all their cheap turnover of the ball.

If I see the team performing below their best and at a level that I don't believe is good enough to beat the top sides then I will say so. It's nothing to do with shitting on past comments. However just to clarify - am I happy with us being 2-0 to start the season??? FUCK YEAH!!!

 

[frankspence]

I love what hiku brings to our game especially his hole running. He's made a couple of line breaks by hitting those holes with speed and determination. He's a nice change from the battering ram or slow safe centres we've had for the past few years. The back door off load he has especially during a relief run has helped us get on the front in both games. His D is a concern but I reckon it'll improve with match fitness as he's usually a great 1v1 defender.
For me Kata and Ken have been choice and their spots are theirs to lose. Beal and Ayshford are in the background and will hopefully keep them on their toes.
Roger Tuivasa-Sheck has been awesome. He's not coming in and taking random hit ups anymore. He's using his energy more effectively especially in support. In both weeks I've seen him consistently trailing our runners which will pay off if continues.
Luke looks like the Luke of old. The man.

Just my 2 cents. Love screaming at the tv again especially at those fucken refs lol.

 

[Horriors2013]

The beauty of being 2-0 is that for the first time in a long time the Warriors are now in a position to set up their season

2-0 can all of a sudden become 4-0 ... 6-0 etc just as 0-2 can suddenly become 0-4 etc & then before we know it we're chasing our season

Winning breeds confidence & belief ... a confident Warriors outfit brimming with self belief is a dangerous prospect for any team in the comp

Losing breeds pressure & doubt ... in this state past Warriors sides have shown the unfortunate capacity to more or less beat themselves

This current team will lose eventually, might be next week or the week after that or a month from now, that's a given

The real litmus test will be how they bounce back from their first taste of defeat in 2018

A top side will back up a loss with a vengeful performance the following week, lesser sides tend to retreat into their shells & sometimes stop playing real footy altogether

A top side will endeavour to avoid back to back losses at all costs, lesser sides seem to get worse the harder they try

Here's hoping we see the former & not the latter when the inevitable losses come

Totally agree. They have momentum. And since this is our third year with the best spine in the comp on paper, with the forwards turning up this year, we are actually seeing what they are capable of.

And that will scare any side.

 

[Mr Brownstone]

I don't usually disagree with you brother but all those obstruction calls were fair. Also Peta Hiku had 10 missed tackles last week and is showing the same this week on the NRL website so if that is correct he had no missed tackles this week. He also ran for 132 metres which was more than Ken who had a pretty good game himself. Sadly I cannot find a decent stats site (I am not paying Murdoch to get onto his site) so subject to me being corrected on stats I think your opinion of Peta Hiku is harsh.

Doesn't look like the stats have updated for our second game. He will add to his impressive defensive stats this week.

 

[Horriors2013]

I love what hiku brings to our game especially his hole running. He's made a couple of line breaks by hitting those holes with speed and determination. He's a nice change from the battering ram or slow safe centres we've had for the past few years. The back door off load he has especially during a relief run has helped us get on the front in both games. His D is a concern but I reckon it'll improve with match fitness as he's usually a great 1v1 defender.
For me Kata and Ken have been choice and their spots are theirs to lose. Beal and Ayshford are in the background and will hopefully keep them on their toes.
Roger Tuivasa-Sheck has been awesome. He's not coming in and taking random hit ups anymore. He's using his energy more effectively especially in support. In both weeks I've seen him consistently trailing our runners which will pay off if continues.
Luke looks like the Luke of old. The man.

Just my 2 cents. Love screaming at the tv again especially at those fucken refs lol.

That's a key point you make. A spine that is no longer pre-occupied with covering everyone else now poses more threats to the opposition D line. Hence we aren't sitting ducks getting bogged down with tackling. We're not static and our 5th tackle options are greater.

 

[bunnyglory]

Did well minus a forwad most of game.. Green and Tohu Harris doing it!!

 

[t-wade23]

Scrappy as game but got the job done looked like they could of played another 20-40 mins they didn’t seemed tired at all even with a man down and the effort on defense especially was massive.

Attack a lot of missed chances could of won by a lot more but great to see the 2nd phase again the offload kings are back I’m sure they were trying to break the single game offload record last night.

That right edge Harris,Fusitua,Hiku and Shaun Johnson is gonna be a problem all season for teams I think there also needs to be a discussion about Fusitua being one of the best wingers in the world there’s not many I would have over him right now amazing considering the early part of his career was riddled with injury issues.

2-0 can’t be mad at that going to Canberra which has always been a tough place but it’s nice not to be so negative to start the season for once.

 

[Tragic]

The defence was awesome from almost everyone but special mention for:'
Shaun Johnson - he is stopping big guys or at least slowing them until the troops arrive and for a half thats all you can ask. His technique is a bit different as he kind of gets on one half of the runner so they dont steamroll him but it worked.

Gavet - in a lot of tackels and stops their big men, its like he feels like a leader and so he is acting like one.

Tohu Harris - I was up high in the stand so got a good look at the D line and he is always first out of the blocks and half a step of the rest of them so they all have to rush to keep up, Often half a step of the ref as well but thats OK as long as he doesnt get pinged.

Roger Tuivasa-Sheck - front on stops, no more turnstile.

 

[Tragic]

Hiku is an interesting one, I did yell this name in frustration a couple of times, like others have said his D is suspect and his hitups bringing the ball out of our 20 are pretty lame compared to Ken and Kata but he does have the ability to get the pass away when tackled and did some other good things as well. I am not ready to drop him yet but need to see improvement.

 

[Sup42]

Someone posted in the game day thread....' did the commentators just say a stomach bug has swept through the Warriors....let's see who is left.....

Short answer yes.

Late mail was that Virus in Perth really hit our club this week.

Might go a long way to explaining why our ISP boys struggled so badly....certainly it points to a first Grade team that is living on no excuses and is in INCREDIBLE condition.

Watch these guys go when no one's crook....

Get out of the way.

 

[Sup42]

Congratulations on a good win for the NZW, from a Wigan Warrior.

Thanks mate.

Now we wait to see if our lot can build a reputation of being as proud of the Jersey as the Wigan crowd.

Big year ahead for us...the biggest in the history of the club.

Last year we were looking down the barrel of having no fans left...

 

[bruce]

Now we wait to see if our lot can build a reputation of being as proud of the Jersey as the Wigan crowd.

Only another 100 years to go brother, MSS is pretty bloody good but it isn't Wigan

 

[TripleL]

Really positive start to the season.
The changes in Roger Tuivasa-Sheck’s game have been noticeable. Firstly, he has looked much more dangerous on attack (less of a battering ram).
Secondly, and more surprising / impressively, his defence compared to last year has been night and day!! He is stonewalling people on the line.