Mr Dragon
After the Sharks and the Cowboys lost, we still have a chance for the 8, but we have to beat the Sharks. I'm not asking i'm begging 
Worried2Death
Browny unlikely to be coaching this week due to his brother's funeral.
Condolences to Nathan and family.
Condolences to Nathan and family.
pompower
Given our injuries this could be a real banter line up. I’m gonna go full worst case scenario.
Players assumed out: Harris, Katoa, Townsend, Walsh, Aitken, Curran, Fusitu'a, Hiku, Chanel Harris-Tavita, Nikorima.
1. Watene-Zelezniak
2. Pompey
3. Berry
4. Vailea
5. Montoya
6. Tuivasa-Sheck
7. Egan
8. Evans
9. Tevaga
10. Fonua-Blake
11. Murchie
12. Sironen
13. Afoa
14. Otukolo
15. Ah Mau
16. Taunoa-Brown
17. Murdoch-Masila
At least it'd be interesting. For a bit.
Players assumed out: Harris, Katoa, Townsend, Walsh, Aitken, Curran, Fusitu'a, Hiku, Chanel Harris-Tavita, Nikorima.
1. Watene-Zelezniak
2. Pompey
3. Berry
4. Vailea
5. Montoya
6. Tuivasa-Sheck
7. Egan
8. Evans
9. Tevaga
10. Fonua-Blake
11. Murchie
12. Sironen
13. Afoa
14. Otukolo
15. Ah Mau
16. Taunoa-Brown
17. Murdoch-Masila
At least it'd be interesting. For a bit.
Nangsy
roadrunner
I really honestly don't care anymore who is in the team.What I'm wanting are guys who stand for what the Warriors name stands for.Fighters, guys who stand up and lay their bodies on the line for each other every game week in week out.If you are not up to it get out.Shit most of us fans put alot on the line each week to watch them so let's start with the Sharkies one win is better than none.
AlexM
New Zealand Warriors recruit Matt Lodge breaks his silence following rollercoaster Broncos exit
New Zealand Warriors recruit Matt Lodge has opened up on his rollercoaster exit from the Brisbane Broncos, following his release last week.
fizurg
New Zealand Warriors recruit Matt Lodge breaks his silence following rollercoaster Broncos exit
New Zealand Warriors recruit Matt Lodge has opened up on his rollercoaster exit from the Brisbane Broncos, following his release last week.www.sportingnews.com
Warriors are paying Lodge a “bit under half price” of what they offered him in the past.
snake77
The selection of the front rowers will be interesting.
Addin Fonua-Blake is a given. Can see them rusing Lodge in to the side.
Interested to see who they favour out of Evans, Ah Mau and Afoa. Evans is a new recruit but Brown has made comments about his conditioning. Afoa has done well to go from unwanted to winning a new contract, Ah Mau is off contract so it will be interesting to see how they view him.
Addin Fonua-Blake is a given. Can see them rusing Lodge in to the side.
Interested to see who they favour out of Evans, Ah Mau and Afoa. Evans is a new recruit but Brown has made comments about his conditioning. Afoa has done well to go from unwanted to winning a new contract, Ah Mau is off contract so it will be interesting to see how they view him.
The Falcon
Lodge and Addin Fonua-Blake usually play big minutes. I wonder if they will go for containment in the rotation and leave Evans out and pencil in Bunty and LAM for their defensive qualities.
For the 4th time this year it’s a must win game
Roger Tuivasa-Sheck
Dallin Watene-Zelezniak
Aiken
Pompey
Montoya
Walsh
Nikorima
Addin Fonua-Blake
Egan
Lodge
Curren
Sironen
Jazz
Bunty
LAM
Otukolo
Murchie
For the 4th time this year it’s a must win game
Roger Tuivasa-Sheck
Dallin Watene-Zelezniak
Aiken
Pompey
Montoya
Walsh
Nikorima
Addin Fonua-Blake
Egan
Lodge
Curren
Sironen
Jazz
Bunty
LAM
Otukolo
Murchie
eudebrito
|-|
Contributor
Pretty sure Aitken and Curran can't play yet, the 14 days might be up by the weekend, but they won't have been able to train at all. Even though they followed the rules,
In light of that, the NRL are weak dogs for not stripping the Dragons of competition points for failing to control their players.
1. Walsh (that patch in the middle of the dragons game where we were dominating, he would have killed them off)
2. Dallin Watene-Zelezniak (looked good)
3. Montoya (playing better than tall Kata)
4. Berry (they can do that thing where Roger comes into center on attack and Berry goes out to the wing)
5. Roger Tuivasa-Sheck (its not optimal use of players)
6. Nikorima (assume recovered)
7. Sean O'Sullivan (i don't think running openly injured players out there is a responsible way to operate)
8. Addin Fonua-Blake
9. Egan
10. Lodge (throw him in there, front row is now the strength of the team, batter away at the opposition while we can)
11. Sironen (he looked a bit better with more minutes on the edge)
12. Murchie
13. Tevaga
14. Otukolo (surely he can have a dart from dummy half off the back of these props)
15. LAM
16. Afoa/Evans
17. Ben Murdoch-Masila (leave him on the bench, sub with Murchie, or if you get a backline injury, he takes Sironen's place, why is this so complicated?)
18. Pompey
19. Evans/Afoa
Assume Chad, Katoa and Harris are all injured.
Other than the big flashing warning light in the halves, its still an okay side, but the finals is not happening after the last 2 weeks, that's why not bothering to move Walsh into 6, they need to win something like 6 out of 9 to tie for 8th (we haven't had many blow out scorelines so our points diff is okay)
Yeah, that's possible on paper, with an easy draw and a full strength team, but they are never at full strength, and we never win back to back games under any circumstances, so why is that going to change now? Maybe being out of finals contention will cause them to relax a bit like they did late last year.
So let Walsh play fullback, give Berry a go, let Kosi play Q Cup etc.
In light of that, the NRL are weak dogs for not stripping the Dragons of competition points for failing to control their players.
1. Walsh (that patch in the middle of the dragons game where we were dominating, he would have killed them off)
2. Dallin Watene-Zelezniak (looked good)
3. Montoya (playing better than tall Kata)
4. Berry (they can do that thing where Roger comes into center on attack and Berry goes out to the wing)
5. Roger Tuivasa-Sheck (its not optimal use of players)
6. Nikorima (assume recovered)
7. Sean O'Sullivan (i don't think running openly injured players out there is a responsible way to operate)
8. Addin Fonua-Blake
9. Egan
10. Lodge (throw him in there, front row is now the strength of the team, batter away at the opposition while we can)
11. Sironen (he looked a bit better with more minutes on the edge)
12. Murchie
13. Tevaga
14. Otukolo (surely he can have a dart from dummy half off the back of these props)
15. LAM
16. Afoa/Evans
17. Ben Murdoch-Masila (leave him on the bench, sub with Murchie, or if you get a backline injury, he takes Sironen's place, why is this so complicated?)
18. Pompey
19. Evans/Afoa
Assume Chad, Katoa and Harris are all injured.
Other than the big flashing warning light in the halves, its still an okay side, but the finals is not happening after the last 2 weeks, that's why not bothering to move Walsh into 6, they need to win something like 6 out of 9 to tie for 8th (we haven't had many blow out scorelines so our points diff is okay)
Yeah, that's possible on paper, with an easy draw and a full strength team, but they are never at full strength, and we never win back to back games under any circumstances, so why is that going to change now? Maybe being out of finals contention will cause them to relax a bit like they did late last year.
So let Walsh play fullback, give Berry a go, let Kosi play Q Cup etc.
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Walsh has to go to 6 for the rest of the year, it's a non negotiable..don't give a shit about his defensive deficiencys right now, we are hanging by a thread. He needs to have his hands on the ball every damn set.
Have we had Ben Murdoch-Masila in his preferred position of 13 yet this year? Put him there. If anything, with Lodge on board, at the very least we'll have 3 pretty scary middles in Lodge, Addin Fonua-Blake and Ben Murdoch-Masila. Start by putting a bit of fear factor into opposition teams.
To be honest, this team has no ticker. We've only won one more game than the Broncos now. Im hoping they come out of this year having learnt some very hard lessons and its make them stronger for next year, it either his that way or it just continues.
Roger Tuivasa-Sheck
Dallin Watene-Zelezniak
Aitken
Berry
Montoya
Walsh
Kodi
Addin Fonua-Blake
Egan
Lodge
Curren
Katoa/murchie
Ben Murdoch-Masila
Bunty
Tevaga
Ah mau
Sironen
Have we had Ben Murdoch-Masila in his preferred position of 13 yet this year? Put him there. If anything, with Lodge on board, at the very least we'll have 3 pretty scary middles in Lodge, Addin Fonua-Blake and Ben Murdoch-Masila. Start by putting a bit of fear factor into opposition teams.
To be honest, this team has no ticker. We've only won one more game than the Broncos now. Im hoping they come out of this year having learnt some very hard lessons and its make them stronger for next year, it either his that way or it just continues.
Roger Tuivasa-Sheck
Dallin Watene-Zelezniak
Aitken
Berry
Montoya
Walsh
Kodi
Addin Fonua-Blake
Egan
Lodge
Curren
Katoa/murchie
Ben Murdoch-Masila
Bunty
Tevaga
Ah mau
Sironen
Sup42
I like this team.
Out of Bunty or Evans I would try Evans this week, go Large with Lodge coming in, just try out what having the bigger pack looks like against the Sharks in particular.
It would be a major achievement if Lodge helps us Bully the Sharks as part of the Addin Fonua-Blake Evans triad.
Evans goes well for the first few minutes in a game, he is quite active and has a good run in him, since our props play long minutes I would slot him in over Bunty.
If he tanks, Bunty next week.
I would be telling these Warriors to forget about the finals, that ship has probably sailed, go out there and have fun, go hard and enjoy the rest of the season.
I disagree with the sentiment that players are not trying, or lack ticker.
I think we are losing close games because some players, especially our seniors like Roger Tuivasa-Sheck and Tohu Harris, are trying too hard.
There comes the brain farts. uncharacteristic errors from good players is a sign of pressure.
We need to try to play that end of season dead rubber style that goes well for us, like it did last season.
Take the pressure off. We have nothing to lose from here.
Another thing I don't really get, is people raging on Sean O'Sullivan. He is not really meant to be playing out there as frequently as he has, and ultimately we would be in a worse position without him doing his little cameos.
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Yeah look, maybe saying they don't have ticker is the wrong wording. I know they are trying. It's likely they are just not good enough right now. But we're never good enough. We've gone from a what I thought was a pretty strong mid table team to a likely bottom four side. The injuries excuse is very convenient, but every team has injuries.
I don't know, to bottle 5 or 6 games in the last 5 mins, is that an attitude thing? As in, do they want to win? Or is it a mental lapse? They probably are trying, but their mental toughness needs to be called into question.
Cces
Sup42
Yeah they look mentally brittle, no resilience, chronic problem.
When we have a narrow lead in the last stanza they look like they are panicking instead of playing the numbers.
What they need is a string of success.
Hopefully Brown can convince then that all those narrow losses are a sign they are not far off turning a corner.
All that said, Lodge will be interesting, his recent interview about moving here was all business, rather than the usual platitudes about always wanting to play for the Warriors or the other ones for example I want to try to bring blah blah to the club...be part of the first premiership etc.
In theory with both starting halves out we should get pumped this game.
Across the board the Sharks match up with us, but they have an in form NRL half in Johnson, should be a blood bath on paper.
Hopefully our lot can show some pride and bumble their way through the game without disgracing themselves.
I mean, they are in these games. There not getting blown off the park from the get go, which if they were would suggest they just suck..but they are competitive.
Which is why I lean toward there being a lack of mental toughness or as you said, resilience. Having sub par halves wouldn't help, I know. But even with the halves we have we have put ourselves in position to snatch games plenty of times. We just don't have the intestinal fortitude to see it through unfortunately. I believe they had more if it last year.
but yeah, I don't have high hopes for this game. Shaun Johnson was sublime against the Broncs. Maybe the Sharks are running into a poor patch and we can get em.
Sup42
Johnson has been playing at that level for the last few years for the Sharks,
He really improved out of sight when he left here, which tells you he wasted most of his career not listening to the experts about working on his game controlling.
Every Immortal and every star in this game has spoken about Johnson the Warrior and the missing game control ability.
He would have been the greatest player ever had he worked on it earlier in life instead of using physical ability all the time.
Still the better Shaun Johnson is coming here, so provided he stays fit we are in for a treat.
It is interesting that the Sharks are prepared to let him go, he is their best player.....why they couldn't stretch his offer a bit above 450K I dunno...prolly a repeat of Peter Brown Agent asking for 750K at the start of negotiations...we have seen that movie here already...
Anyway, Shaun Johnson for 450, Lodge for less than 400K (confirmed the man himself said he is getting more than half his 800K Broncos Salary from the Broncos) and Dallin Watene-Zelezniak for half price is some sick dealing.
We need confidence, that is what is missing.
Last year when the season was gone, the team lost its fear of losing and went on a run.
The guys need to chill a bit.
I actually thought he was trying to transition into a more game managing half in his last few years with us. Particularly after he came back from that bad injury (ACL or Achilles I think?). But when he wasn't scoring length of the field tries or wrong footing players every touch of the ball fans got impatient, myself included. He spoke about it on a podcast not long ago..
Yeah I can't understand why the Sharks are letting him go either. He's easily their best as you said, I think his initial asking price annoyed them. Remember, I'm pretty sure he only dropped it to 450k once he was running out of options, then we swooped. If he can bring his current form home next year, we'll be a hell of alot better for it.
wizards rage
We’re better than our ladder position. At least our potential is.
Our faults are our did halves that have hardly played together. Neither of our first choice were there last week. And I think (guessing) we would be the team that has used the most players by a fair margin (through injury and recruitment). Zero consistency. Look at this week AGAIN where half the teams in doubt.
We choke because nobody has confidence in those around them because half of them have never played with each other for more than a few weeks and because our first choice halves were bottom 4.
We have not been blown away in many games which means we have a decent squad, it’s just we are unable to get any consistency of selection…
Our faults are our did halves that have hardly played together. Neither of our first choice were there last week. And I think (guessing) we would be the team that has used the most players by a fair margin (through injury and recruitment). Zero consistency. Look at this week AGAIN where half the teams in doubt.
We choke because nobody has confidence in those around them because half of them have never played with each other for more than a few weeks and because our first choice halves were bottom 4.
We have not been blown away in many games which means we have a decent squad, it’s just we are unable to get any consistency of selection…
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mrblonde
Rick O'Shay
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