Post Match Raiders v Warriors - [Round 1, 2025]

[Wrighty]

What a disaster! Webby's deep-seated need to be liked seems to be clouding his judgement and rendering him unable to make tough calls. At the same time, he's locked in a conservative rut with no capacity for deep reflection or re-invention. Meanwhile, some of the players were reported to be out beyond midnight on match eve and Agar's alleged behaviour has put Cameron George in an unenviable position. The Warriors 'brand' may be flying, but how long will Robbo and Cam put up with the boring style of footy Webster has instilled. With the SG Ball team heading for the spoon, and recent recruitment decisions from Cappy questionable, what all seemed so bright and full of promise just 18 months ago, now feels like it has completely derailed. Again.

Robbie your takes always prove prophetic. You were right about Nathan Brown for example from day one. Should we persevere with Webster? Will he come good? What is your take on him? Does he have it?

 

[Christchurch_Warrior]

What a disaster! Webby's deep-seated need to be liked seems to be clouding his judgement and rendering him unable to make tough calls. At the same time, he's locked in a conservative rut with no capacity for deep reflection or re-invention. Meanwhile, some of the players were reported to be out beyond midnight on match eve and Agar's alleged behaviour has put Cameron George in an unenviable position. The Warriors 'brand' may be flying, but how long will Robbo and Cam put up with the boring style of footy Webster has instilled. With the SG Ball team heading for the spoon, and recent recruitment decisions from Cappy questionable, what all seemed so bright and full of promise just 18 months ago, now feels like it has completely derailed. Again.

Not doubting you but where is this reported? Want to read as some of our players played like they were out all night. In saying that I have known some guys who been out all night before a game and played 80 minutes and just smashed it.

 

[Beastmode]

Any decent podcasts with guys who will shred the team rather than kiss ass?

Doubtful

Most don’t want to risk burning bridges

It will have to come from fans like yourself not afraid to ask the tough questions

 

[Woofa]

Crazy money, another 450k and we can get Cleary!

Lets swap Capewell, Niukore, Ford and throw in Charnze too (he is a legend though) for Cleary and top up $500k.. Id be stoked with that deal.
Him, Hazelton, NAS and a new 'non cuddles' non 'loyal at any costs' coach (please come back Ivan) and we might make the 8.. FFS lol

 

[Wrighty]

Not doubting you but where is this reported? Want to read as some of our players played like they were out all night. In saying that I have known some guys who been out all night before a game and played 80 minutes and just smashed it.

WARRIORS FALL FOR SIN CITY

Teams can go looking for reasons why they lost a game, but the Warriors shouldn’t have to dig too deep.

The Tackle witnessed a couple of things during the week that had us concerned.

On Tuesday night (local time), a group of six Warriors players were gambling on the casino floor past 9pm.

We’re not suggesting they were breaking rules or doing anything illegal, but it was a strange look during a game prep.

On match eve, another group of players attended the Kevin Hart show at Resorts World, which didn’t finish until midnight.

The Warriors were the last team to arrive in the US, touching down last Saturday, and might not have got Vegas fever out of their system early enough.

Their performance was disappointing given the huge Wahs contingent in the crowd, which was probably the biggest supporter base.

Code Sports

 

[Roons75]

RTS is our best fullback. Sorry Charnze.
TMM is our best halfback when Johnson isnt playing. I'd start there. Ford is not a bench player. He's a solid starter altho we played him too long each game last year. 60 mins.
Capewell is past his use-by.
Niukore definitely stings the defence but is not doing much else in attack.

 

[VB89]

While personally I believe the halves should be TMM at 7 and Metcalf at 6 with TMM given full playmaking reign, im willing to give another game to Metcalf to see what he can do. The club is putting some belief in him in that role and I want to see if it works.

Thats about the only thing i can be patient on.

TT or RTS need to be fullback (probably TT)
Niukore probably needs to move into the middle, he looks done in the second row.

 

[John Nick]

While personally I believe the halves should be TMM at 7 and Metcalf at 6 with TMM given full playmaking reign, im willing to give another game to Metcalf to see what he can do. The club is putting some belief in him in that role and I want to see if it works.

Thats about the only thing i can be patient on.

TT or RTS need to be fullback (probably TT)
Niukore probably needs to move into the middle, he looks done in the second row.

RTS to FB imo and I like the rest of your post

 

[MrFrankWhite]

I will begin with the same caveat I always do. I personally believe in key turning points in a game while others believe every moment is important and you can't pinpoint it down to one factor, one player, or certainly one play...so if you are in that latter camp please skip my post as it won't resonate with your paradigm for match analysis.

The turning point for me was CNK being penalised for kicking his leg out into Horsborough while taking a good leaping catch and getting penalised. I think they might have scored off the next set. The impact was profound on CNK who is in my mind a confidence player. He lost his fledgling confidence (fledgling because he had a bad year last year yet hard worked hard in the pre season to bounce back) and then he screwed the pooch over compensating on a bomb in the second half by not leaping at all and gave up a back breaking try.
Then he dropped his lip and didn't even attempt to tackle a raider who broke into the backfield and he conceded another try that Tuapiki or RTS would have stopped and then he spiralled even further by getting in the way in the Red Zone attacks and ruining things.
Can he bounce back - or is this it. His confidence is now gone for his career. He was out of form all season. Bounced back well in the pre season trials and then got his confidence knocked around in game one.
For the first twenty minutes of the game he was ok. For the last 60 minutes after the Horsborough penalty his play was that of the worst fullback in the NRL first grade by some distance.
A good coach does man to man management. This is on Webster to either get CNK right in the head or alternatively put TMM at fullback next game.

I don’t even think CNK was worst on field

 

[MrFrankWhite]

What a disaster! Webby's deep-seated need to be liked seems to be clouding his judgement and rendering him unable to make tough calls. At the same time, he's locked in a conservative rut with no capacity for deep reflection or re-invention. Meanwhile, some of the players were reported to be out beyond midnight on match eve and Agar's alleged behaviour has put Cameron George in an unenviable position. The Warriors 'brand' may be flying, but how long will Robbo and Cam put up with the boring style of footy Webster has instilled. With the SG Ball team heading for the spoon, and recent recruitment decisions from Cappy questionable, what all seemed so bright and full of promise just 18 months ago, now feels like it has completely derailed. Again.

Glad to hear you calling it out mate. Something is rotting at Warriors HQ and we can’t blame Addin anymore.

Are we seeing a repeat of the sleeping pills saga where the senior guys are running the ship?

 

[MrFrankWhite]

RTS is our best fullback. Sorry Charnze.

RTS is currently our best winger.

Niukore definitely stings the defence but is not doing much else in attack.

Stings as in stings when he lets in tries? Or stings when he gets fended off by halves. At this point Marata is a cancer, but still just a symptom of a greater malaise within the squad.

 

[regenerated borg]

With CNK going on report for dangerous leg out . what's the likely outcome? Anyone know?

 

[The Undertaker]

Glad to hear you calling it out mate. Something is rotting at Warriors HQ and we can’t blame Addin anymore.

Are we seeing a repeat of the sleeping pills saga where the senior guys are running the ship?

Guys - it’s one round. Let’s not all lose our heads here. We got beat by a team who executed better and were hungrier to win. We weren’t allowed to play our style of game as they suffocated the shit out of us.

Correlation does not mean causation.

Mistakes were made both by the coaching staff and players. The Wahs team thought they’d prepped well enough. But they thought they’d face a rusty raiders side. Instead they got a semifinal team.

I don’t think all is lost nor do I think we are bottom four. I remind you this is a very long year. Injuries will hit every team. Teams will evolve through the year.

The Wahs have everything in place from a club perspective - but it should be noted that all of us reacting as feral as we have are bringing all of the past pain into the now.

I get we are desparate to be a winning club - and I still think we will be. I’ll make a prediction - we will win more games than we lost this year and be in the hunt to make the 8.

Why? We are better than Saturday. But our club tends to lose all the games with the massive hype. We are not mature enough to deal with that level of scrutiny and pressure and our boys get bright lights in their eyes. We didn’t come out of the gates with enough sustained intensity. We made too many mistakes.

Both of those things are fixable.

Let’s not go looking for the coaches head just yet. But let’s play some frikken warrior football.

 

[Dannevegas]

Lets swap Capewell, Niukore, Ford and throw in Charnze too (he is a legend though) for Cleary and top up $500k.. Id be stoked with that deal.
Him, Hazelton, NAS and a new 'non cuddles' non 'loyal at any costs' coach (please come back Ivan) and we might make the 8.. FFS loli

I think that’s the only way we’re gonna take it out ever. any other way it’s not gonna happen.
It must be enticing to them though surely (Ivan and Nathan) to come back and win us a premiership. The Cleary trio.

 

[MrFrankWhite]

Guys - it’s one round. Let’s not all lose our heads here. We got beat by a team who executed better and were hungrier to win. We weren’t allowed to play our style of game as they suffocated the shit out of us.

Correlation does not mean causation.

Mistakes were made both by the coaching staff and players. The Wahs team thought they’d prepped well enough. But they thought they’d face a rusty raiders side. Instead they got a semifinal team.

I don’t think all is lost nor do I think we are bottom four. I remind you this is a very long year. Injuries will hit every team. Teams will evolve through the year.

The Wahs have everything in place from a club perspective - but it should be noted that all of us reacting as feral as we have are bringing all of the past pain into the now.

I get we are desparate to be a winning club - and I still think we will be. I’ll make a prediction - we will win more games than we lost this year and be in the hunt to make the 8.

Why? We are better than Saturday. But our club tends to lose all the games with the massive hype. We are not mature enough to deal with that level of scrutiny and pressure and our boys get bright lights in their eyes. We didn’t come out of the gates with enough sustained intensity. We made too many mistakes.

Both of those things are fixable.

Let’s not go looking for the coaches head just yet. But let’s play some frikken warrior football.

Is that you Webby? All I see is weak excuses.

The biggest problem is that after 6 months Webby thinks Capewell and Marata are capabale 1st grade players, when clearly they arent. If your head coach cant even see that, then you have to question their decision making process.

In fact its less about the loss than how we lost and the fact that the staff are still clueless.

 

[BangBro's (still banging)]

I will begin with the same caveat I always do. I personally believe in key turning points in a game while others believe every moment is important and you can't pinpoint it down to one factor, one player, or certainly one play...so if you are in that latter camp please skip my post as it won't resonate with your paradigm for match analysis.

The turning point for me was CNK being penalised for kicking his leg out into Horsborough while taking a good leaping catch and getting penalised. I think they might have scored off the next set. The impact was profound on CNK who is in my mind a confidence player. He lost his fledgling confidence (fledgling because he had a bad year last year yet hard worked hard in the pre season to bounce back) and then he screwed the pooch over compensating on a bomb in the second half by not leaping at all and gave up a back breaking try.
Then he dropped his lip and didn't even attempt to tackle a raider who broke into the backfield and he conceded another try that Tuapiki or RTS would have stopped and then he spiralled even further by getting in the way in the Red Zone attacks and ruining things.
Can he bounce back - or is this it. His confidence is now gone for his career. He was out of form all season. Bounced back well in the pre season trials and then got his confidence knocked around in game one.
For the first twenty minutes of the game he was ok. For the last 60 minutes after the Horsborough penalty his play was that of the worst fullback in the NRL first grade by some distance.
A good coach does man to man management. This is on Webster to either get CNK right in the head or alternatively put TMM at fullback next game.

Put him ar centre if this is the case, surely he's not that weak minded, but if he is then that's a reflection on the club and how they handle these boys.

As much as I loathe Ricky Stuart, he does not give rope to soft players. Now as much as I love webby, he can't cuddle players all the time either.

This is a huge year for webby in how he handles the tough stuff.

 

[WA Warrior]

While personally I believe the halves should be TMM at 7 and Metcalf at 6 with TMM given full playmaking reign, im willing to give another game to Metcalf to see what he can do. The club is putting some belief in him in that role and I want to see if it works.

Thats about the only thing i can be patient on.

TT or RTS need to be fullback (probably TT)
Niukore probably needs to move into the middle, he looks done in the second row.

Agreed, I banged on and about giving the halves time to gel and I called for changes after 1 game.
I was too emotional and reactive.
Willing to give them another 4 or so rounds to see if they can make it work.

I don’t know if I was fixated on Capewell yesterday but his defence was an embarrassment for the level of player he is.

Charnze days at the back are done imo.
Centre maybe from now.
Happy to give TMM a crack in the 1 jersey as we probably need TT on the wing until DWZ is back.

 

[run_it_str8_again]

WARRIORS FALL FOR SIN CITY

Teams can go looking for reasons why they lost a game, but the Warriors shouldn’t have to dig too deep.

The Tackle witnessed a couple of things during the week that had us concerned.

On Tuesday night (local time), a group of six Warriors players were gambling on the casino floor past 9pm.

We’re not suggesting they were breaking rules or doing anything illegal, but it was a strange look during a game prep.

On match eve, another group of players attended the Kevin Hart show at Resorts World, which didn’t finish until midnight.

The Warriors were the last team to arrive in the US, touching down last Saturday, and might not have got Vegas fever out of their system early enough.

Their performance was disappointing given the huge Wahs contingent in the crowd, which was probably the biggest supporter base.

Code Sports

Shit. This is really nothing.

Players have played pissed, hungover, hazed, high as kites, used during half time, had spirits in their drink bottles.

Sorry but in spite of all of that, you sometimes just gotta turn up.

That's the part we missed. I have no issue with their game eve activities. Just show up for the game

 

[BangBro's (still banging)]

Guys - it’s one round. Let’s not all lose our heads here. We got beat by a team who executed better and were hungrier to win. We weren’t allowed to play our style of game as they suffocated the shit out of us.

Correlation does not mean causation.

Mistakes were made both by the coaching staff and players. The Wahs team thought they’d prepped well enough. But they thought they’d face a rusty raiders side. Instead they got a semifinal team.

I don’t think all is lost nor do I think we are bottom four. I remind you this is a very long year. Injuries will hit every team. Teams will evolve through the year.

The Wahs have everything in place from a club perspective - but it should be noted that all of us reacting as feral as we have are bringing all of the past pain into the now.

I get we are desparate to be a winning club - and I still think we will be. I’ll make a prediction - we will win more games than we lost this year and be in the hunt to make the 8.

Why? We are better than Saturday. But our club tends to lose all the games with the massive hype. We are not mature enough to deal with that level of scrutiny and pressure and our boys get bright lights in their eyes. We didn’t come out of the gates with enough sustained intensity. We made too many mistakes.

Both of those things are fixable.

Let’s not go looking for the coaches head just yet. But let’s play some frikken warrior football.

I think there is cause for concern. People can criticise this teams performance, most of us can hanlde losing but can't take the way they lost.

Now they better move on from it quick because these types of losses can take weeks to get over and all of a sudden your season just slips.

 

[Inruin]

Shit. This is really nothing.

Players have played pissed, hungover, hazed, high as kites, used during half time, had spirits in their drink bottles.

Sorry but in spite of all of that, you sometimes just gotta turn up.

That's the part we missed. I have no issue with their game eve activities. Just show up for the game

Sorry, I do have an issue. This game should have been our sole focus. Spend a few days after the game doing this stuff after putting in your best performance. Instead we shit the bed, big time.