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#2495309 30-May-2020 20:37

nztim:

Wakrak: Great way to start v2 of the 2020 season

they were absolutely clinical tonight 43/43 sets before the first of two errors in the last five minutes

we need this consistency throughout the rest of the season

I agree. Was hoping that the captains challenge would rule it a 1 on 1 strip and continue the perfect run. Listening to the pre/post show, sounded like many didn't give the Warriors much of a chance considering the situation they're in. But the Dragons aren't exactly the greatest team this year. They made a few decent line-breaks but never capitalized. See how we go next week. Good to have the footy on again!

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#2495322 30-May-2020 20:47

Wakrak:

But the Dragons aren't exactly the greatest team this year.

True but they can be, I was at the game at Westpac stadium in 2015 where the warriors got smashed 40/nil to them

Wakrak:

Good to have the footy on again!

After weeks of watching rubbish on TV it has been great! - I am impressed with the sharks tonight too

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#2495324 30-May-2020 20:51

nztim:

Wakrak: Great way to start v2 of the 2020 season

they were absolutely clinical tonight 43/43 sets before the first of two errors in the last five minutes

we need this consistency throughout the rest of the season

That is Stephen Kearneys strong point. Warriors have been great at not making dumb mistakes since he has been coach, the next year he improved the D with the 2nd best try line Defense that season.

Unfortunately what we have sucked at, since Cleary was coach is consistently using large amounts of posession and converting that constant red zone (20m) offense into points, losing Johnson and not putting CNK (and releasing him durrr) just compounded the problem (thanks Cameron George, you are not a professional CEO, let alone an NRL club CEO). So much offensive talent across the pitch even without quality halves, so was good to see them finally used this game.

However Warriors had the 2nd hardest draw prior to covid, now the hardest draw with the remaining games all being top 10 teams.

Whatever happens this year, outside a miracle offensive coaching or natural talent click, I hope the new owners will sack CEO Cameron George and bring on an offensive quality specialist coach and release the other 4 (keep Stacey around the club). Stephen needs the chunk of footy he naturally lacks as a meat head forward, dynamic offense.

Warriors should have thrown an open cheque at Brandon Smith being a Kiwi and our national 9, thats one of the spine fixes (with Luke released), how we lures a quality 6 I have no idea. All can hope is Hayze improves dramatically this year as both Johnson and RTS rate him. If we cant replace Green then CHT is the incumbent. CHT to Hayze Perham could be lethal with Brandon Smith stealing metres and creating open field play for Hayze, RTS, Fus etc.

But whilst Brandon still has to wait for Cameron Smith to retire to play first grade, even with a $1m type deal with the Warriors he may choose to stay with Melbourne which is where hes been professionally developed.

I just dont see any other hopes with CEO Boy George releasing 4 of our most dangerous players stating hes looking for value for money players. Value for money = no top 8 hopes EVER. He has to go and we have to rebuild that spine that was looking so good after a great 2018 making the 8 for first time in 7 years. People like George dont realise how much offensive plays Johnson created for other players every game when people were saying he was MIA personally, he was still the man for draw and pass to the wings and centres creating holes.

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#2495329 30-May-2020 21:04

TeaLeaf:

Whatever happens this year, outside a miracle offensive coaching or natural talent click, I hope the new owners will sack CEO Cameron George and bring on an offensive quality specialist coach and release the other 4 (keep Stacey around the club). Stephen needs the chunk of footy he naturally lacks as a meat head forward, dynamic offense.

& we have a lot of players off contract after this season; Gerald Beale, Lachlan Burr, Jackson Frei, Blake Green, Patrick Herbert, Peta Hiku, Adam Keighran, Taane Milne, Jack Murchie, Isaiah Papali'i, Leivaha Pulu, Nathaniel Roache, Tyronne Roberts-Davis.

Agree we need something dynamic. Our attack the past few years has looked textbook. Run it straight 2/3 tackles. Spread the ball. Take it wide on 4th. Bring it back in and kick. Too readable.

Green looked good tonight. Calm and composed. But he's no spring chicken. A lot of moves to make for next year.

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#2495502 31-May-2020 08:50

nztim:

Wakrak: Great way to start v2 of the 2020 season

they were absolutely clinical tonight 43/43 sets before the first of two errors in the last five minutes

we need this consistency throughout the rest of the season

Yes, and they weren't flashy and got away with it, it was pure discipline. Hold the ball every set, the score will look after itself. In the after match, the Dragons were criticised for playing bad. They didn't play bad, they weren't making mistakes any more than a team in a high contact sport can. Nothing worked, always chasing the score.

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#2499293 5-Jun-2020 21:38

Tough night at the office. Panthers gave us no space whatsoever. Always taking the ball runner to the ground on put on their back.

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#2499720 6-Jun-2020 16:43

Lengthy, read if you care.

Wakrak:

& we have a lot of players off contract after this season; Gerald Beale, Lachlan Burr, Jackson Frei, Blake Green, Patrick Herbert, Peta Hiku, Adam Keighran, Taane Milne, Jack Murchie, Isaiah Papali'i, Leivaha Pulu, Nathaniel Roache, Tyronne Roberts-Davis.

Gerard Beale was like watching CNK in 2nd grade, waste of talent. Patrick Herbert should be a no brainer along with Peta Hiku (depending on salary) Papali'i was meant to be the next # prodigy so give the kid more time to develop, Pulu cheaply is a good impact forward. To be honest I dont know what to make of the rest of them. But we need to let Green go and either play CHT at 7 with Hayze Perham outside him like their u20 days or start flappn shopping. I dont understand why they have wasted another year with Adam Keighran type signings, we have 9s and in one game we played 4 of them, none of them outside are any good outside Karl Lawton, none are fast enough to pinch 10 metres and create havoc or quick enough to get a penalty for markers square outside Karil Lawton. I know he has had shoulder issues. But imo I would have kept Lawton and Roache as my 1 & 2 hookers. But SURELY Brandon Smith was approached? Being #2 behind Cam Smith but IMO being the best running 9 ahead of Cam Smith and exactly what the Warriors needed to replace Luke, which is ruck speed (which we good at) converted to line speed. But if we not shopping for a decent hooker stop buying people like Wade Egan and Adam Keighran and all these players nobody else wants. We either buy a good 6 and 7 or use the 2 young promising ones we have NOW or we dont, yes I mean bench Kodi as yet another hooker/back utility replacement. We either buy a Brandon Smith (throw the open cheque book and token kiwi card at him), or we play Karl Lawton and dump Egan, Roache and keep Kodi as a bench utility back, heck Kodi would make a fantastic 9, he doesnt pass the ball and hes fast, just coach him to pass it when he can steal 10m or get a penalty.

This is my beef with George, 1. He has a potty mouth in public in regard to the team. 2. He has no player management skills, and shouldnt, he stole one of the best spines in the NRL from us paying fans when he Publicly ousted Shaun Johnson (the Key to our dynamic play who would be awesome sauce on the inside of CHT now) 3. His philosophy is to buy "value for money" players. What he doesnt get is that there is only 30 men in a squad. Yet he has replaced Shaun Johnson with 4 CHEAP players. Which means out of 30 you was 17 elite-great-good players and 13 good players But what we have now is a handful of great players (why they stayed I dont know) 1 elite player (why RTS stays I dont know, the Warriors done him wrong imo thanks to the CEO as he bought into the elite spine they HAD) and in our reserves we are now bordering on calling up the average players, or we just straight out play them. George is SOME HOW under the impression the SK can coach avg players to greatness, SK couldnt coach a player to Good from AVG. Wayne Bennett is one of the few coaches that can do that. So in other words Georgie seemingly average philosophy just waters down the entire club, including 2nd grade.

Wakrak:

Agree we need something dynamic. Our attack the past few years has looked textbook. Run it straight 2/3 tackles. Spread the ball. Take it wide on 4th. Bring it back in and kick. Too readable.

Its all on SK. Id like to say this is a situation where the players arent listening. But as per above George and our Poacher are finding duds to fill the space of 2 elite players and he is expecting SK, who isnt a one on one coach, to polish the duds to diamonds.

Also SK is a good coach at team basics, ie he improved our completion rate. Hes an OK defense coach (he did improve our defense when our spine was at elite level, 2018), but he SUCKS at offense coaching. Sure there is only so much a coach can do with a team, but read our 2017-2018 30 man roster and tell me how he couldnt coach that into top 4, but 2017 we did improve defense and 2018 we made the 8, then George steps in and ever since the return of the Kiwis he has been weeding out the Dynamic players, Im sure RTS is on his radar. Either way even looking at the 2020 roster, a lot of Aussie coaches would be chomping at the bit to coach this lot, especially the starting 13.

https://www.sportingnews.com/au/league/news/nrl-2020-every-clubs-full-30-man-roster-and-development-squad/rcb3jy3gkw8u1ciwpy0kbcz9r

The stupid thing is all it would take is 1 more dynamic player in halves or at 9 to make this squad great again. My hope against hopes is George gets the sack from the new owners and they offer Johnson a come back bonus. The SK gets ONE offensive specialist coach. Its nuts how we can spend money on 6 coaches but not pay Johnson what he was offered (didnt ask for). He wasnt always individually Dynamic which is why people would say he would go MIA, but as a team player he was 99% engaged and was the player who was putting us into holes or creating holes. He did what Kodi doesnt, which is draw and pass 2 hands out in front, often putting Ken into flight over the try line, Kodi will usually try to take the line on, which comes off some times, but not enough and he will pass it when he knows there is no overlap. He just doesnt have the hands of top #6 (and none of the skills needed for game management/kicking at 7).

So I keep hope George will do the honorable thing and resign and piss off back to Aus, live by the sword die by the sword with his words to Johnson " No one person is greater than the club", yet I think he should have done that by now so my gut tells me he is all talk, small man syndrome and will stay until he is fired. Ive not seen a CEO get so involved in the day to day business on the field as this man. I think he thinks he is some kind of German savior genius like Klopp for Liverpool FC, sorry champ wrong sport, CEOs are meant to stick to the business side and this guy is losing paying fans every day he stays.

And I then hope we only open the cheque book for elite players. See the thing is Dynamic elite players make the good players look great and the great players elite, you put 3 in one team with 3-4 great players like Fus and Ken and then you turn them from hard working great players into elite (if they arent already). But you have to have the spine FULL of Elite players and the rest of the 13 great and most of the reserves great with some young Good players in reserves for that greatness to rub off on. We had that team in 2018 and it still hurts me to this day how George handled it and how SK should have been the one handling it, cancelling his "Holiday" in the states, thats what the big boys get paid the dollars for. If George felt SJ was not worth what the club was offering him, SK and co should have been having talks about on his next contract he is going to have to take a pay cut. If George actually wanted SJ gone, then all I can say is Watson put this club in deep trouble by hiring George before selling up.

Im seeing Nathan Browns instant impact on the team, we have gone crappy to terrible immediately. WTheck. Seriously why on earth would you throw an unwanted stray dog a bone? We already have too many coaches.

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TeaLeaf

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#2500721 8-Jun-2020 16:11

Wakrak: Tough night at the office. Panthers gave us no space whatsoever. Always taking the ball runner to the ground on put on their back.

Yep compressed D, if you dont have snappy halves and or 9 you just going to be running into zero gains every tackle vs compressed D. This is exactly where you need an electric dynamic 5/8th like Shaun Johnson. Somebody who can run diagonally at the line at speed, ball in 2 hands, he either draws and passes which simply means centre to wing and Try, or if the opposition wing steps in early he floats it to our wing and Try, or somebody like Johnson being one of the fastest halves ever over 40m with one of the best steps ever can also just step inside which is where people were saying he was often MIA, it irritates me because its so obvious how often he put the wingers away. Admittedly he should never have been playing 7, anybody who thinks 7 and 6 are the same position, modern football or not, do not understand the importance of somebody who can manage a game vs somebody who can execute the called play. He did say he wouldnt rule out coming back, would be interesting to see if George gets the boot if everybodies fav Warrior player gets an open cheque to return.

Still frustrated as I dont see the point in buying sloppy seconds nobody else wants, Keigran, Nikorima, Egan etc. If we going to expect SK to be a one on one super coach, then make him use the 2 good young halves we have, keep Kodi until contract runs out as back up for the team, keep looking for the elusive 9 while Lawton or Nikorima fill that spot. But the issue isnt the lack of talent in the team.

We had the 2nd worst draw this year, post covid the worst by far. I would rather have 16 rounds and swap home ground every second year than have at least 4 teams extremely disadvantaged every year just to appease nothing, home ground 1.5x a year is potentially much worse depending on the draw and this year the Warriors got chewed up. Could possibly be the maiden spoon.

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#2500722 8-Jun-2020 16:21

Nikorima seems the nippy runner we need but we rarely see him run. I assume that's the coaches call. If he ran half the time, then the opposition wont know if he will or he wont, they will have to plan for that, and waste a player.

TeaLeaf

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#2503846 12-Jun-2020 20:23

tdgeek:

Nikorima seems the nippy runner we need but we rarely see him run. I assume that's the coaches call. If he ran half the time, then the opposition wont know if he will or he wont, they will have to plan for that, and waste a player.

He can run but he doesnt know how to setup the wing, thats the issue here and at the broncos.

Warriors 2nd best completion in comp, perfect start, then out value for money number 9 Wade Egan gives away 2 penalties and Cowboys score. I wonder why. It just shows up why value for money doesnt work.

It also shows SK can coach a team to do the basics but hes flappn ship at offensive playbook training. So over watching hit ups with no Dynamics.

And then Hiku makes a total meal letting a ball go in the in goal, cowboys put it down. If he had just picked it up likely he busts the tackle and gets back into field of play. Absurd.

Good break by Nikorima, but it wont happen often enough, its like Shaun Johnson without his team skills ie setting up draw and pass. Nikorima can make a break but its not all his position needs. Not sure why Kodi didnt just score that one himself.

Hiku makes up for the blunder.

Warriors are not scoring as a team though, these are all individual runs at the line, not 7 and 6 putting players into motion causing gaps and overlaps. Cant stress this enough.

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#2503852 12-Jun-2020 20:54

Good half for Kodi. But still not going to play every round this well. Need the basic team play as well.

Love Central Coast Stadium, know it well, am a member of the Leagues Club. Miss those days living up there, gorgeous part of NSW.

TeaLeaf

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#2503910 12-Jun-2020 22:11

None of that was team offense. It just shows with that much individual brilliance, whilst missing fusitua, maumolo, ah mau and another (slips my mind), if they had halves that could produce holes and overlaps for the centres and wings they would be an offensive force with fantastic completions.

The defense whilst letting in a lot of tries was really intense at time, that hit from herbert ouch, and a number of sets pushing Cowboys back.

But offensively the Warriors wont match the top 8 with just individual tries being the difference. Also a mix of fantastic defense (Taumololo only just over 100m, unheard of) but with a big dose of letting in easy tries.

Combine both those factors, Warriors may not get the spoon but thats all that I can see being positive this year. Need a dynamic 6 who doesnt just turn up individually for 1 game out of 15, we need one who causes havoc for the offensive backs. We had Shaun Johnson creating havoc for his team mates every game, but was criticised for not scoring tries and running with the ball every game, in that context, Kodi is horrible in comparison despite having his one good individual game this year tonight (possibly MOTM).

But I dont think hooking kicks that nearly became important is a laughing matter. Terrible conversions.

Wade Egan cost 2 tries, didnt do much in comparison to Karl lawton. Find a great 9 and a great 6 and Warriors could be a top 4 team (with an offensive coach as well). this will be 10 years with making the 8 only once. Just not good enough after Cleary's era with much better overall team, all be it watered down by the CEO.

TeaLeaf

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#2505076 15-Jun-2020 14:36

Friday nights game vs Bunnies/Souths will be a marker gauge for where we are at and whether the weekends game was a one off.

Bunnies are one ahead of us on 9th, so if warriors can get to 3/6 we should be moving up to 9th. Every team in the 8 is in the positives.

I really feel mixed on what to make of the weekends game.

We had fantastic defense at times and then the times points were scored it was utterly soft.

Offensively our completion rate saw us feeding off opposition errors for field position in which we managed to capitalised. But it was 90% individual effort to get across the line and not enough players in motion and not dynamic halves in the warriors creating holes or overlaps. You look at the storm on offense and their 9 7 and 6 all create such play. But as a team they have players running reverse angles along with players steaming onto the ball and the halves just using draw and pass to create the overlap. Having so many options is what creates confusion in the opposition, meaning they dont know what you are going to do to score. Where the Warriors are still playing like a 17 man squad of Stephen Kearneys, hitting the ball up at the line. I feel this is the issue, Stephen doesnt know how to play modern dynamic footy let alone coach it.

Kodi was brilliant individually, but hes over running his draw and pass, he also tucks the ball under, not two hands on the ball changing gears up and down, stepping off either foot to create the draw (a player moving off his opposition to take out a player looking likely to bust a gap). So I saw he was trying, but its almost like hes just passing the ball without thinking about when and why he is passing. Frustrating.

Hiku was brilliant individually offensively in the red zone (opp 20m). I think considering we were without 2 of our big metres back 3 we did well there.

Im praying for news on a few hopeful outcomes, 1. George is fired as CEO and is never allowed back in NZ. 2. Shaun Johnson signs a deal to return to the Warriors as George is walking out the door. 3. We sign a high quality #6 4. We sign a high quality #9 and Wage Egan is released with Karl Lawton retained as back up 9 and utility. 4. We sign a coach capable of coaching Offense and improving individual players, ie Wayne Bennett or Ivan Cleary.

Our team is so frustratingly close from being a top 4 team from a team that finishes frustratingly around 10th every year. 2 key positions need Dynamic positions and we need a coach who can not only coach individuals but get a team heading in the right direction. We have seen Bennett constantly looking for new challenges. I wish he would choose Auckland before he s too old for the gig.

14 rounds left we need at least 8/14 to make the top 8. Anything is possible with the level of talent still remaining in the core team.

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#2508866 20-Jun-2020 16:33

Well that was terrible again.

1st half despite the score I believe we were the better team, just some lame defense on our side let in soft tries.

2nd half was soft try desert, over and over.

Wade Egan is half the hooker Lawton is and to think Lawton was an outside back originally, but hes put some mus on, sadly 2 shoulder injuries screwed his career.

But we need somebody like Lawton who picks the ball up and runs fast then either pass at about 8m and if not on try to get 15m making the next play the ball fast with opposition running backward. I saw 1 run from Egan and he made 5m. He is trying to engage the defence markers every play, which really doesnt do much outside creating a 1 man overlap if he can offload (which he doesnt) or get a penalty (the only time you should try to engage the markers is when you know they offside).

Offensively we looked dangerous at time, Tohu Harris playing like Tohu of old. Kodi even managed to run diagonally and pass (still 25% the player Johnson is).

Pat Herbert is BEAST mode on defense, no chance of offloading when a shoulder slices straight through ur lower torso/thighs. Will be hard when back at full strength not to pick him.

I really want to say spoon contenders based on the score line, but the first half made me think there is a chance we wont finish last. We definitely were more dynamic in offense in the first half. Its almost like Kearney has choked out the Warriors of old in favour of completions, we need a balance of both.

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#2508877 20-Jun-2020 16:57

TeaLeaf:

Well that was terrible again.

1st half despite the score I believe we were the better team, just some lame defense on our side let in soft tries.

2nd half was soft try desert, over and over.

Wade Egan is half the hooker Lawton is and to think Lawton was an outside back originally, but hes put some mus on, sadly 2 shoulder injuries screwed his career.

But we need somebody like Lawton who picks the ball up and runs fast then either pass at about 8m and if not on try to get 15m making the next play the ball fast with opposition running backward. I saw 1 run from Egan and he made 5m. He is trying to engage the defence markers every play, which really doesnt do much outside creating a 1 man overlap if he can offload (which he doesnt) or get a penalty (the only time you should try to engage the markers is when you know they offside).

Offensively we looked dangerous at time, Tohu Harris playing like Tohu of old. Kodi even managed to run diagonally and pass (still 25% the player Johnson is).

Pat Herbert is BEAST mode on defense, no chance of offloading when a shoulder slices straight through ur lower torso/thighs. Will be hard when back at full strength not to pick him.

I really want to say spoon contenders based on the score line, but the first half made me think there is a chance we wont finish last. We definitely were more dynamic in offense in the first half. Its almost like Kearney has choked out the Warriors of old in favour of completions, we need a balance of both.

I had a few beers, so the final result wasn't that painful. I agree that Egan tries to be too tricky at times rather than get as many meters as possible. I don't think we're spoon contenders, but obviously not a top 6 team. We definitely had moments and a few things didn't quite go our way. But to hardly score when they had a man in the bin and then let the opposition score against us when we did?! Beal .... Hiku ..... boys .... 50/50 impact

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