The Andrew Webster revolution continues apace at the Warriors, with another impressive victory for the reborn Kiwi club.
This one finished 24-12 over the Bulldogs, who were blown away early on and struggled to make a meaningful dent in the Warriors’ line despite sustained second half pressure.
Addin Fonua-Blake was a titan in the middle, with Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad also showing his best form from the back, both in sweeping up Dogs’ kicks and returning the ball with gusto.
Shaun Johnson was again at the heart of the best things the visitors did, creating two tries off his boot, but this was a collective effort built on effort and determination. His future is still on decided for 2024.
“He should be proud if there are people this side of the ditch that want him,” said Webster.
“People want him to come back because they’re seeing how well he’s playing and they think he can contribute and impact for his team. He should be proud of that. We’re proud of that.
“He’s certainly happy at home in New Zealand, which is a different Shaun. We love him. Shaun and I have a good relationship, we know where that is at, and how that looks.”
In winning this, Webster completed a sweep of his former colleague Cameron Ciraldo, having previously won their encounter in Auckland in Round 4.
It could end up as a pivotal moment in both sides’ seasons.
The Warriors, by virtue of their win, now have a 6-5 record and will pick up two more points next week with the bye, before an Origin period that will see them lose nobody. Winning tonight caps a superb start to the year for the Kiwis.
For the Bulldogs, however, this was exactly the sort of game that they needed to win to stand a chance. Had they won, they would have moved to five wins, with a home game against the Titans next week before their own bye kicks in. Now, things look far less rosy.
“The three tries we gave up in the first half are just not what we want to be about but it is what we are at the moment,” said Ciraldo.
“I thought we responded in the second half, we played better in the second half but it was way too late. We can’t come in and play like that in the first half and then wait for a spray at half-time and respond in the second half.”
The Warriors excel at manipulating field position, with a fairly simplistic, yet effective style designed to move the bulk of the footy away from their goalline. It’s rarely scintillating stuff, but it can be very effective.
The Dogs are a lot more adventurous, and with good reason: when they get within striking distance, they look terrible at the moment.
In the era of the short dropout, being able to accumulate pressure over time is fast going out of fashion. The Dogs were able to camp in Warriors territory at times, especially in the second half, and rarely threatened, then lost the ball after forcing the repeat.
Occam’s Razor in these circumstances would be to look at the spine, and with the Bulldogs, that passes the sniff test.
Matt Burton is a run-first five eighth being asked to play halfback. Hayze Perham, as displayed twice in the opening stages, can’t pass. Josh Reynolds is a guy who wasn’t good enough for a team that finished fourth bottom of the Super League last year.
The Dogs have been battered with injuries this year, but the four men running out now are their first choice. They are choosing to leave Kyle Flanagan out and choosing to limit Karl Oloapu’s minutes and give some of them to Reynolds. It’s not working, clearly.
They could make changes. Jake Averillo, currently at centre, showed far more creativity from fullback in his time there last year than Perham has.
It’s not that Perham isn’t good enough for this level, but in a side that lacks any guile, he is the most guileless. Straight swapping the pair and letting Perham play as a centre would be a start.
His best moments come with running the footy, and Averillo offers that plus ball-playing. It’s a straight fix that Ciraldo could bring in tomorrow.
Beyond that, he really has to decide what the halves are going to be for this year and, indeed, into the future. If that is Karl Oloapu as a halfback, then play him as a halfback.
There’s plenty of teams in the NRL who effectively balance their halves in terms of possessions. Melbourne do it, with a halfback who loves to run and a five eighth who is partial to a kick.
Souths did it for most of last year too, before handing the keys to Lachlan Ilias full time. It’s more than doable, if there’s the will.
At the moment, it’s half-pregnant. Reynolds is nobodies’ long-term solution and, at best, is a bench spark plug. The time has come to make the hard calls. The status quo is not working.
The Warriors are pretty much everyone’s second favourite team these days, and it’s because of performances like this. It’s the honest toil, the spirit, the camaraderie that is there for everyone to see.
In terms of personnel, it’s not that much different to a team that looked like it had never met under Nathan Brown, and that looked like it would rather be anywhere else at times during the long Covid exile.
Webster has imparted an identity on this team in a very short amount of time. In many ways, his task is not a million miles away from that of Wayne Bennett at the Dolphins: come into the gaff with a blank slate and make a footy team exist.
Tactically, the pair have done it in similar ways. Simple, conservative stuff that makes you hard to beat, allied to a defensive strategy that prioritises effort areas.
It’s all the free stuff, and while there’ll be no championships won in this manner, it is plenty good enough to beat bad teams. That’s enough for now.
The best exemplar of this Addin Fonua-Blake. The man who gets the plaudits is Shaun Johnson, who is the creator-in-chief of almost everything the Warriors do, but it comes on the back of the dominance of AFB.
This is career best stuff from Fonua-Blake, who is finally becoming the player that many at Manly thought he might be. He’s a microcosm of what Webster has done, a guy who has benefitted massively from a simplified, conservative role.
He’s put the offload away – the Warriors had the fewest in the NRL through ten rounds – but is free to concentrate on running hard, tackling and scaring the life out of opponents.
It’s working, too: five tries in 11 games – the same as Alex Johnston, Sione Katoa and Tom Trbojevic. Some company. They didn’t get theirs under the posts, either.
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