Shaun Johnson rolled back the years in the early Saturday game in Auckland, scoring twice for the Warriors as they grabbed a deserved 30-8 win over the Dolphins at Mt Smart Stadium.
Both his tries were trademark darts at the line, jinking through much bigger men to find the space.
It was no less than they deserved, though it took the second Johnson try to turn the game into what it probably should have been long before.
After that, Luke Metcalf and Dallin Watene-Zelezniak, twice, cashed in. Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad, too, merits a mention with a superb performance on both sides of the ball that yielded two line breaks, two line break assists and close to 200m out of the backfield.
“It was the turning point because we’d been hammering away at it,” said coach Andrew Webster of Johnson’s score.
“Mitch Barnett got held up, there were a few more missed opportunities. But it took Shaun to step and show everyone how to put the ball over the line. I’m sure he’ll remind us of that all week, but that was the moment that changed it.”
For 50 minutes, it had been weapons grade Warriors football, the sort that makes them so loveable and yet so maddening.
They had all the physicality and endeavour, promoting the footy and playing with abandon. It was slightly incongruous with the 2023, Andrew Webster edition of the club, which has often prioritised completions over entertainment.
Yet, as had been the case on so many occasions in their history, they didn’t ice the chances that they made and left the door wide open for the opponents.
The stats said they had enjoyed 64% of the territory and were leading the line breaks 7-1, but the points had not followed.
Thankfully for the Kiwis, Anthony Milford had a brain snap, got sin binned and Johnson decided to turn it on.
Milford may now face a few weeks on the sideline after a late shot on Marcelo Montoya, who was taken for a HIA, as might Jarrod Wallace, who shoulder charged Rocco Berry, with an accidental head clash ending the centre’s night early. The Match Review Panel might also look at a potential hip-drop from Euan Aitken.
“To our credit, we never stopped trying,” said Wayne Bennett.
“The thing I know as a coach is that if you haven’t got a team that’s putting in effort, you’re in trouble. We can fix the execution part, but this team tries every week.”
Sometimes run-of-the-mill games just have their own energy, and it works. This was two teams who have already achieved well above expectations for the year, two feel-good stories going head-to-head.
Though it wasn’t always high-scoring, it was never less than pure entertainment.
One passage in the first half explained it perfectly. The Warriors made a break from deep, went through hands and with the fullback to beat, attempted the draw and pass.
Kodi Nikorima intercepted and went 70m himself, dropping Jamayne Isaako back inside, only for the scramble to come. The Phins recycled and found Tesi Niu at the corner, only for a forward pass to be called.
It was 30 madcap, beautiful, rugby league-affirming seconds. This is meant to be fun, right?
That might not have always been the prediction. Both of these sides are better in defence than attack, and both would be on the more conservative end of the playing styles on show in the NRL. It could have been 80 minutes of bash and bore.
Instead, it was the opposite. There can’t be many games with more one-on-one shots, perhaps predictable when Ray Stone and Jarrod Wallace face Addin Fonua-Blake and Bunty Afoa.
In attack, there was a strange, familiar feel to it all. Everyone is a known entity, with established traits and trajectory. Some games are good because you learn about a player you’ve never seen before, but this was great because everyone did their thing that they do.
Johnson was top of the pile in that regard. “Vintage Johnson” was how Andrew Voss described it on the Fox League call, a chilling reminder for anyone watching who might still be scarred from the 2013 World Cup semi-final.
Jesse Bromwich, who played that day and should probably have known better, featured in the remake in the role of Kevin Sinfield, watching the ball and not the man who jinked back inside his arms to score.
Then we got it again, midway through the the second half, with another dance that threaded the needle between Mark Nicholls and Nikorima.
This will not go down as one of the Dolphins’ better showings this year, though as ever, their commitment was never in doubt. Few teams could have withstood the battering they copped for so long without folding.
Losing Milford was the straw that broke the Dolphins’ back, and once that was in, there was no return.
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