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The Warriors have made their biggest statement yet for a top four finish with a stunning 44-12 win over the Cronulla Sharks, with two old boys pulling the strings.
Andrew Webster’s revolution in Auckland has turned this team from one of the league’s easybeats to a genuine Finals contender, with this their fifth win in seven.
Shaun Johnson, naturally, was the star, but his new halves partner and Sharks reject Luke Metcalf was equally as impressive. Wayde Egan in the 9 jumper and Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad at the back were also excellent.
“Our forward pack and our outside backs lay the platform for our clever players,” said Webster.
“I thought Wayde Egan, Shaun, Luke, Charnze – our spine, off the back of them, were unbelievable.”
This was a huge test, too, and one that they passed with flying colours. The same could not be said for Cronulla, who backed up their reputation as flat-track bullies by capitulating under a first half onslaught.
The Sharks have put plenty of scores on poor sides – thrashing the Tigers, Dragons and Bulldogs in consecutive weeks – but once again, when faced with live opposition, they folded.
Craig Fitzgibbon will look at his side’s defence, in particular, and wonder if changes might not be in order.
“Our edge defence just wasn’t good enough,” he said. “We were comfortable trading sets early but it felt like for the majority of the game we were defending our tryline because we gave them the opportunity to do that.”
He might be forced to make changes, too. They lost Teig Wilton early and Jesse Ramien late, both to potentially long-term injuries, while Nicho Hynes ended the match in the bin after a professional foul.
The Warriors had concerns of their own following a Shaun Johnson injury that saw him also depart early, but it did appear he could have carried on if required.
The central tactical battle going into this clash was simple: both sides attack in roughly similar ways, so the result would largely come down to who could better defend their own style. Conclusively, that was the hosts.
Both sides attack towards the corners with deception, allied to sideways ball movement, with a target set on the corner post. It’s no surprise that the wingers score the bulk of the tries in both sides, disproportionately higher than the rest of the NRL.
The difference has been that the Warriors are more happy to play conservatively until they get into good positions, while the Sharks will go wider earlier and create from deep.
That was a major factor today: Cronulla were unable to get momentum into their shifts and thus lost the field position battle, which gave NZ more scope to put on their plays in good ball.
When in position, the Warriors were far too good. Their first, for Dallin Watene-Zelezniak, was a masterpiece in support play.
The men ran straight – two decoys – and the ball went sideways, and if you execute that kind of move, the defenders have to stay inside to cover for the dummy runners, creating the numbers wider out.
First Egan, then Johnson took the ball to the line, which keeps the inside narrow, before playing out the back behind the decoys, who keep the outside in. Nicoll-Klokstad had the easiest pass in the world to get DWZ over.
For the second try, it was the same shape – but they hit the decoy, Rocco Berry. It’s real chef’s kiss stuff.
The execution is important, and that comes from the men inside who have to play close to the line. Egan has blossomed into one of the best hookers in the comp, especially in straightening up the ruck, and Johnson is back to his best. All the good stuff outside comes from that.
For Webster, it’s a triumph because it’s exactly where his side have suffered in the past this year. Against the best, their attack has let them down. No chance of that today.
Any discussion of the Warriors’ attack comes, however, with the dissection of the Sharks defence. It’s not great and hasn’t been for a while.
As mentioned above, the difference between the two attacks is when they put their plays on, with Cronulla looking to use their back three to start sets and save their forwards’ legs for off-ball work, whether in defence or support play.
The stats bore this out: the Warriors had two of their top three metremakers as forwards, while the Sharks were all backs.
That should have resulted in a more equitable contest in the middle, and it might just be that the Warriors were near-perfect with the ball – completing north of 90% – and Cronulla simply didn’t get a sniff.
A period of six consecutive sets late in the first half, in which the Warriors scored twice, was the crucial time of the match.
It’s also true, however, that there are glaring issues in the line that haven’t gone away. All of the best teams have run all their traffic at Matt Moylan, who is increasingly a liability in the defensive line.
Some of the shapes that were run were exceptional, but others weren’t. The five eighth now sits atop the NRL for line break causes among halfbacks.
Lots of teams can carry a poor defender in their lineup – Daly Cherry-Evans and Scott Drinkwater spring to mind – but it’s debatable whether Moylan has enough upside to merit that, especially with such a strong back-up in Brayden Trindall.