NRL: What we learnt as NZ Warriors overwhelmed Cronulla Sharks

RNZ News

07-06-2025

Chanel Harris-Tavita and Sam Healey celebrate a try against the Sharks.
Photo:
DAN HIMBRECHTS/AAP
Despite their 9-3 record through the opening half of the NRL season, NZ Warriors had not exactly dominated opponents.
Resilience had become their trademark, with many of their successes built on dramatic late-game feats or gritty defence to hold charging opponents at bay. Their points differential had been in the negative through most of the campaign and sat at just plus-5 entering their contest against Cronulla Sharks.
They had
lost co-captain Mitch Barnett for the season
, veteran second-rower Kurt Capewell was covering at centre and they lost star hooker Wayde Egan to a hip complaint before kickoff.
At Shark Park, the Warriors finally took their game to another level that must now have the competition on warning, outscoring their opponents 28-0 after halftime.
Here are a few takeaways from their
breakout 40-10 victory
.
Already reeling from the lose of Barnett for the season, the Warriors also had to deal with Egan's late withdrawal.
While Barnett is a big loss, Egan is arguably a bigger one - and especially against the Sharks.
After 13 rounds, he led the competition in dummy half runs and tackles, heading off Cronulla counterpart Blayke Brailey in both categories.
His grip on the Warriors No.9 jersey is absolutely ironclad. Replacement Sam Healey was unproven, after logging 14 minutes off the bench in his NRL debut against North Queensland Cowboys last month.
Jackson Ford reverted back to his favoured interchange role.
Photo:
David Neilson/Photosport
The other change saw Marata Niukore shifted from second row to prop, with Jackson Ford -
initially handed Barnett's No.10 jersey
- slipping back to an interchange role he has made his own this season and Jacob Laban promoted into the starting second row.
This was an entirely predictable change, probably inevitable.
Healey's elevation into the gameday squad completed his journey to the top flight, after leaving the Sharks to search for a first-grade opportunity.
Dad Mitch played 222 games for Cronulla from 1989-2000, so gaining his first start at Shark Park would have been an emotional moment for Sam.
He played 47 minutes, running eight times for 71 metres and making 27 tackles, without looking out of place.
Brailey went the distance for the Sharks, making a game-high 53 tackles in his 150th NRL outing.
The other one that got away from the 'Shire' was Warriors halfback Luke Metcalf, who inherited the No.7 jersey from Shaun Johnson at the start of the season and has made every post a winner since, leading the Dally M standings when they went behind closed doors last week.
He had seven appearances for Cronulla, but found his career path blocked by the arrival of Nico Hynes from Melbourne Storm, and has instead found a home at Mt Smart.
Metcalf outplayed his much-vaunted rival, kicking 6/8 off the tee, making a linebreak and providing two try assists, while likely putting some ground on Sharks fullback Will Kennedy, one of his closest Dally M rivals.
Perhaps the most eagerly anticipated head-to-head match-up of the night saw former Warriors prop Addin Fonua-Blake take on the man that replaced him at the club - James Fisher-Harris.
Fonua-Blake was back-to-back Dally M Prop of the Year during his last two years in Auckland and is compiling a similar case this season, leading the league in metres after contact.
Inspirational Kiwis skipper Fisher-Harris spent a few weeks sidelined by a pec injury and then copped a suspension in his first game back, but with Barnett out of the picture, his team will now depend on him in the trenches going forward.
They battled each other to a standstill - Fonua-Blake had more running metres and they both made 34 tackles - but Fisher-Harris scored his first try in a Warriors uniform to start the second-half avalanche of points.
A feature of the Warriors season has been the emergence of the next generation of young forwards, led by teenager Leka Halasima.
After grabbing tries in three consecutive games earlier in the season, he has now scored in back-to-back games against South Sydney and Cronulla to continue his meteoric rise.
Laban let no-one down in his starting role and now provides another option for coach Andrew Webster, with Capewell currently deployed in midfield.
The
revelation was Demitric Vaimauga
, who started the campaign slowly, but has started to show his ability in recent weeks. His 40-minute shift produced 11 runs for 106 metres, 21 tackles and a try, but the highlight may have been his short pass for Fisher-Harris' try after halftime.
Demitric Vaimauga scores a try against the Sharks.
Photo:
David Neilson/Photosport
Halasima, 19, and Laban, 21, are signed through 2029, while Vaimauga, 21, is committed through 2028, so they have plenty of time left with the Warriors. Healey, 22, showed he is worth long-term investment, while Tanner Stowers-Smith, 21, also recorded his second game at his level off the bench.
"The pleasing thing is the effort of our young guys, off the back of really strong leadership this year," Webster said. "We spoke about
trying to be Barney
, but be better at what they're doing, and I thought they stood up.
"This place has changed and you see young kids feeling comfortable in their skin, feeling safe to be themselves, and then go out on the field and express themselves."
This will be how the Warriors cover the absence of Barnett this season.
"I didn't know when it was going to come, but at halftime, I said to the boys, 'We love being in these tight games, these kind of battles', so I was rapt they got the rewards late."
Warriors coach Andrew Webster
The Warriors are now 7/7 this season, when they lead at halftime and continue to lead the competition in set completion on 83 percent, after converting 92 percent (36/39) against the Sharks.
The Warriors take their second bye of the season, which guarantees two points on the table.
The week off is timely for Egan, who is obviously a bit nicked up and will enjoy some extra rest, as will others in the squad that have probably been carrying niggles into games over the past couple of months.
In two weeks, they'll host four-time defending champions Penrith Panthers, just three days after Origin II in Perth. That's a long trip for players hoping to back up for their club.
The Panthers have struggled this season and uncharacteristically sit near the bottom of the table. No-one is fooled by that and they are surely not far from a run at the playoffs.
That said, the Warriors lost to Melbourne Storm off their first bye of the season, so they will need to turn that around.
Since March 21, they will have played just once at Mt Smart in 12 rounds, but now face five games in the next eight there, as well as a third bye. They are now entering a very favourable phase of their schedule.
Don't look now, Warriors fans, this may yet be your year.
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