The Warriors' defeat to the Dolphins endangers NRL playoff hopes
NZ Warriors are in NRL freefall, after suffering a fourth defeat in their last six outings.
Their
last-gasp 20-18 loss to the Dolphins
at Go Media Stadium was reminiscent of their
last-gasp win over Newcastle Knights
two weeks ago - except with the opposite emotions.
Kiwis winger Jamayne Isaako raced over for the Dolphins' winning try with seconds remaining on the clock, after the Warriors seemed to control much of the second half and had a numerical advantage, with veteran prop Felise Kaufusi serving time in the sin bin.
"The game was in our hands at the end, we turned the ball over in two really good spots late and we left them out," Warriors coach Andrew Webster said. "That's the frustrating bit.
"We gave ourselves an opportunity to win the game and didn't find a way in the end."
Already reeling from the loss of co-captain Mitch Barnett and Dally M-leading halfback Luke Metcalf to season-ending knee injuries, and a neverending midfield crisis, they were forced to make three injury-related changes in their initial team announcement and then another later in the week, before Webster reshuffled his line-up for kickoff.
The result now puts their top-four hopes in serious jeopardy and even their playoff position may be under threat, as teams behind them make up ground.
Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow celebrates the Dolphins' late win over the Warriors.
Photo:
Andrew Cornaga/www.photosport.nz
Here's what this defeat means for the Warriors:
With co-captain James Fisher-Harris sidelined by a calf strain, young forward Demitric Vaimauga was initially named for his first start in the front row, but withdrew with injury 24 hours out. Tanner Stowers-Smith was installed as his replacement, but there was always the sense that Webster had something else up his sleeve.
Word filtered out - actually, prop Jackson Ford let it slip in the midweek media opp - that Kurt Capewell was training in his preferred second-row spot and Webster was obviously considering his options at centre.
Before kickoff, he moved Marata Niukore into the front row, Capewell to the pack, Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad to centre and Taine Tuaupiki to fullback, with Stowers-Smith shifted back to the interchange and Eddie Ieremia-Toeava replacing Bunty Afoa on the bench for his debut.
"We had to get the best players on the field that we could," Webster explained.
"Whatever the positions was, we found the best solution that suited the team and not always the individual.
"Charnze had a great mentality towards that. Having no Fish or Demitric, we needed minutes back in the forward pack and Kurt was going to give us that.
"He could 80 minutes, so you don't have to make a sub for him, and if something went wrong on the edge, we could move him out there during the game.
Leka Halasima scored his fifth try in five games to extend his lead atop the team standings.
Photo:
Andrew Cornaga/www.photosport.nz
"Most of the decisions this week, there weren't many I had to think about, because they were the options in front of us."
Nicoll-Klokstad has the ability to play anywhere in the backline - he has played at centre for the Kiwis and started at five-eighth in a 'Magic Round' win over Penrith Panthers last season - so that was an option that probably should have been tried earlier, given the glut of midfield injuries this season.
Ieremia-Toeava became Warrior No.294, logging 25 minutes, running for 58 metres and making 20 tackles.
Nominating the last-minute, matchwinning try would seem a little obvious, so let's go back a bit to the 74th minute, when Dolphins prop Felise Kaufusi was binned for a vicious hipdrop tackle on second-rower Jacob Laban and the Warriors had a penalty just left of the posts.
A successful kick at goal would have given them a four-point buffer and burnt some time off the clock, but instead, they opted to tap, the subsequent set came to nothing and the rest is history.
"That was my call," Webster admitted. "If you kick that goal and get a lead, then they go short, get the ball back and score, you'd never forgive yourself.
"You want to put them there [on their goal-line] for the rest of the game. Just put them in the corner, keep them there and don't let them out.
"I'll stick by that decision."
Instead, Webster pointed a finger at the high tackle from Dallin Watene-Zelezniak that set the Warriors back on their heels in the dying moments and opened up the field for Isaako's heroics.
Dallin Watene-Zelezniak was back to his tryscoring best against Dolphins.
Photo:
Andrew Cornaga/www.photosport.nz
"We just didn't really do our job on that last set, we gave that head-high penalty away and what happened happened," captain Kurt Capewell rued.
After the
intense scrutiny on his defensive work on the right edge
, Watene-Zelezniak reminded everyone why he is regarded as one of the NRL's best finishers, grabbing a try double that must give him confidence going forward.
Unfortunately, he undid some of that good work with his late indiscretion and still managed to miss four tackles, one of which allowed Dolphins centre Herbie Farnworth to score the opening try.
Moved back to his preferred position in the second row, Capewell produced probably his best performance for the Warriors this season, running for 126 metres and making 31 tackles, but could not get across in cover defence with his despairing dive to stop Isaako at the death.
Winger Roger Tuivasa-Sheck broke eight tackles and ran for 331 metres, more than 100 after contact, while lock Erin Clark also cracked 200, along with 35 tackles.
Prop Jackson Ford led his team with 40 tackles and ran for 144 metres. Teenager Leka Halasima added another try to this team-leading season tally and has now scored in the last five games.
The margin for error is surely gone.
They still sit fourth on the table, but are rapidly losing ground on those above them, although they can make some of that up next week, when they visit Canterbury Bulldogs.
Penrith Panthers face Gold Coast Titans on Saturday, gunning for an eighth-straight win that would bring them within a point of the Warriors.
Behind them, the Dolphins, Brisbane Broncos and Cronulla Sharks are lining up. The Sharks still have North Queensland Cowboys this weekend and may close within two points of the Warriors.
In ninth, Manly Sea Eagles may close to within four points with victory over Sydney Roosters, with five rounds remaining, and a third straight loss to the Bulldogs could put the Warriors at risk of missing out on playoffs altogether.
Jacob Laban suffered a leg injury from a dangerous tackle by Felise Kaufusi.
Photo:
Andrew Cornaga/www.photosport.nz
Given the adversity they faced during this encounter, the visitors were overjoyed at walking away with two valuable competition points.
Farnworth has been the form centre of the competition this season and they lost him to a hamstring injury, as he broke clear with speedy fullback Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow unmarked beside him.
They lost Kaufusi to the bin, after his ugly tackle on Laban, and had another certain try disallowed for a knock-on by five-eighth Kodi Nikorima.
Farnworth is probably gone for a few weeks, while Kaufusi has already served two weeks for dangerous contact this season and may be lucky to avoid more.
"To win the way we did, that second half, I thought we were so brave," coach Kristian Woolf reflected. "We did so much defence in our own half and on our own line, we had blokes playing out of position and blokes playing bigger minutes than they're used to.
"To hang in like we did and come away with the win at the end, I'm just really proud of them."
The Dolphins have the Roosters next and the Warriors' best hope now may be that some of their playoff rivals will start eliminating each other, as they scramble for spots in the eight.
After opening the season with six straight wins, the Bulldogs sat atop the table until Round 17, when they lost to the four-time defending champion Panthers. They lost the following week to the Broncos, but have righted the ship with three straight victories and face Wests Tigers on Sunday.
They are the toughest team left on the schedule, but a Warriors win may yet turn around their season.
Fisher-Harris is unlikely to return, but hooker Wayde Egan will be back from concussion protocols and five-eighth Chanel Harris-Tavita's niggly calf may also pass. Vaimauga's injury and prognosis is unknown at this stage, but Laban reported a pop in his leg, as Kaufusi landed on it, so that doesn't sound good.
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