NRL: NZ Warriors V South Sydney Rabbitohs - What We Learned From Another Heartstopper
, Digital Sports Journalist
After seeing their five-game winning streak ended last week by Canberra Raiders, NZ Warriors have started another, with their 36-30 win over South Sydney across the Tasman.
After threatening to run away with victory at 30-12, once again, they let their opponents back into the contest, which became another heartstopper.
The Warriors lost one of their best early, and had to survive a comeback inspired by one of the game's absolute freaks and another headed for the record books, but at the end of the weekend, they have consolidated their top-three spot on the NRL table.
Here are some key takeaways from the game.
Barnett injury
Much has been said about the contribution of co-captain Mitch Barnett this season, especially while fellow skipper James Fisher-Harris was sidelined by injury.
During his tenure at Mt Smart, Barnett has become an automatic NSW selection for State of Origin and an inspiration to those around him.
His team missed him badly last week against Canberra Raiders, when Kiwis international prop Joseph Tapine bullied the Warriors pack and taunted former Raiders teammate Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad.
For the first time in 2025, coach Andrew Webster had all his players available against the Rabbitohs, but that lasted just 20 minutes, before Barnett hobbled off with a reported knee injury.
He fell badly while making a tackle, with his right knee buckling under him. Barnett tried to play on, but could not, which suggests he may be out for a while.
Certainly, his body language wasn't great and scans will determine whether he can be fit for Origin II on 18 June.
"There's different grades to each different injury and until you look under the hood, honestly you don't know," said Webster. "He's in good spirits.
"We lost Fish for four weeks and he's one of the best front-rowers in the world, so we certainly know how to do next man up."
In his absence, Fisher-Harris stepped up, logging 56 minutes and making a game-high 53 tackles, while Jackson Ford continued his outstanding form off the bench, running 15 times for 153 metres and making 37 tackles.
Ford also showed his surprising skill, producing a kick that resulted in Rocco Berry's first-half try.
If Barnett can't make it back for NSW, the selectors need only look across at Rabbitohs counterpart Keaon Koloamatangi as his replacement. Shifted to the middle this season, he again led his team with 218 running metres from 27 carries and made 39 tackles, while scoring a try.
Vegas déjà vu
With the Warriors leading 4-0, halfback Luke Metcalf produced a play that must have had him - and Warriors fans - flashing back to the season-opening defeat to Canberra at Las Vegas.
On that occasion, they were hot on attack and looking left, when Metcalf had his pass picked off by winger Xavier Savage for a try down the other end - a potential 12-point turnaround.
This time, the Warriors were shifting right, when Metcalf tried to float a pass over Alex Johnston to Dallin Watene-Zelezniak, who was probably already thinking about his gravity-defying dive at the corner.
Unfortunately, the Souths winger plucked the ball from the air and dashed the length of the field for his team's opening try, converted by Latrell Mitchell from the sideline for the lead.
Another 12-pointer.
Leading Dally M Medal standings into this round, Metcalf compounded his error by missing a relatively simple conversion of Berry's try before halftime.
To his credit, he turned his performance around in the second half, scoring his eighth try of the season, making two linebreaks and providing a try assist.
Metcalf has the lowest conversion success rate of all the fulltime kickers in the competition at 65 percent, but many of them seem to be from the sidelines.
After slicing his gimme in the first half, he nailed a couple from out wide in the second, showing the temperament you want from your kicker in the clutch.
"I was just talking to him and I don't think he's that pumped with parts of his game, but that try he scored was at a great time," said Webster. "He finds a way to have a moment like that in every game.
"We were defending our sets for big periods there, so everyone's doing their part. Luke's fast, he sees the moment and takes it, but I felt like it was a team try.
"He's the guy finishing it off, but I felt like the whole team had a big part in that one."
This wasn't his best outing of the campaign, but it was likely enough for Metcalf to add to his Dally M tally, with voting now behind closed doors until the end of the season.
Metre-eater
Fullback Charnze Nicoll-Kolkstad continues to show why extending his stay at Mt Smart was so important for the Warriors.
His 342 running metres from 28 carries included 100 metres after contact and were the most by a Warriors player this season - beating his own mark of 316 against Sydney Roosters.
In fact, he has been the leading runner for his team six times this campaign and they've won all six.
He was concussed against Melbourne Storm and missed the next game against Brisbane Broncos, otherwise he'd be higher in the competition leaders.
A quick tally puts him third in this category now with 2259 metres, behind Manly's Lehi Hopoate (2432) and Roosters veteran James Tedesco (2430).
Mitchell masterclass
Look up the expression 'rocks and diamonds' in the dictionary, and you'll find Latrell Mitchell's picture next to it.
When he's engaged, he's an absolute superstar - epitomised by his outrageous 55-metre field goal against Brisbane Broncos - but when he's not, he can be absolutely terrible.
When he was pulled from the field late in the first half for a concussion test, his Rabbitohs were teetering. Mitchell took a head knock in the contest for a high ball that led to the Warriors' second try and, while he was off the field, counterpart Nicoll-Kolkstad scored their third to put the visitors ahead at the break.
That momentum switch carried into the second half, but at 18 points down, Mitchell began to put his imprint on the contest, throwing a long pass for Johnston to score his second try. Moments later, he repeated that effort for Johnston's third.
He had Nicoll-Klokstad in sixes and sevens, as his opposite slipped into touch trying to cover a long, probing kick, and eventually had his own try, taking a short pass and powering over from short range.
He converted all five of his team's tries and tormented the Warriors back three with is towering kicks.
Without injured veterans Cody Walker and Jack Wighton in the backline, Mitchell has had to be all things to everyone for these Rabbitohs, even playing the halves earlier in the season.
The Warriors were lucky to see him at his mercurial best, yet survive to take the two competition points.
Johnston milestone
There have been times over the past 12 months when Johnston probably wondered if his NRL career was over.
Last season, he scored his 191st try, which was the most by any player at just one club, but suffered a season-ending Achilles tear soon afterwards.
He returned to the field in the fourth round this season, but didn't reach halftime, before leaving with a rib injury.
Against the Warriors, his hattrick propelled him to 200 tries - second only to former North Sydney and Manly legend Ken Irvine (212).
"He's a pretty special player," Souths coach Wayne Bennett said. "He's not only a good athlete, but he's pretty smart with it."
Each year, the Ken Irvine Medal is awarded to the NRL's top tryscorer and Johnston has won it three times (2020-22). Fingers crossed his body allows him to break Irvine's record soon.
Stat attack
Both the Warriors and Rabbitohs came into this contest unbeaten when leading at halftime.
The Warriors were 5/5 and Souths were 4/4, so leading at the break took on added significance.
With the siren about to sound, Nicoll-Klokstad stumbled under a couple of tacklers and went again to level the scores, while Metcalf provided the extra points to put his side ahead.
The achievement took on added importance, given the Warriors had been outscored after halftime of their five previous games to the value of 56-21.
Against Souths, they not only outscored their opponents 22-18, they managed more second-half points than those previous five games combined.
This result evens the historic head-to-head record between these two teams at 21-21 and the Warriors now improve to 17-31 against Bennett-coached teams over the past 30 years.
They said it
"They like making it hard. We've practiced resilience all pre-season, we defended our line really well. They have a tight connection, they believe in each other and they don't want to let each other down."
Warriors coach Andrew Webster
"These guys never give up, so you never worry about the time, but we were beaten on the scoreboard and we did run out of time in the end."
Souths coach Wayne Bennett
Next up
The Warriors head back across the ditch next Saturday to face Cronulla Sharks, who lurk four points behind in fifth on the NRL table.
So far, they have struggled to find consistency, beating the Cowboys, Rabbitohs, Sea Eagles and Storm among the top eight, but losing a real headscratcher against Sydney Roosters last week, when they were at full strength and the Roosters were without a handful of Origin reps.
They have a genuine star in Nico Hynes, gamebreakers throughout the backline and pack, but the player everyone will watch is former Warriors front-rower Addin Fonua-Blake, who was released early to return to Sydney this season.
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