Aotearoa Warriors Diary: Battling vs Storm
After a pesky home loss vs Sharks to start the season, New Zealand Warriors take on Storm in Melbourne and this serves as key learning moment for all. NZW had 54% possession against Sharks and could only muster 12 points, meanwhile Storm kept Panthers scoreless to start their campaign with an 8-0 win.
There was an early season trend of tough, basic, patient footy getting wins across the NRL. Unfortunately for NZW they didn't get the heads up and staples of their successful footy from last season weren't evident in the loss to Sharks. Wayde Egan's injury hindered how NZW attacked against Sharks and his absence would lower the chances of victory against Storm as his craft around the ruck is crucial for engaging defenders; without Egan opponents can slide away from the ruck to check in with NZW shape.
Egan's injury gave Freddy Lussick a 46-minute shift at dummy half. Despite Lussick playing big minutes and Dylan Walker covering left centre while Taine Tuaupiki had an HIA, then right edge when Kurt Capewell was off the field, Tom Ale and Bunty Afoa combined for 15 minutes off the bench.
Ale didn't get a single minute and Afoa was graced with 15mins. Heading into the Sharks game it seemed like Ale was being rewarded for his summer mahi and Afoa would get at least 20mins to bolster the middle forward oomph. Coach Andrew Webster doesn't use these lads for big minutes as most of the middle minutes go to Walker and it's all good when NZW are winning. When NZW lose and are battling injuries, having two middle forwards combine for 15mins doesn't seem as logical and this will be a key wrinkle to track against Storm.
One other pocket is the halves. Shaun Johnson had 21 kicks and Luke Metcalf had 2 kicks against Sharks. If that continues then teams like Storm will load up on Johnson and having a balanced kicking game is always beneficial, especially when going set for set with good NRL teams. Johnson also had 5 forced drop outs and his short kicking game is exquisite, but benefits come from getting repeat sets which now seem less frequent with the rule changes.
Johnson was listed as tackling at 76% in the game stats and 82.6% in his NRL profile. Ignore the goofy difference there and zone in on how Johnson tackled at 90.8% last season, which was his first NRL season over 88%. Storm have clear plans in how they play their footy and they will be forcing Johnson and/or Metcalf to make lots of tackles, which wasn't an issue for Johnson last season given vast improvements in his defence.
This is a big game for NZW because of the tough, gritty nature of Storm in Melbourne. Johnson's kicking game and how NZW control the flow with kicking balance will be crucial, plus they need to offer an improved defensive performance .... because that has been a Storm fundamental for 10+ years.
NSW Cup Warriors are at home in Pukekohe against North Sydney Bears. Ali Leiataua and Eddie Ieremia-Toeava are in the spotlight this week...
Leiataua had two linebreaks running via Te Maire Martin and made 12 tackles @ 100%. Last season he played 16 games with 10 tries, 6 try assists, 13 linebreaks, 83% tackling and 137m/game.
Ieremia-Toeava played 43mins off the bench and while he had just 5 runs - 43m @ 8.6m/run, he also made 29 tackles @ 96%. There are lots of funky notes available in the NSW Cup forward pack from the win over Jets, but Ieremia-Toeava is a youngster who went from U19 SG Ball to NSW Cup last season and he started this season with big minutes with gritty mahi.
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