Warriors coach Nathan Brown is reluctant to single out halfback Shaun Johnson for criticism following the dismal defeat to the 12-man Sharks, but he does sympathise with frustrated fans of the club.
Brown could sympathise with fans who were losing patience with the club after the dire 29-10 loss to a Sharks team that was reduced to 11 men for 10 minutes, two weeks after the record 70-10 defeat to the Storm.
"I totally understand why people would be disappointed, especially with the Melbourne loss and then you have that little period against Cronulla where we didn’t do well, you certainly appreciate that," he said.
"We certainly are training well, we’re not perfect, but we’ve certainly had some very good training weeks."
Brown said the focus remained on preparing well and continuing to work on the programme to improve players.
He was also reluctant to level any additional criticism at Johnson, who disappointed against his former team as the Warriors failed to break down the Sharks as they were reduced to 12 men and then 11 players for a period.
Johnson seemed particularly culpable for the two terrible sets the Warriors had on the Cronulla’s line in the second half when the Sharks had 11 players on the field, but Brown said the 31-year-old halfback was no more at fault than two or three of his teammates.
"When they had the 11-man period, obviously we had two sets of six there and we got to positions where they were very short on the field, we just didn’t execute our plays properly, if we had played a little bit straighter and less lateral we would have found our way to the try line.
"Whether we panicked or passed to the space or ran to the space, however you look at it, it was all wrong."
Johnson had two errors, conceded a penalty and produced one particularly calamitous kick that went dead, gifting the Sharks a seven-tackle set at a key stage, but Brown wouldn’t blame his halfback.
"It is very unfair to make anything about one person, I believe, we’re in a team sport," Brown said.
"At the moment we’ve got a lot of people doing a lot of work at one end of the field and not getting much time at the other end.
"There’s no doubt we had a number, three or four players, who could have played a little straighter and a little smarter as opposed to getting the ball to the space too quick. There’s no doubt Shaun could have contributed to that, but he’s not the only one."
Ahead of this weekend’s Magic Round clash against South Sydney, Brown said the Warriors needed to halt the pattern over the last month that has seen his team defend their own line for large periods, leaving them with no energy to attack.
"We’re spending far too much time on our own try line defending, and that wasn’t the case just last week, Brown said on Wednesday.
"Obviously our good ball attack, we had a couple of goes down there against 11-men, (it) wasn’t good.
"Our biggest problem at the moment is we’re spending a lot of time on our tryline defending our goal-line far more than any other team in the comp."
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