After the Warriors latest gutsy win, coach Andrew Webster may soon be running open auditions for players before home games writes Scotty Stevenson.
Once again the development arm of the organisation was put to the test on Sunday when star Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad and last week’s breakout performer Taine Tuaupiki became the latest scratchings.
Webster must have felt cursed heading into the fixture at Te Pa O Rarotonga. No Shaun Johnson, no Wayde Egan, no Rocco Berry, no Tohu Harris, Kurt Capewell, or Roger Tuivasa-Sheck. Add to that a week off for the rampaging Addin Fonua-Blake who was stood down for a changing room no show following last week’s surprise victory over Penrith – less a scratching than a head-scratching - and Webster probably needed to be formally introduced to half his starting line-up.
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As it was, the Dolphins started the match with the greater sense of porpoise (sorry) rattling the Warriors with express ruck speed and territorial dominance. The Warriors were all back feet for the opening quarter of an hour, which has become a common theme over the last six weeks. It is surprising more players aren’t suffering heel injuries.
It was Jamayne Isaako who made the Warriors pay for starting the game in low gear. The Dolphins flyer got the better of Marcelo Montoya with a diving effort in the corner after just four minutes, and from that point this looked like the longest of nights lay ahead for the team in black. Everything about the Dolphins effort screamed energy and accuracy. This was Wayne Bennett football on full display and Herbie Farnworth made it count in the 16th minute when he cut back and left half the Warriors pack tackling thin air.
Rugby league is strictly a game of momentum and it lay with the Dolphins. That’s why the Warriors’ opening try to Chanel Harris-Tavita didn’t immediately convince the faithful that their team was genuinely back in the contest. As if to underline that doubt, Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow struck back for the Dolphins just two minutes later.
This is where the story takes a dramatic turn from the expected because this Warriors team, shorn of at least 10 experienced first-graders, and with their most effective winger at fullback, and their least experienced hooker starting, and their centre, Moala Graham-Taufa, making his NRL debut, turned for the break just four points adrift and came out for the second spell as if they were starting the game again.
The next 30 minutes belonged to the Warriors. Dallin Watene-Zelezniak was inspired at the back, carrying for close to 200 metres and repeatedly providing the spark for escape sets. Marcelo Montoya caught everything kicked his way.
Te Maire Martin backed up his creative performance against the Panthers with another assured display at halfback. Ed Kosi was industrious and took heavy hits when his team needed them most. Mitch Barnett, captaining the side, got through 74 minutes and made every one of them count.
There have been plenty of weeks in Warriors history when the loss of one key player would have been enough to shake every ounce of confidence from the side. Think back to the match against the Dolphins at Suncorp last season to see the correlation between depletion and completion. Well, it appears those days are over.
This Warriors side edged in front, extended their dominance and clung on in the close to record another win against the form book. If there are two weeks that define a season, the Warriors have just lived through them.
There is a valid argument the Dophins have been guilty of ladder fraud this season, but they should have been good enough to get past the Warriors in the Auckland wet. Wayne Bennett will know that. Most pundits were picking it, even before the late changes to the line-up. However, pundits don’t win matches. Heart and soul do. That’s what this club has continued to develop.
The NRL is an unforgiving competition purely because it tests belief but when that belief is bone deep through the organisation, it creates players who are ready for the big stage whenever the call comes.
Dallin Watene-Zelezniak spoke post-match about the philosophy, telling SKY Sport, “Our mentality is next man up, do the job.” The Warriors have needed plenty of next men up over the last two weeks. All of them are doing the job.
It was indigenous round at Te Pa O Rarotonga on Sunday night, here on the site of one of Tamaki Makaurau’s Tupuna Maunga, creation of Mataaho and Ruaumoko. Here in the home cauldron built upon the work of the guardian of the earths’ secrets and the god of earthquakes and volcanoes, the Warriors reached deep into the heart of their being, and found the character that lies within.
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