If you’re an NZ Warriors fan, you’ve been here before.
These are the dog days of the NRL regular season, where a handful of teams are hanging onto playoff dreams by their fingernails, counting the number of competition points available to them and calculating how many they need to make the top eight.
Let’s put the Warriors out of their miseries right now — for the 21st time in 30 seasons, they’re not going to make it.
With two games and a bye left in their 2024 campaign, they have a maximum of six points to earn, sitting seven points outside the eight.
After finishing within a game of the Grand Final in Andrew Webster’s first year as coach, this roster promised so much, but has fallen surprisingly short.
Whether it was the distraction of prop Addin Fonua-Blake’s imminent and early departure for Cronulla, or a raft of injuries that ravaged the weekly line-up, ended captain Tohu Harris’ season early and convinced near-Dally M winner Shaun Johnson to retire, it’s hard to put a finger on the exact cause.
To be sure, their inability to close out close games has been a recurring nightmare. The Warriors have lost twice and drawn once in golden point, while losing five others by six points or less.
'Made our own luck'
“I think we’ve [made] our own luck,” reflects Webster. “I certainly won’t be using it as an excuse at the end of the year… The difference was we won the tight ones [last year] and we lost them [this year].
“At the end of the day, I think everyone can tell we still haven’t played our best football. We haven’t taken our opportunities and we’ve put ourselves in difficult situations.
“We did win those tight ones last year, but as for those situations, we’re going to get better at them, we’re going to practice them a lot… I’ve got to take some ownership over that too.”
As another season draws to an all too familiar end, here are six games that could have swung momentum back towards the post-season for the Auckland-based club.
Round 1 — Warriors 12 Cronulla Sharks 16
Converted tries to Fonua-Blake and five-eighth Luke Metcalf had the home side immediately on top, as they seemed to pick up where they left off in 2024. Then they went scoreless for the final 67 minutes, despite several prime opportunities to build on their early advantage.
Round 2 — Melbourne Storm 30 Warriors 26
Eight points up with three minutes remaining, the visitors seemed poised to erase the memory of their season-opening loss, while ending a 14-game losing streak to the perennial premiership contenders.
Fullback Ryan Papenhuyzen scored his second try to close the margin to two, before centre Nick Meaney had a long-range field goal charged down and, from the ensuing set, winger Xavier Coates scored a miracle try in the corner to steal victory.
"That one hurts," admitted Johnson.
Round 8 — Warriors 24 Gold Coast Titans 27
Finally awarded a home Anzac fixture against the winless Titans, converted tries to fullback Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad and Fonua-Blake had the Warriors 12-0 up after eight minutes, but they conceded the next 27 points, before closing late.
They had two tries disallowed, while winger Dallin Watene-Zelezniak was held up over the line, as they desperately searched for a gamewinner against the competition cellar dwellers.
Round 18 — Canterbury Bulldogs 13 Warriors 12
One of the golden point heartbreakers, with Bulldogs star Matt Burton nailing an extra-time field goal for victory.
The Warriors were forced to juggle their line-up throughout the match, as Nicoll-Klokstad (calf), Watene-Zelezniak (concussion) and fellow winger Marcelo Montoya (strain) all exited early, leaving forwards to fill vacancies in the backline.
Round 20 — Canberra Raiders 20 Warriors 18
Desperately needing to win to keep their playoff chances alive, they did more than enough, actually outscoring the Raiders four tries to three.
The defining moment came at halftime, when goalkicking centre Adam Pompey hobbled off with a knee injury and never came back. Five-eighth Chanel Harris-Tavita took up kicking duties but simply could not find the posts, missing all three second-half conversions.
Round 23 — Dolphins 34 Warriors 32
Now deep into must-win territory, they trailed 20-6 at halftime, but gallantly fought their way back to 26-26 with 12 minutes remaining.
Converted tries to Dolphins centre Jake Averillo and Warriors prop Mitch Barnett brought the fulltime score to 32-32, before former Warriors five-eighth Sean O’Sullivan broke the deadlock with a 40-metre field goal in extra time.
With three weeks remaining, the Warriors have gone 2-8 in games decided by six points or less.
Others included the 22-22 draw with Manly in Round 6, a 14-8 loss to Newcastle Knights in Round 9, and courageous wins over Penrith Panthers (22-20) and the Dolphins (24-20) in Rounds 11 and 12 respectively.
SHARE ME