The Warriors’ big news week following the acquisition of James Fisher-Harris on a four-year deal from 2025 had a bitter postscript, courtesy of a shock 30-12 thrashing at the hands of St George Illawarra.
It was the club’s biggest defeat to the Dragons since a 36-0 loss in Wellington in late-2015 and saw the Warriors dip out of the Top 8 with a 3-1-3 record.
The Warriors weren’t the only team to drop their bundle in Round 7, however – as The Rugby League Eye Test pointed out, the average margin was a whopping 19.5 points (the 23rd-largest since 2016), up from 6.3 points in Round 6 (eighth-closest since 2016), with two other favourites losing by 24-plus.
Blowout loss defies tight statlines
The key team stats indicated a close contest, rather than the ill-disciplined, error-strewn, defensively-shaky performance that contributed to what most are regarding as the Warriors’ worst since Andrew Webster took over.
- Possession: Warriors 51%, Dragons 49%
- Completion rate: Dragons 85% (36/42), Warriors 78% (29/37)
- All runs: Warriors 189, Dragons 175
- All run metres: Dragons 1,620, Warriors 1,593
- Post-contact metres: Warriors 578, Dragons 498
- Line-breaks: Dragons 5, Warriors 3
- Tackle-breaks: Dragons 35, Warriors 34
- Average set distance: Warriors 43.08, Dragons 38.57
- Play-the-ball speed: Warriors 3.28s, Dragons 3.43s
- Offloads: Warriors 7, Dragons 4
- Kicking metres: Dragons 641, Warriors 503
- Forced dropouts: Dragons 1, Warriors 1
- Kick defusal: Dragons 90%, Warriors 71%
- Effective tackles: Warriors 88.52%, Dragons 87.09%
- Tackles made: Warriors 347, Dragons 317
- Errors: Warriors 10, Dragons 9
- Penalties conceded: Warriors 7, Dragons 5
- Ruck infringements: Warriors 3, Dragons 2
- Inside 10 metres: Dragons 1, Warriors 0
Meanwhile, the convincing loss was not the biggest margin-wise under Webster: the Warriors’ last four defeats of 2023 – in Round 18 against Souths (28-6), the Dolphins in Round 27 (34-10), Penrith in the qualifying finals (32-6) and Brisbane in the preliminary final (42-12) were all by 22-plus points.
Run-shy back-rowers in the gun
The ball-running contributions of the Warriors’ two starting second-rowers came under scrutiny, particularly given the extra minutes the shorthanded middle-forward contingent was forced to do at WIN Stadium.
Jackson Ford made just three runs for 32 metres before being hooked around the hour mark, while Kurt Capewell chalked up just 25 metres from five carries. Prior to last weekend, Ford was averaging 108 metres per game and Capewell 69 metres.
But the defeat to the Saints also saw season-low running-metre tallies for Dallin Watene-Zelezniak (103m) and Mitch Barnett (118m), while Wayde Egan (30m), Marcelo Montoya (121m) and yardage monster Roger Tuivasa-Sheck (142m) were well down on their 2024 averages.
Dazzling Dallin’s strike-rate keeps soaring
While also breaking the Warriors’ longest scoring drought since they were held try-less for the last 68 minutes against the Sharks, DWZ’s sensational finish with 11 minutes to go (after SJ’s opener 58 minutes earlier) was a rare highlight.
Watene-Zelezniak, who broke the club tryscoring record in 2023 with an incredible 24 tries in just 21 games, leads the team this season with five tries from six appearances to maintain a phenomenal strike-rate – 42 tries from 53 games – that puts him ahead of any player in Warriors history.
What makes Dallin’s heroics more remarkable is that he crossed for a modest 49 tries in 143 games for Penrith and Canterbury – including a measly 14 touchdowns in his last 73 NRL appearances before linking with the Warriors midway through 2021.
Top 10 Tryscoring strike-rates by Warriors players (minimum 15 tries)
- 0.79 – Dallin Watene-Zelezniak (2021-24): 53 games – 42 tries
- 0.67 – Manu Vatuvei (2004-17): 226 games – 152 tries
- 0.60 – Glen Fisiiahi (2011-15): 25 games – 15 tries
- 0.58 – Konrad Hurrell (2012-16): 71 games – 41 tries
- 0.56 – David Fusitu’a (2014-20): 108 games – 61 tries
- 0.55 – Francis Meli (1999-2005): 100 games – 60 tries
- 0.52 – Nigel Vagana (1996-2000): 71 games – 37 tries
- 0.55 – Sean Hoppe (1995-99): 88 games – 44 tries
- 0.49 – Solomone Kata (2015-19): 93 games – 46 tries
- 0.49 – Todd Byrne (2005-07) 43 games – 21 tries
In other historical Warriors tryscoring news, Johnson’s opener elevated him into outright second on the club’s all-time register ahead of Stacey Jones with 78 tries. Manu Vatuvei appears decades away from getting run down with 152 meaties.
Warriors aim to extend Titans rivalry dominance
The Warriors must regroup on Thursday in their Anzac Day showdown in Auckland with Gold Coast Titans – the team who they boast the best record against of any NRL club.
The Warriors lead the head-to-head count 20-12 for a win percentage of 62.5; their next best win percentage is against Wests Tigers (55.55 from a 20-16 record).
But the Titans have enjoyed a fightback in the rivalry in recent times, winning three straight matches against the COVID-stricken Warriors in 2021-22 after losing 14 of the teams’ previous 17 encounters from 2011-21.
The Warriors held on for a 28-18 win on the Gold Coast in Round 23 last year courtesy of Shaun Johnson’s brilliance, with the Titans showing remarkable resolve after having Moeaki Fotuaika sent off in the first half.
The Titans claimed an incredible 27-26 golden point victory in their last visit to Auckland in the final round of 2022, clawing back from 16-0 down early and 26-12 behind with less than seven minutes remaining.
Ominously, Gold Coast also grabbed a rare Mt Smart win, 32-28, on Anzac Day as part of the NRL’s five games in five cities spectacular in 2015 – the only time in the past 15 years the Warriors haven’t spent the most solemn day on New Zealand’s and Australia’s calendar in Melbourne.
Number crunchers
A clutch of players defied the dismal loss to the Dragons with some impressive numerical feats:
- Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad followed up his monster effort against Manly with a game-high 258 metres from 27 runs.
- Addin Fonua-Blake churned through an enormous 26 runs for 255 metres (108 post-contact) and 23 tackles without a miss in a 69-minute shift.
- Tohu Harris was an absolute trojan on both sides of the ball, reeling off a team-high 48 tackles and carting the ball up 22 times for 168 metres. Wayde Egan (47) and Kurt Capewell (43) were next in the Warriors’ tackle count.
- It wasn’t Rocco Berry’s happiest night in the NRL, but he finished with 31 tackles – an extraordinary tally for a centre.