The Warriors banked another valuable two NRL competition points on Sunday, snapping an Easter hoodoo in the process with a gritty, grindy 20-12 win over Newcastle.
As outlined in last week’s column, the Warriors hadn’t won at Easter since 2018 and had won only five of their last 19 over the holiday weekend.
Runnin’ down a dream
The defeat of the Knights followed the Warriors’ general 2024 theme. It wasn’t pretty – save for flashes of brilliance from Wayde Egan, Roger Tuivasa-Sheck and Marcelo Montoya – and at times their attacking clunkiness was excruciating.
But a supreme defensive effort, with both of the Knights’ tries coming from kicks, underpinned a patient victory.
The ability to come out on top in the yardage battle for the fourth time in as many games this season also played a crucial role. A powerhouse display from the Warriors’ back-five and starting middles allowed the home side to outstrip the Knights with 1,852 run metres to 1,688, despite a slight possession deficit.
Third-string fullback Roger Tuivasa-Sheck’s 283 metres (103 post-contact) was a massive contributor, while Dallin Watene-Zelezniak finished just short of 200 metres, and Marcelo Montoya and Adam Pompey (who averaged 104 metres in 2023) both topped 150 metres.
But the Knights’ back-five also performed strongly in that department – it was an authoritative display from Mitch Barnett (178 metres), in particular, along with perennial metre-eaters Addin Fonua-Blake (140) and Tohu Harris (148), and second-rower Jackson Ford (139) that proved the major difference. None of the Newcastle forwards managed more than 106 run metres.
The Warriors rank second in the NRL for all run metres (7,322) and kick return metres (867), and fifth for post-contact metres (2,373). Penrith tops all three categories.
Tuivasa-Sheck’s 793 metres in the opening four rounds is behind only Panthers duo Dylan Edwards and Brian To’o in the competition, while Watene-Zelezniak (725) is seventh overall, Fonua-Blake (676) and Harris (671) are 14th and 15th, respectively, and Barnett (622) is 23rd.
RTS is also sixth for post-contact metres (290), with DWZ 13th (248), and Barnett (236) and Fonua-Blake (233) in the premiership’s top 20.
Back in the black
A victory over South Sydney this weekend would give the Warriors a winning record after five outings for just the 10th time in their 30 seasons.
After seven straight years of coming out of the first five rounds on the debit side of the ledger, the Warriors produced an unprecedented 5-0 start to the 2018 season.
The Warriors went 2-3 for the next three years, before clawing back from two losses in the opening fortnight of the 2022 campaign to a 3-2 record under Nathan Brown – a season that would ultimately produce a club-record-equalling low of six wins.
Andrew Webster’s rookie season as a head coach garnered a 4-1 start – before the Warriors lost four of their next five.
The club has gone on to reach the finals just twice after losing more than they won in their first five matches: the historic 2001 season, when they scraped into eighth with a losing record, and 2011, defying an 0-3 start to finish sixth and charge into the grand final.
Unlucky rabbit’s foot
The Warriors have already added to the NRL’s longest-running hex in 2024 courtesy of their heartbreaking defeat in Melbourne – but they’re narrow favourites to snap their second-longest rivalry losing streak this Saturday.
South Sydney has been a tough opponent for the Warriors, winning the clubs’ last eight encounters in a row, and 14 of the past 15 clashes. The Warriors’ only victory during that period was a shock win in Perth in the opening round of 2018.
Meanwhile, 11 of the Rabbitohs’ 14 wins over the Warriors since the start of 2013 were by margins of 16-plus points, including a jarring 28-6 result at a wet Mt Smart in Round 18 last year – despite the absence of Latrell Mitchell and Campbell Graham.
The Warriors have not beaten Souths in Sydney since 2011, when a Manu Vatuvei hat-trick headlined a 48-16 win.
This is only the Warriors’ third game at Accor Stadium in six seasons, but they are chasing three consecutive wins at the ground for the first time ever following victories over the Bulldogs in 2020 and 2023.
Their overall record since the Homebush venue opened in 1999 is nine wins, one draw and 13 losses (including two grand final defeats) in 23 visits, though they have scored 550 points to 522 conceded.
The first try the Warriors score on Saturday will be the club’s 100th at Accor Stadium – the only ground after Mt Smart where they will have boasted a century of tries. It’s their highest-scoring venue on average where they have played more than five times, racking up 23.91 points per game.
Number crunchers
Aside from the aforementioned metre-hungry performers, several Warriors racked up impressive stats at the Knights’ expense.
- Roger Tuivasa-Sheck’s game-high seven tackle-breaks lifted his tally to 23 after four rounds, just one shy of NRL leaders Brian To’o, Jacob Kiraz and James Tedesco.
- Marcelo Montoya chalked up six tackle-breaks to double his season tally.
- Kurt Capewell tackled his guts out, making a game-high 48 stops in his most impressive display as a Warrior so far.
- Shaun Johnson and Chanel Harris-Tavita combined for 44 tackles; meanwhile, Johnson has a big lead in the NRL’s stat categories for line engagements (49) and attacking kicks (42), and is second to Jamal Fogarty for kick metres (2,194).
- Indefatigable skipper Tohu Harris’ 42-tackle contribution kept him in a share of equal-ninth among the NRL’s busiest defenders, averaging a shade under 40 per game.