The Warriors keep rolling on with gritty win after gritty win, their 15-14 eclipse of St George Illawarra catapulting them into outright second on the ladder – despite having a points differential of just +1.
After a blazing start, the Warriors let a 14-0 lead slip and were held try-less for the last 65 minutes of the match. But a Luke Metcalf field goal broke the deadlock and another desperate defensive display got the overachieving outfit over the line in Wollongong.
The major stat categories generally finished almost even, though the Dragons were unable to capitalise on making three line-breaks to the Warriors’ three – and the hosts finishing on the wrong side of a 15-8 error count did not help their cause.
The Warriors, in a 2025 anomaly, lost the penalty count 7-6 and committed five ruck infringements to the Saints’ one.
The club is 7-2 for just the third time in its history, also doing so in 2002 and 2018. The Warriors are now on a four-match winning streak for just the 17th time since 1995; this weekend they will look to string together five straight victories for only the 10th time.
A WIN’s a win
WIN Stadium has been a veritable graveyard for the Warriors since losing their maiden away game to Illawarra Steelers there in 1995.
But they now boast three wins from their last four matches in Wollongong.
Saturday’s result provided the Warriors with just their fifth away win in 19 games against St George Illawarra since the joint venture’s inaugural 1999 season.
Metcalf’s try spree
Luke Metcalf scored the first try of the match for the second week in a row and made it six tries from the Warriors last six games, for a team-high season tally of seven.
Metcalf sits equal-sixth on the NRL’s tryscoring charts and is the only halfback with more than four so far this season.
The burgeoning No.7 is on course to set a new Warriors record:
MOST TRIES IN A SEASON BY A WARRIORS HALFBACK
15 – Stacey Jones (1999)
12 – Shaun Johnson (2012)
10 – Stacey Jones (2001)
10 – Grant Rovelli (2006)
10 – Shaun Johnson (2013)
10 – Shaun Johnson (2016)
9 – Stacey Jones (2002)
8 – Shaun Johnson (2023)
Field goal of dreams
Still on Metcalf, he became just the 16th player to kick a field goal at NRL level for the Warriors when he piloted over the match-winner against St George Illawarra – the first of his top-grade career.
He’s also the only Warriors player other than Shaun Johnson to slot a one-pointer since 2021.
Meanwhile, Metcalf has moved up to equal-third on the Dally M Medal leaderboard with 24 votes, behind only Cronulla fullback Will Kennedy (29) and Wests Tigers prop Terrell May (26) after picking up the maximum three votes from one judge…but none from the other.
Erin Clark grabbed three votes from one judge (but none from the other), while Mitch Barnett collected two votes from both.
Home sides dominate Phins-Wahs rivalry
The Warriors head back to Suncorp Stadium for the second time in three weeks to take on the up-and-down Dolphins, a Saturday afternoon fixture.
All four matches between the clubs have been won by the home side. The Warriors powered to a 30-8 win at Mount Smart in 2023 and a patched-up team won 24-20 at home last year.
The Dolphins’ wins, both at Suncorp Stadium, came against a second-string Warriors side in the final round of 2023 and in a golden point thriller in 2024 (34-32) with ex-Warrior Sean O’Sullivan nailing a two-point field goal in extra time.
The Warriors have won nine and drawn one of 26 matches at the Brisbane venue since first playing South Queensland Crushers there in 1995.
Number crunchers
- No shortage of statistical standouts in the Warriors’ slugfest win over the Saints:
- Charnze Nicoll Klokstad chewed through game-high tallies of 26 runs for 212 metres and seven tackle-breaks.
- Mitch Barnett provided a timely reminder for the NSW selectors with 20 runs for 186 metres and 47 tackles.
- Erin Clark just keeps delivering, churning out 18 runs for 177 metres, a game-high 52 tackles and a try involvement.
- Leka Halasima was a beast again in his second straight 80-minute performance, the teenager making 120 metres on 11 runs and 32 tackles.
- Fellow forward tyro Demetric Vaimauga was highly productive in 39 minutes of game-time, racking up nine runs for 108 metres and 29 tackles without a miss.