The Warriors’ top-four hopes received a mortal wound in the penultimate round, edged 26-22 by out-of-contention Parramatta Eels in Auckland on Friday night.
Concentration lapses in defence proved costly as the Eels built 20-4 and 26-16 leads. The Warriors came home with a wet sail – scoring three of the last four tries – but were denied a late match-winner by a controversial Bunker no try reversal.
The bare statistics reveal that it was a game the Warriors should never have let get to that point: they had 54 percent possession, led the all run metres (2,046 to 1,673), post-contact metres (725 to 502), line-breaks (five to three) and tackle-breaks (39 to 22) categories, and the penalty (5-3) and set restart (7-2) counts.
Errors were critical, with the Warriors committing 11 to the Eels’ seven as the visitors completed an outstanding 34 of 37 sets (91 percent).
The result left the sixth-placed Warriors needing to beat Manly, and for Brisbane to lose to Melbourne and Cronulla to go down to Canterbury, in the last round to climb back into fourth place for the finals.
Eels the new bogey team?
After temporarily quelling one burgeoning hoodoo with a victory over Gold Coast in Round 25, a new bogey continued to flourish in the form of a Parramatta team that has missed the finals in three straight seasons since reaching the 2022 grand final.
The Eels have now won six of their last seven against the Warriors, as well as three of their last four at Mount Smart.
Meanwhile, Josh Addo-Carr’s opener was his 12th try in 14 career games against the Warriors.
Keeping your enemies close
The Warriors have now been involved in 11 games decided by a converted try or less in 2025, winning eight and losing three.
While Friday’s result didn’t go their way, the Warriors’ ability to win most of their cliffhangers has been integral to qualifying for the finals.
Last season, the Warriors won just three and drew one of 11 games decided by six points or less – and missed the playoffs by a mere five competition points.
Trio surge in tryscoring race
The top three contenders for the Warriors’ 2025 top tryscorer crown all got over the stripe against Parramatta, with Adam Pompey grabbing their only try of the first half, Roger Tuivasa-Sheck opening the hosts’ second-half account and Leka Halasima bagging a late double.
Halasima’s 12 tries represents an outright record for a Warriors forward, while Tuivasa-Sheck’s 12th of the season – from just 17 games – equalled his career-best return (12 from 27 games for the Roosters in 2015).
Pompey, whose best previous season return was just five tries, looked to have joined RTS and Halasima with five minutes to go, only to have the potential match-winner pulled back.
WARRIORS TOP TRYSCORERS 2025
12 – Leka Halasima
12 – Roger Tuivasa-Sheck
11 – Adam Pompey
8 – Chanel Harris-Tavita
8 – Luke Metcalf
By hook or by Brookvale
The Warriors have a reasonable record against Round 27 opponent Manly, winning five and drawing one of the teams’ last 10 encounters.
Andrew Webster’s side powered to a shock 36-16 win in Auckland in Round 2, the Warriors’ equal-biggest winning margin over the Sea Eagles since 2007.
But getting the points at 4 Pines Park (formerly Brookvale Oval) has proved a more difficult task for the Warriors. They have lost their last three at the historic venue and have only prevailed there once since 2009 – a 26-22 upset during the COVID-ravaged 2020 campaign.
Manly fullback Tom Trbojevic boasts 11 tries in as many career games against the Warriors, while Jason Saab has crossed in all six appearances against the Warriors – a total of 10 tries, including two hat-tricks.
The Warriors will also be glad to see the back of exiting modern great Daly Cherry-Evans in a Manly jersey. The halfback boasts a 14-1-7 record against the Warriors, scoring 10 tries (including one in the 2011 grand final) and kicking five field goals (including two in golden point).
Number crunchers
Stats studs abounded despite the disappointing loss on Friday night:
- Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad cracked the 300-metre barrier for the third time in 2025, running for 328 metres on 32 runs, as well as making seven tackles.
- Roger Tuivasa-Sheck fell just one metre short of a triple ton, on top of two line-breaks and eight tackle-breaks.
- Dallin Watene-Zelezniak completed the triumvirate of back-three industriousness, making 17 runs for 172 metres and breaking five tackles.
- Adam Pompey produced one of his finest hands at NRL level, including a try, a try assist, 13 runs for 149 metres and 17 tackles.
- Tanah Boyd ran for 121 metres, had two try assists and made 23 tackles, while halves partner Chanel Harris-Tavita racked up 112 metres, one try assist and 15 tackles.
- James Fisher-Harris led from the front with a season-high 23 runs for 195 metres, along with 27 tackles.