Herald rugby league writer Michael Burgess looks at three things we learned from the Warriors loss to the Sea Eagles last night.
Warriors remain consistently inconsistent
The Warriors have yet to put together two good halves of football in 2016, and considering a quarter of the season is gone, that'sa pretty damming statistic. Saturday's night match was particularly frustrating; there was moments of good play, where the team had some momentum, but it was invariably undone by an error, a soft penalty or an lapse in attention. The Warriors were meant to be building their way into the campaign, but their were aspects of last night's match that were no better than round one.
Sea Eagles pack shows the way
Manly don't have too many big names in their forward division, aside from Martin Taupau and Nate Myles. But their pack gave a salutary lesson in forward play last night. Nothing fancy, but they ran hard and straight and held onto the ball. Their timing was also much better than their Warriors counterparts, which meant added punch to their runs.
Whatever your opinion of Manu Vatuvei, he was missed against the Sea Eagles. The team has come to rely on the go forward he provides, and no one was able to step up in his absence. The Warriors haven't won a match in 2016 without him in the 17. The absence of the injured Bodene Thompson also leaves a huge hole at the moment; it shouldn't be that way, but no one else in the forwards is able to provide his mix of intensity, work rate and aggression.
