The Warriors just need a good kick up the you-know-what after that soft loss to the Roosters.
There are good losses and bad ones, and I don't think this was a bad one. There was a lack of energy and enthusiasm, which is easily fixed. A few honest appraisals, lookingeach other in the eye, will do the trick. There is nothing wrong with the players fearing the coach a bit, either. Andrew McFadden can fix this eyeball to eyeball.
The players I'd excuse from any criticism were two of the smallest guys out there - Nathan Friend and Sam Tomkins. The Warriors need to treat every game as a semifinal now, and Tomkins can play an important part in that because he has loads of big game experience with Wigan. In a well beaten side, I thought he was outstanding against the Roosters, trying to generate enthusiasm and popping up all over the park.
But the backrowers Simon Mannering and Bodene Thompson, who have been outstanding this year, showed signs of exhaustion from their workload. A title-contending side should not drop their bundle like this, but I think that is explained by the number of less-experienced players in this team. The Warriors' forwards were no match for the Roosters, and they were well beaten all over the field.
All in all though, the Warriors are still in a strong position and can win the title. Yes, the lack of energy this time was a disgrace. They let themselves down and they let the coach down but they can get back on track quickly by circling the wagons, becoming more ruthless, and developing a dog-eat-dog mentality. (We saw that sort of mentality from Roosters' prop Jared Waerea-Hargreaves)
In a key individual battle, the squat Solomone Kata had a nightmare against lanky Blake Ferguson in the centres. Kata should have gone out there absolutely desperate to get the better of his opposite and I don't think we saw that.
I wonder sometimes if there is too much love going on in the NRL. That really struck home after the game, when you could see some of the players embracing each other. It would be better to head into the sheds and start sorting things out instead of enthusiastically wrapping arms around the blokes who have just destroyed you.
