The 2024 season was supposed to be a triumphant follow-up to the Warriors’ impressive fourth-place finish in 2023. With the return of stars like Roger Tuivasa-Sheck and another season under coach of the year Andrew Webster, expectations were sky high. However, the season turned into a nightmare, with nothing going right. Our writers delve into the key reasons behind this disappointing year.
Weight of pressure
The Warriors repeatedly crumbled under the weight of expectations this year. It’s one thing to have a sell-out season — another to perform in front of them.
Last year the Warriors greatly exceeded expectations to surge to fourth in Andrew Webster’s first season at the helm. This year, with a stronger roster having acquired Roger Tuivasa-Sheck and Kurt Capewell, the Warriors were expected to perform to a similar level. The result? A 13th-place finish.
The easy option is to seek excuses. While influential injuries played their part, all clubs endure setbacks. The Warriors transformed from one of the best defensive teams to among the worst. They blew substantial leads — in the opening game against the Sharks and at home to the Storm. They lost at home on Anzac Day to the lowly Titans, and conceded a record 66 points away to the same opposition. They lost to the battling Eels, once again at home when most of the crowd left early in frustration at the 30-4 scoreline.
The matches the Warriors won often came as underdogs; when they were down on troops, largely written off against superior opposition such as the Panthers or, in the case of Shaun Johnson’s final game, came back from seemingly down and out.
Player recruitment is regularly cited as a means to improve teams, but if the Warriors don’t already employ one, they should be seeking a mental skills specialist.
— Liam Napier
Hype
Given the success of 2023, is it possible the Warriors got carried away?
The season-opening game against the Sharks had the club’s victory song played when they were ahead at halftime. That’s not the fault of the 17 players on the park, or the coaching staff.
But it showed the feeling was the Warriors deserved to have the same success as they did a year ago.
The Warriors weren’t the only side to rest on their laurels. The Brisbane Broncos have gone from runners-up to missing the top eight altogether.
But 2024 will ultimately be a harsh teacher for the Warriors to earn their successes in 2025.
— Alex Powell
High expectations
The Warriors have rarely handled high expectations and therefore this season shouldn’t really be a surprise. Only the 2002 grand final team running into a 2003 team that lost the preliminary final have managed to string together consistency in performance across a strand longer than a season in their history.
Until they figure out how to manage the scrutiny of an increasingly growing fanbase, they will only be also-rans. The attack was particularly laboured and unimaginative this season and it became clear that Shaun Johnson went a season too long.
— Elliott Smith
Lack of cohesion
You could write a 3000-word essay on the Warriors’ dramatic regression in 2024, with all kinds of reasons and contributing factors, but a key one was injuries and subsequent lack of cohesion.
Last season, 14 players appeared in 20 or more matches for the club, but this year only four managed to feature in at least 20 games. Even allowing for the fact the Warriors had three more fixtures in the finals, that is still a staggering statistic and meant coach Andrew Webster was forced to constantly change his spine, his edges and his pack. Shaun Johnson is the prime example; from 25 games last year to 16 this campaign and in many of those he was less than 100%. Another is Marcelo Montoya and Adam Pompey, who were fixtures on the left edge last year (27 matches each).
But it’s not just about the casualty ward. From the opening two defeats, the team never really gained any momentum and contrived to find new ways to lose tight contests. They also couldn’t rediscover the defensive resilience that defined their magical 2023 season, especially when defending their line.
They didn’t evolve enough, as opposition teams studied their strengths and identified their weaknesses. And too many senior or established players failed to hit the heights required often enough, and that is always going to hurt you over a long season.
Dealing with the expectation off the back of the “Up the Wahs” mania from 2023 was also a challenge that proved difficult at times.
— Michael Burgess
The RTS conundrum
I think Webster backed himself into a corner with Roger Tuivasa-Sheck. He came out early in the season, in pre-season even, to say he saw Roger as a centre and that it was unlikely he’d play fullback aside from injury. Game against the Knights where he was forced to play RTS at fullback because of injuries Roger was brilliant (and any other time he played there during the season).
You saw at the back end of the season how good Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad was at centre and it really begged the question as to why it took injuries/suspensions to force an adjustment like that. I wouldn’t call it stubbornness per se, but I think there has to come a time when you acknowledge the best-laid plans don’t always work out and that they can be changed.
— Will Toogood
Predictable attack
A conservative and largely predictable attack.
The Warriors had the second-best set completion rate of any team in the NRL, and that speaks to an unwillingness to chance their arm with ball in hand.
Injuries to key players (Shaun Johnson, Tohu Harris, Luke Metcalf) didn’t help — but we saw in the most recent win over Cronulla that if they have a go, this team can score points against the best of them.
— Nick Bewley
Webster’s stubbornness
It’s no secret that Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad was given assurances he’d keep the fullback spot despite the signing of RTS. The problem, however, was not Nicoll-Klokstad’s performances, but instead the inability to get the best out of Roger Tuivasa-Sheck in the centres. A former Dally M and title winner, RTS simply needs to play fullback to exploit his explosive and elusive running game. His running metres, try assists and tackle break numbers were down in the centres compared with his career output at fullback.
CNK is a workhorse and a strong ball carrier, a skillset that can easily translate into the centre role, which he has performed well for the Kiwis. While CNK carried us out of our own end well, the Warriors looked much more threatening with RTS at the back. In 2024, the Warriors sit 11th on the ladder for most tries scored with 90, compared with 111 in 2023. Webby might need to drop the stubborn act regarding RTS at centre and bite the bullet and make the shift.
What would opposition teams prefer to come up against, RTS at centre or RTS at fullback? Deep down it’s a question even Webby can admit the answer to.
— Heath Moore
Predictability
The Warriors’ game plan as far as attack is quite simple: make use of the forwards for the first four carries of the set to try to make as many metres as possible. On the last two tackles, Shaun Johnson will either kick, or the backline splits into a 3-1-3 shape where the halfback dictates where the attack goes.
Unfortunately, that hasn’t changed since the start of 2023. Rival coaches and players have plenty of material to analyse and prepare for a Warriors team that ultimately do the same thing week in, week out.
It’s no coincidence the club’s two best results of the season – wins over the Dolphins and Panthers – came with new-look line-ups where the opposition had no indication of what they’d be up against.
— Alex Powell
Dreadful defence
The Warriors had the bounce of the ball throughout the 2023 season, but quickly fell out of the rugby league gods’ good graces this year. The return of Roger Tuivasa-Sheck and much of the squad that finished in the top four after last year’s regular season had fans abuzz heading into the new season, but it wasn’t to be.
The biggest disappointment was their effort without the ball. They often lacked cohesion on defence, and there were several blowouts along the way after players seemed to give up – the complete opposite of some of their brave efforts in 2023.
From their uninspiring attack to their horrendous run of injuries, and from the Addin Fonua-Blake saga to stubbornness at selection time, the season was dire; but fix the defence and the attack will come into place.
Hall of Fame basketball coach Adolph Rupp puts it best: “Defence will save you on the nights when your offence isn’t working.” Too often, the Warriors’ attack was flat, but their defence was worse.
— Luke Kirkness
Kicking woes
The reasons for the Warriors’ woes off the tee were obvious – injuries to our top three kickers, commentators’ curses from Chris Key, etc. But is that why we missed the playoffs? Well I crunched the numbers. If the Warriors had made all of their conversions (and their opponents did too) their record would have improved from 10-1-13 to 12-2-10*. That would have them finishing the year on 32 points – good enough for eighth.
The solution? Take the posts off the pitch. Kicking is an entirely separate game from Rugby League and should have no bearing on the outcome of the game.
*For the sickos that want to know – we would have won the RD6 draw with Manly and the golden point losses against the Bulldogs in RD13 and Dolphins in RD 23. RDs 11 (Panthers) and 12 (Dolphins) would have been draws.
— Manaia Stewart
Loyalty
As far as Warriors coaches go, Andrew Webster’s man management is second to none. He gets the results he does because his players don’t want to let him down.
However, that went too far this year. We saw from wins over the Panthers and Dolphins there was plenty of depth outside of the first-choice 17, if given the chance.
But when the time came, and the first-string players were fit again, they were all straight back into the side.
There’s an argument to make for not throwing the young guns to the wolves, but the likes of Demetric Sifakula, Leka Halasima and Ali Leiataua among others showed they’re more than ready to go – if given the chance.
— AP
The bench rotation
Often a point of debate among Warriors fans, Webster was previously criticised for his bench selections in 2023, often picking a small interchange or an outside back where there was already adaptable cover. It feels he has learned his lesson in 2024.
But where frustrations creep in is often his reluctance to regularly use every bench player and give them adequate minutes.
I get the feeling he is yet to trust some of his young stars or is simply carrying a 17th man in case of emergency. A number of players have been given charity minutes with little time to make an impact. Five times this season CHT has seen 13 minutes or less when riding the pine. For Adam Pompey it was worse. Once he featured for only 5 minutes, while another time he didn’t get on the park at all.
The numbers for other players when coming off the bench tell a similar story. Demitric Sifakula averaged only 19 minutes a game off the bench, Bunty Afoa 23 minutes, Tom Ale 22 minutes, and CHT just 17 minutes excluding one game where he was required to play 71 minutes due to injury.
While the Warriors’ error count has dropped and run metres are up this season compared with 2023, maybe the reluctance to go to the interchange has held the Warriors back at certain moments.
— HM
Injuries and cohesion
This is a bit of a cop-out, but you’ll struggle to finish in the NRL’s top eight without your best players.
In 2024, it felt as though the Warriors couldn’t catch a trick. Of the 24 games the Warriors played, Shaun Johnson managed just 16. Tohu Harris and Marata Niukore played 14, Rocco Berry played 12, Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad played 17.
Those five were all key performers in 2023, but couldn’t string together enough games as a unit to go on a winning run.
— AP
Silver linings
Let’s cut them some slack. The Warriors season wasn’t so bad by their standards – it felt like a flop because our expectations were set too high. And rightly so! Their freak 2023 campaign got us all dreaming this side was destined for more success. With Roger Tuivasa-Sheck back, a roster full of depth and promise, and essentially all home games sold out weeks in advance, the Wahs were set up for another unreal campaign.
Though it didn’t come to fruition, there were still plenty of highs: the aforementioned sell-outs, Shaun Johnson leaving the game on a high and Kiwi fans disregarding their tall poppy syndrome to get behind the team no matter the result. They secured nine wins in 2024, marking their second-highest total in their last five campaigns. In 2023 they won 16 games, six in 2022, and eight each in 2021 and 2020.
— Bonnie Jansen