NRL: Injuries and bad decision making cost the Warriors

Konrad Hurrell of the Warriors scores against the Melbourne Storm at Mt Smart Stadium. Despite leading at halftime, the team plunged to their seventh defeat from 12 matches. Photo / Getty Images

Storm 22
Warriors 12

When the tide turned things unravelled pretty quickly for the Warriors at Mt Smart Stadium yesterday.

The curse of the fullback jumper struck again, with Glen Fisiiahi limping off with a badly bruised knee mid-way through the first half. He was followed swiftly by luckless prop Sam Rapira, whose season is likely over after he tore a triceps muscle.

The injury - which follows shoulder and knee problems - requires surgery that will sideline Rapira for three months.

If that double blow was the start of a slide towards what was the team's seventh defeat from 12 matches, the final tumble came courtesy of a Manu Vatuvei blunder that the clinical Storm converted into a match-winning try with six minutes remaining.

It is ironic that, having dispensed with a player who wouldn't try hard enough in Krisnan Inu, the Warriors are now being hurt by one who is simply trying too hard.

After a rough outing against the Tigers two weeks ago, Vatuvei was determined to make amends. He carried the ball 18 times - the most of any player in the match - and ran for the most metres in his side. But with his side trailing by four points late in the game he twice tried to do too much, taking on the Storm defence without enough regard for the sideline.

The first time he was tackled into touch, the second his Hail Mary inside pass fell neatly into the clutches of the Storm, with prime tormentor Billy Slater and the sublime Cameron Smith combining to apply the coup de grace.

"Look, [Vatuvei] is distraught at the moment," coach Brian McClennan said. "He tries so hard for our team, that is why everybody is very protective of him, myself included.

"He was trying to ignite something to help the team and tried a little too hard. That is a mistake but if someone is trying too hard and overplays it, I prefer those mistakes to the other ones where blokes aren't having a proper dig. He is trying his heart out out there."

He is, but Vatuvei's heart has never been in question. The fact remains he is doing as much harm as good at the moment. His brain snap played right into the hands of a Storm side that planned all along to ride out the Warriors' early fury.

"We know that every time we come up against them they are going to play well," Smith said.

"They have a funny knack of turning up and playing a great game of football against the Melbourne Storm. So we were ready for them.

"They started extremely well but we knew that if we stayed patient and a got a fair share of the footy we'd give ourselves a good chance of winning."

With his side having recovered from a 12-0 deficit to trail by just two at the break, those sentiments were reinforced by Storm coach Craig Bellamy.

"We were pretty confident at half time if we remained patient and stuck to what we were doing with the footy we'd be okay and that is how it turned out," Bellamy said.

Having begun the season being forced to chase matches after slow starts, the Warriors are now losing games because they can't maintain early leads. Yesterday they didn't score after the 14th minute and were ultimately run down by 22 unanswered Storm points.

"At 12-0 I thought we let them back in it too easily," McClennan said. "When we've got a team under the pump we've got to keep them that way. In the second half it became a bit of a war and we just didn't stay in it."

With the torrid match leaving a number of players bruised and battered, McClennan said the side would appreciate the eight-day turnaround until their next match against Penrith next Monday night.

That game is followed by another away match against Cronulla the following Saturday night. With the Warriors' season now teetering, those matches loom as vital encounters.