The Auckland side were eliminated from the NRL finals on Saturday. Photo / Photosport
New Zealand Warriors coach Andrew Webster is proud of what his team has achieved this season – but admits they are still a step or two away from being genuine contenders.
The Auckland side were eliminated from the NRL finals on Saturday, after a 24-8 defeat to the Penrith Panthers. The scoreline wasn’t a true reflection of the contest, which was a tight, tense affair for a long time.
But Penrith found a way when it mattered most, while the Warriors couldn’t capitalise on their own periods of dominance and conceded some streaky tries.
Although overall it was a much better effort than most recent performances, it continued a pattern of costly lapses, showing the ground they need to make up on the big guns.
“We’ve built some great stuff, but that last piece is missing,” Webster said, reflecting on the season. “We’ve got to find that last piece. We’ve brought a lot of young guys through. I feel like our senior players have done a terrific job. I feel like we’ve handled adversity and stayed really tight as a group, [they are] so well connected.
“But there’s a piece missing and I feel like we could launch, if we take those lessons and go to that next step, or we could stay exactly where we are, which is just a top-six team. I just think we can be better.”
Saturday was a night of ifs and buts. The Warriors dominated the first quarter but couldn’t find a try, despite some good opportunities. Isaiah Papali’i got over for the Panthers from a smart move, before the Warriors weathered a massive storm to close out the first half. However, they gave up a soft try from close range to Brad Schneider in the 46th minute, after a cheap yardage penalty.
“They’re the ones that we’re gifting,” Webster said. “Fair play to [Penrith] but we’re offside on the kick chase, they get to come down our end. We were really good at absorbing pressure for so long in that first half and then have a lack of concentration and they get a dive-over try from dummy half.”
But the Warriors found a way back, through a well-worked try to Leka Halasima in the 52nd minute – after space was created on the right edge – and the game was in the balance at 12-8.
Then came the turning point of the match, as Penrith winger Paul Alamoti somehow kept the ball from crossing the touchline, before an unlikely escape from being trapped in his own in-goal. With the Panthers stuck deep in their own half, a kick from Nathan Cleary took a wild bounce – though the Warriors’ back three were probably too deep – and Penrith swooped, with Casey McLean eventually finishing in the corner.
“They were going to run into touch, tapped it back into play, and just by half a metre, we don’t get them in the end-goal,” Webster said. “Then we front-load line speed and they kick it, bounces back and they score a try. It breaks your heart.
“But that stuff happens to us too often. No one can tell me there’s no effort during that period of play but we are just a step off or a play off – just concentration.”
Overall, Webster was pleased with the effort given the Warriors were given little chance against the four time premiers. He said the preparation had been great and they were ready to perform “like a finals team”.
But it didn’t disguise the painful reality that their season – which had promised so much at the halfway stage – was over.
“When you lose a finals game, it should hurt,” said Webster. “[If] the moment doesn’t hurt, you probably shouldn’t be here. I could give a great speech about how far we’ve come, but we want to be one of the best, we want to be the best, so we’ve got a bit of work to do.”
Webster said the bench make-up – with both Te Maire Martin and Sam Healey – was about having the best 17 on the park. He also opted to used Kurt Capewell back in the second row, to make the most of his influence in that position, while the “fearless” Halasima was a logical centre option.
Michael Burgess has been a Sports Journalist for the New Zealand Herald since 2005, covering the Olympics, Fifa World Cups, and America’s Cup campaigns. He is a co-host of the Big League podcast.