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Home / Sport / League / Warriors

Three things we learned: Warriors can't be any worse

NZ Herald
26 Mar, 2017 05:14 PM3 mins to read

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Ryan Hoffman of the Warriors watches on from the bench. Photo / Getty

Ryan Hoffman of the Warriors watches on from the bench. Photo / Getty

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Three things we learnt from the Warriors' 26-12 defeat to the Dragons on Sunday night.

The Warriors can't be any worse

Seriously - they can't. Fans will vent after another shocking performance but you can take heart in the fact there is only one way the side can go from here. They simply couldn't hold the ball and therefore couldn't create much. It is pointless questioning Shaun Johnson or Issac Luke's performance when their team in front kept dropping the ball. The Warriors made 21 errors against the Dragons. It wasn't one or two guys - it seemed like the entire team had a case of the dropsies. The goal-line defense wasn't much better although they can be thankful the Dragons aren't a great attacking side themselves - who knows what sort of score a side like the Roosters or Panthers could rack up against them.

Read more:
Dragons star crashed car on way to Warriors game
Warriors slump to demoralising defeat to Dragons
Kieran Foran a late scratch for Warriors

Relying on Kieran Foran is foolish

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Those that were opposed to signing the former Manly and Parramatta five-eighth pointed to his surgically-repaired shoulder and dodgy hamstrings among reasons why he was a risky pick-up. Aside from his off-field issues the injuries needed to be considered when signing him. We have seen him miss additional time through the shoulder taking longer than expected to recover and just when he got the green light to play his pulls up lame in the warm-ups with a hamstring injury. Foran is a quality player but he is now injury-prone. The Warriors simply cannot count on him being there regularly and they'd be foolish to think even if he stays healthy he could get his teammates catching the ball and making their tackles.

Coach Kearney needs to react

The Warriors simply cannot let these two terrible performances back-to-back slide without serious repercussion. The Bulldogs and Dragons are not competition heavyweights and yet the Warriors have made them look like world-beaters. Four games seems like a small sample size with another 20 games left to play before finals but in reality this team has five-odd years of sample to examine. The same issues are still plaguing the side that hurt them this time last year - basic handling, lack of go-forward or quick play-the-balls and woeful goal-line defense. Changing coaches hasn't worked, signing star recruits hasn't worked - at some point individual accountability needs to be driven home. Kearney has to wield the axe and maybe it is time for a total rebuild.

Discover more

Warriors

RTS sees mentor Mini as big captaincy influence

26 Mar 04:03 AM
Warriors

Foran a late scratch for Warriors

26 Mar 07:29 AM
Warriors

Warriors slump to demoralising defeat

26 Mar 09:21 AM
NRL

Crashes car, then beats the Warriors

26 Mar 07:27 PM
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