Fierce farewell for leaving players
Round 25 was the last home game a few of the Warriors would play at Mt Smart wearing the team colours. Ben Matulino, Charlie Gubb, Kieran Foran and Ryan Hoffman will be leaving the club for another for the upcoming 2018 season. Although the game technically meant nothing for the Warriors as their chances of making finals footy are long gone, the team put their best foot forward on Sunday evening to send off their team mates on their new adventures. Different from last week, the team looked passionate and played with urgency while putting up a tough fight for Manly who needed to win the game to have a chance for the premiership.
Captain Roger Tuivasa-Sheck not happy with performance
Although The Warriors gave their all and showed more effort in their performance than the previous week, Captain Roger Tuivasa-Sheck blamed the team’s lack of football sense and poor execution for the loss. Many would have thought the Warriors had the game in the bag as they had a 7 point lead in the 73rd minute. In the remaining minutes of the game, the Warriors allowed Manly to get back into the game and missed their opportunity to take the win as Shaun Johnson missed his chance at a field which would have won the game.
Battle of the one-pointers
The game was extremely close as both teams managed to keep the score even throughout majority of the game. The field goal by Shaun Johnson in the 73rd minute looked as though it would be the deciding factor of the game as Manly were previously a try and conversion away from tying the match and going into golden point. Unlucky for the Warriors, manly scored a try in the 76th minute and the conversion as well as kicking a field goal soon after to go into golden point. Following the trend of the game – golden point was decided by yet another field goal by the Manly Sea Eagles.
Manly dominating
The Manly Sea Eagles dominated the beginning of the game as they racked up 8 points in the first 20 minutes as the Warriors were unable to put any points on the board. Five-eighth Blake Green kicked two successful 40/20s as well as delivering an inside ball for Jake Trbojevic to score a try.
Final Score
Warriors 21
Tries: David Fusitua (2), Blake Ayshford, Ken Maumalo
Goals: Isaac Luke
Tries: David Fusitua (2), Blake Ayshford, Ken Maumalo
Goals: Isaac Luke
Field Goals: Shaun Johnson
Manly Sea Eagles 22
Tries: Jake Trbojevic, Dylan Walker, Tom Trbojevic
Goals: Matthew Wright (4),
Field Goals: Daly Cherry-Evans (2)
