Four Pointers: New Zealand Warriors 22 Parramatta Eels 10
Kieran Foran produces the goods
Kieran Foran is proving to be one of the best buys the Warriors have made this year. Foran set up two of the team’s four tries and directed them towards their third win for the season. As well as setting up tries, he gave the team that boost of confidence to believe they could get the win. His presence on the field has been noted since the only consecutive wins the Warriors have had, have been the two games he has played. Foran has made a huge impact on the Warrior’s attack since he debuted and I can’t wait to see what else he is going to do for the team throughout the rest of the season.
James Gavet should be re-signed
If the Warrior’s are smart, they will be looking to re-sign James Gavet for another season before he is snapped up by another club as he is off-contract at the end of 2017. He may not be the most exciting player to watch but he does the hard-yards that ultimately win games. It’s true you need players like Johnson and Foran to win, but if the forwards aren’t present and setting the standard, those players are unable to perform as we have seen with Johnson in the past and that is why James Gavet has been a huge asset to the team in the last few weeks. The warrior’s forward pack have been disappointing this season but Gavet has started to change that throughout the past three games he has played. He has a mongrel attitude on the field which makes him a force to be reckoned with and I believe the other forwards could learn a lot from the way he plays.
No possession for the Eels
It’s hard to win games when the ball never seems to be in your team’s hands, but that was the case for the Eels on Sunday night at Mt Smart Stadium. Throughout the entire game the Eels had 44% possession but during the first half it seemed as though they had hardly any ball at all. The ball happened to bounce the Warrior’s way and luck was on their side which meant the Eels had limited opportunities to score. The team were tired going into the second half due to exhausting themselves through defence which set them up for their fourth loss of the season. The Eels made a total of 384 tackles compared to the Warriors 324 which shows the Eels had to do a lot more defending.
Questions over Eels defence
The Eels have been ranked as the competition’s fifth-worst club in terms of ineffective tackles and it certainly showed during the game on Sunday night. The Eels missed a total of 28 tackles throughout the game which contributed largely to their 22-10 loss. The Warriors are also known to have a terrible defensive game, but what they are good at is punishing other teams when their defence isn’t up to standard. The Warriors were able to break the line 7 times and ran an impressive 1722 metres compared to the Eels 1470. If the Eels are wanting to win more games and improve throughout the season, their defensive game definitely needs to be fine tuned.
SCOREBOARD
New Zealand Warriors 22
Tries: Bodene Thompson 2, Simon Mannering, Ken Maumalo
Goals: Shaun Johnson 3
Parramatta Eels 10
Tries: Nathan Brown, Josh Hoffman
Goals: Clint Gutherson 1
