Aotearoa Warriors Diary: Gold Coast Titans Pop Out Concert
Gold Coast Titans delivered a dose of 666 to roll over New Zealand Warriors and much of the mana built up with three wins a few weeks ago, has vanished into the devil's lettuce. Titans join Storm in grabbing two wins against NZW this season and while Storm are big donnies, somehow it's the Titans who have exposed a soft NZW belly with wins at Mt Smart and on the Gold Coast.
Titans are one of three teams who have wins at Mt Smart this year. Sharks also won in the first game of the season and Storm cruised to victory last week, when senior players decided to capitulate. The Monday newsletter wrap of that loss highlighted that the senior players made horrible errors, silly mistakes that not only directly led to a loss but also introduced us to a stench.
I'm here typing this on a Sunday morning for an Aotearoa Warriors Diary and not a Monday newsletter, because the concerning stench at Mt Smart was followed by a hefty loss to Titans. All sorts of words can be used to describe the loss to Titans but let's use a snap...
That's your team. Your team cares so much that they lose 6-66 to the Titans.
Given that most us had a whinge when Aussie commentators suggested that Cowboys could make a comeback while being dominated, credit to the Aussie commenators for highlighting that Alofiana Khan-Perera strolled from the corner to the middle of the posts to touch down for the first try. Actions mean more than words and despite rallying behind their team, NZW players told you how much they care in that moment and it forecasted the rest of the game.
NZW are not a finals team, they don't look like a team capable of riding a wave deep into finals either. Their defence is worse this season, which feels too obvious after 66 points were scored against NZW. Defence wins championships and defence helped NZW settle as a top-four team last season. NZW are struggling to score points though and it's possible to sneak into finals if the attacking system is working well, but NZW feel more frustrating with a consistently clunky attack.
Most examples aren't useful because NZW were getting rolled. Early in the game there was a moment with Marcelo Montoya that summed up NZW attack...
Mediocre shape led to a bit of space for Montoya, but Titans are already sliding across. Montoya is too slow to do anything with the slither of space and he couldn’t get close to the tryline. Attacking shapes do not work for NZW as they did last season and they are one of the slowest teams in the NRL.
Complicating matters is how NZW had epic wins over Panthers and Dolphins with second tier teams, some of whom also featured in a win over Cowboys. The two wins with lots of emerging players filled us all with mana, as well as shaking up Mt Smart. Senior players didn't come back full of enthusiasm, inspired by the youngsters to maintain that mahi. They have returned to stink it up.
It's not just youngsters who got the wins. Bunty Afoa played 30+ minutes in wins over Panthers and Dolphins. Despite being loved by fans and basically a cult-hero at this point, Afoa is apparently not good enough to earn consistent selection. There are youngsters such as Taine Tuaupiki and Moala Graham-Taufa who have fast-twitch zip, who can step into NRL footy. There is also an experienced prop who fans love and doesn't let the team down, right there in Afoa.
Interestingly, Afoa has a 56% winning rate this season. Afoa was on 62% winning last year, so he has shown coach Webster what he offers the team and two of his three best seasons (eight years in his career) have come under coach Webster. Instead Afoa has seen his minutes decrease under coach Webster while others lose.
One of those losers is Shaun Johnson. Johnson has played 14 NRL seasons and only dipped below 30% winning twice. In 2022 it was all about Johnson returning to Aotearoa with NZW and his 24% winning rate reflected how difficult that period was for NZW. Last year was awesome (68%) and Johnson has dropped to 25% winning this year; this season is just as bad as the horrible 2022 campaign!?
Many folks would say that Johnson is the most important NZW player, yet Johnson has lost his last six games of NRL footy. He is also an example of the battle between senior players vs emerging lads. Johnson wasn't playing in wins over Panthers, Dolphins and Cowboys. His return saw NZW take backward steps in their footy.
NZW don't have a full crew of depth players to promote. Zyon Maiu'u, Tanner Stowers-Smith, Ali Leiataua and Paul Roache haven't played NSW Cup in recent weeks. Demitric Sifakula has returned to footy and he's filled the hole lefty by Maiu'u/Stowers-Smith at starting prop. Between promoting Afoa, Tuaupiki, Graham-Taufa as well as giving more opportunities to Jacob Laban and Chanel Harris-Tavita; there are moves to be made with the available players.
Not only is there the losing seniors vs winning emergers dynamic in the NRL team, the NSW Cup Warriors are winning a team mainly featuring Under 21 lads. Monday newsletters have laid out 11 U21s winning in NSW Cup in the recent teams and the team who defeated Dragons yesterday had 10; Nganatatafu Vake, Motu Pasikala, Luke Hanson, Makaia Taufa, Eddie Ieremia, Leka Halasima, Caleb Laiman, Kayliss Fatialofa, Harry Durbin, Rodney Tuipulotu-Vea.
Note: Nganatatafu Vake seems to be the correct name - not Nganaiaiafu which appears on official lists.
Vake's the latest U19 lad to move up to NSW Cup. Pasikala, Halasima, Fatialofa and Tuipulotu-Vea are also U19s who played vs Dragons. Halasima's only playing NSW Cup though. NZW are now one of the better teams in NSW Cup and over half of their teams each week are made up of U21 lads.
Not only does this provide a sigh of relief for something positive at Mt Smart, it is aligned with NZW winning NRL games with second tier players stepping up. Same pattern of younger or emerging players moving up the ranks to help those teams win. This shows that there are some folks in Mt Smart who can win and desperately want to win, most of whom seem to be the younger lads.
This is a fascinating juncture for NZW. All the buzz that they loved starts to diminish with losing and this is amplified by effort shown in the loss to Titans. Coach Webster has a roster to manage and he doesn't appear eager to make tweaks to the team or the playing style. Maybe the stars align to force certain selections and spark deeper changes in whatever NZW are up to.
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