Last-second try sends Warriors to defeat

Despite a record-breaking try, Manu Vatuvei and the Warriors couldn't get over the line against the Roosters. Photo / Getty Images

One day, if the Warriors can play for 80 minutes, they could be a hell of a football team.

All the ingredients are there - power, pace and growing levels of precision. But until that day comes they'll remain highly enigmatic. Like Forrest Gump's chocolates, you never know what you are going to get.

And unfortunately that means they will continue to find new, horrible ways to lose, with Blake Ferguson crossing in the 80th minute to seal a 25-21 win for the Roosters. There was a lot to like tonight - courage, commitment and some stunning tries. But levels couldn't be maintained and horrible lapses let the Roosters stay in the hunt when perhaps they should have been buried with 30 minutes to play.

Johnathan Wright's horrendous error in the 79th minute was the final straw, but he can't solely take the blame.

The Warriors remain a team chock full of kids - with more than half of tonight's squad NRL rookies - and the kids are doing alright. But not quite good enough and this Roosters side was green, too, with no Mitchell Pearce, Michael Jennings or Boyd Cordner.

Aidan Guerra was also away on Origin duties and Kiwi prop Jared Waerea-Hargreaves was a late injury withdrawal. But they still had power in the pack, and James Maloney, Shaun Kenny Dowall, Blake Ferguson and Roger Tuivasa-Sheck in the backline.

The Warriors defensive lapses remain a massive concern. The first three tries the Roosters scored were extremely soft, almost gift wrapped, like many they conceded last week. The first saw Tui Lolohea attempt a one-handed pickup behind his own line, the second zero communication and urgency from defenders under a Roosters bomb and the third a stroll for Maloney. It's simply not NRL standard and kept the Roosters in the game.

It was in contrast to how they started. For the first 25 minutes, the Warriors were almost perfect. The completion rate was high, they forced line drop outs and attacking penalties but had no profit, thanks to the visitors suffocating defence.

The key to the Roosters game hasn't changed in a decade. It's all about their defensive line-speed, which remains probably the best in the NRL. It means they push the envelope, often camped in the Warriors backline. It's not quite the anti-football of the Ricky Stuart era, but their style can stifle the spectacle. But that's their formula and it worked, until the damn burst in a 10-minute spell with tries to Solomone Kata (28th minute), Tui Lolohea (31st minute) and Manu Vatuvei (35th minute). Vatuvei's try was the most impressive, as it was the ultimate one-two punch.

Firstly Konrad Hurrell tore through the line down the right before the attack switched to the left flank and into the hands of the one of the deadliest finishers in the game. That try meant Vatuvei became the first player in the history of the NRL to score at least 10 tries in 10 consecutive seasons, an astonishing feat considering the likes of Billy Slater, Brett Stewart and Andrew Ettinghausen couldn't manage it.

Kata's second try - after some wonderful chain passing - early in the second half should have taken the Warriors downhill to the finish. But they couldn't shut the door as the visitors sealed the game with Ferguson's stomach churning try.

Warriors 21 (S Kata 2, T Lolohea, M Vatuvei tries: S Johnson 2 gls, fg)

Roosters 25 (S Kenny-Dowall, B Elliott, J Maloney, B Ferguson tries; J Maloney 4 gls, fg).

Halftime: 14-6.