KEY POINTS:
The Warriors had multiple motivational tools at the weekend to inspire them to a last-gasp win in Newcastle, their first in Australia since September last year.
They took the lesson in defensive line speed taught them by the Roosters a week previously and applied it well, they had watched their under-20s side thump their Knights opposites 42-22 in the curtainraiser and they were buzzing with the news that skipper Steve Price had signed on for another season and star fullback Wade McKinnon for another two.
They had lost the season's most-consistent performer in the team's goal-kicker and fullback Lance Hohaia to a leg injury and Patrick Ah Van was a late call-up, producing perhaps his best game for the club, positionally sound and safe under the high ball. And although he hadn't kicked in a league game since under-10s it was he who knocked over a sideline penalty at the 78th minute to break a 16-all deadlock, crediting skills learned in soccer.
The Newcastle crowd of 15,465 continued booing the decision of referee Jared Maxwell to award the kick after it had landed but the call looked good, the whistler calling Knights half Jarrod Mullen for taking the ball in an off-side position after former Warriors wing Cooper Vuna lost sight of a high ball and it slid off his backside as it came down.
"I honestly don't think Coops touched it, but that's in the ref's hands," Mullen said. "I think we were unlucky. I just grabbed it. If I knew it came off him I wouldn't have touched it because it was a crucial part of the game."
Their coach Brian Smith wasn't happy. "The referee made a call. He didn't look at the video, so I presume it was the right call. I hope it was for his sake," Smith said.
He lamented a big 10 metres. "We practise on a set of rules where you're required to get back 10 metres, not 15," Smith said. "It's very difficult for players to perform at their best when they're asked to play under a different set of conditions to the ones than those they practise under."
But that was the same for both teams and the Knights' problem was a slow start of the type the Warriors have been prone to; their forwards beaten and their halves stifled, the usually vocal crowd kept out of it with nothing to cheer for.
The Warriors should have had more than Michael Crockett's try and a 4-0 lead after a weight of first-half possession and when Knights centre Adam MacDougall scored on the hooter to make it 6-4 at the break, it appeared the home team would lift.
But it was the Warriors who scored first after the break, something they haven't managed in Aussie in five losses before the weekend, and from there they hung tight as Newcastle enjoyed an equalling-up of possession and territory. The Warriors scrambling goal-line defence was their best.
Halfback Grant Rovelli had a good game, two intercepts and two long-distance runs, one which led to a try by hooker Ian Henderson from dummy-half, plus a 40-20 kick to rake in ground. Henderson stepped up to play 80 minutes and was highly effective at dummy-half.
It was a change of attitude that earned victory, the solid start backed up by a completion rate of 30/41, despite extremely slippery conditions, with only three penalties conceded.
The game produced more running metres than any other at the weekend and though slowed because of hold-downs in the tackle its intensity was maintained. It was the Warriors first away win since they beat Penrith 24-20 on September 1 last year and keeps them well in touch with the playoff eight. Struggling Souths come to Mt Smart on Friday, offering a chance for Ivan Cleary's men to push on.
Hohaia is expected to recover from a corked thigh and be available for selection as will be vice-captain Ruben Wiki, who played 70 minutes for the Auckland Vulcans on Saturday and seems assured of a recall to the bench. Five-eighth Michael Witt is a slim chance, though Nathan Fien was solid there and could again fill in.
After some tough weeks the Warriors have pushed on to see some light at the end of the tunnel, with news McKinnon is improving rapidly after knee surgery and may make a return before the season ends adding to that promise.
