League: Fans pleased with Warriors' effort

Warriors captain Steve Price is caught by the Brisbane Broncos defence. Picture / Brett Phibbs

Broncos 23 Warriors 18

The Warriors earned applause and plaudits from their fans yesterday despite a late loss to the Brisbane Broncos.

It was a happy homecoming for 19-year-old Greg Eastwood, who went into the Broncos' development programme two years ago from the Manurewa Marlins club.

The back-rower was pushed into service on the left wing and went on to score two tries after 2005 Kiwi Tame Tupou was forced off with an ankle ligament tear.

Eastwood earned high praise from his coach Wayne Bennett, as did the other 16, especially Corey Parker, who suffered bad back bruising in the second minute when he collected Ruben Wiki's knee in an incident Bennett queried.

Parker was down and the tackle completed when Wiki came in unnecessarily, Bennett said.

The usually tight-lipped Bennett finished question time after the game and then opened up on the referees throughout the NRL, questioning why there were no penalties for holding down or a short 10m.

Referee Shayne Hayne awarded one penalty to each team and the one against Brisbane was for a kick-off that went dead.

Bennett talked about an "unwritten law" that penalties would not be given. "I don't know whether they're trying to make themselves redundant or what but it's happening right across the game," he said.

Broncos captain Darren Lockyer, who snapped a field goal at 74 minutes to break an 18-all deadlock that had been in place for most of the second half, said the Warriors had slowed the play-the-ball and the game.

The tactic worked for them, as did speed off the defensive line, which stifled Lockyer's kicking game.

Wing Misi Taulapapa was dropped from the starting side for disciplinary reasons, the club refusing to provide details and commenting only that it was keeping with a precedent that saw Brent Webb and Lance Hohaia similarly stood down for one game.

Lions wing Patrick Ah Van replaced him and scored the first try at four minutes after two decent kicks provided good field position, and Simon Mannering delivered an off-load to Nathan Fien while being driven backwards.

The kicking game from Fien and Grant Rovelli was one area where the Warriors improved significantly from the weekend before, the other was in attitude.

In the last minutes, it was Eastwood who fielded a high spiralling punt, cut upfield and set forth a long-range support-play try for Shaun Berrigan.

It was an intense and physical game, won by the side with the greater experience and confidence and consistency of play.

Eastwood, who was called up late to an 18-man bench to cover for injuries to Casey McGuire and Shane Webcke, said he had expected to play second row in the second half. Centre Berrigan had done a fair bit of screaming at him to get wider.

Warriors coach Ivan Cleary was happy with the effort and with what the young players would learn from the close contest. If the team had played as they did yesterday in earlier games, they would have more wins.

Neither of the coaches had problems with ref Shayne Hayne's consistency but Cleary, too, commented on the lack of penalties in games at the weekend. With no rest breaks, both teams were out on their feet at times he said.

An above-average attendance in Melbourne for the game against the Roosters on Saturday night means the Warriors have now dropped to the bottom of the crowd-pulling ladder. There were 7746 at Mt Smart Stadium yesterday and the Warriors' season average is now 9042, down from 16,000 to 18,000 for earlier home matches.

The good news is that next weekend's opponents the Roosters should lose some of their top team to State of Origin camps.