League: Tomkins injury adds to mixed outcome

Sam Tomkins is tackled by Ryan Morgan and Tepai Moeroa. Photo / Getty Images

Perhaps with the knowledge that the attention of the sporting nation was elsewhere, it looked like the Warriors wanted to do their bit and run up a cricket score yesterday.

They scored at a point a minute in the first quarter — leading Parramatta 22-0 after 21 minutes — before falling away badly in the second half.

It continued a pattern for the 2015 season — in each match they have managed one good 40-minute spell (Newcastle, first; Canberra, second) and one poor half. Part of it is early-season rust but the trait will need to be expunged quickly. Against the big teams — Rabbitohs, Roosters, Storm, Panthers etc — it could be fatal.

"We dropped off in the second half, which was disappointing," said winger Manu Vatuvei. "We can't do that sort of thing against the Broncos [next week]. We need to be on for 80 minutes. But at least we picked ourselves up towards the end."

The Warriors' fade yesterday coincided with the departure of Sam Tomkins, who left the field after hurting his knee in a tackle.

The fullback will have scans to assess the severity of the injury.

Tomkins was again impressive yesterday and the team lost some structure in his absence, as Tui Lolohea moved to fullback and Ben Henry to centre.

"We didn't handle the changes as well as we could have," admitted Warriors coach Andrew McFadden. "We had different personnel [and] we didn't trust each other."

Meanwhile, concussion issues might dominate the agenda over the next few days, as Eels hooker Nathan Peats looked badly dazed as he was assisted from the field in the first half, only to return and complete the match.

"Yeah, I was surprised [he returned]" said McFadden. "He looked like he was pretty dazed."

Eels coach Brad Arthur defended the decision, saying he had full confidence in the judgement of his medical team.

"I was told he was good to go back out," said Arthur. "I have faith in our people.

"[The NRL] will see that we followed our processes."