NRL: Luck-less Warriors left hapless

Lewis Brown of the Warriors makes a break during the match against the Tigers. Photo / Getty Images

Tigers 26 Warriors 22

The Warriors have received a glimpse of what life could be like without Micheal Luck - and it isn't pretty.

The warhorse lock forward limped out of last night's horror defeat by the Tigers early in the second half with what was suspected to be a season-ending knee ligament rupture.

Luck's departure coincided with a withering three-try outburst from the Warriors that looked to have killed off the Tigers. The much-improved Manu Vatuvei's second try was a thing of beauty, created by a James Maloney chip and a couple of neat touches from the rampant Feleti Mateo. Coming hard on the heels of Shaun Johnson's long-range first NRL try and a sweeping 80m effort that was started and finished by Vatuvei, the Warriors' fifth try of the afternoon seemed to have put the contest to bed.

Little did the Warriors suspect the Tigers had them right where they wanted them. All the talk under the posts was about how vulnerable the Warriors had just become, Tigers captain Robbie Farah said.

Benji Marshall ensured words were turned into deeds, as a Tigers team that had been lacklustre for 60 minutes ran in four brilliant tries in the space of 12 minutes to overturn an 18-point deficit and steal the match. As brilliant as Marshall was, it's hard to imagine a Warriors side with Luck marshalling the defensive line granting the Kiwis captain the freedom of Mt Smart.

Luck might be a touch offensively challenged but he is the garbage man, cleaning up the defensive muck the more showy types would rather not touch. If there is a last-ditch tackle to be made, Luck will usually be found making it. Plenty of those tackles went unmade in his absence tonight. When things got ugly - and they got very ugly very fast - the Luck-less Warriors became the hapless Warriors.

"He certainly would have helped," coach Ivan Cleary said. "He is not just a great defender but an experienced head."

Luck will have scans on his damaged knee today but there is reason to fear the worst. Luck has always appeared unbreakable. Last night he looked quite broken indeed.

"He's not so good but we are not going to know until he has scans," Cleary said.

Tigers coach Tim Sheens hailed the victory as a potentially season-defining moment. Cleary, who must now pick up his players ahead of a tough trip to North Queensland, will be hoping the same can't be said for his side.

"You've just got to take the lesson and it was a pretty big one [last night]," he said. "That lesson is the danger of clocking off before the job is fully done.

"I think there was definitely a bit of that," captain Simon Mannering said. "Once they started scoring we just let it happen. There were definitely some tries there we could have stopped."

The most notable was when Blake Ayshford raced back 20m to retrieve a wild Marshall pass. Mannering and Johnson seemed to have the centre covered but Mannering slipped and Johnson grabbed at a shadow.

That try, which followed Marshall's score from a brilliant Gareth Ellis pass and Ayshford's try from a bomb, tied things up. Marshall's killer blow was an pass that sent in Beau Ryan.

While the Warriors will lament an uncharacteristically poor goal-kicking display from James Maloney, who landed just one of five attempts, Maloney's boot could hardly be blamed for the defensive meltdown. An absence of Luck was the issue.

Queensland Origin's 18th man Jacob Lillyman is at the mercy of volcano ash currently grounding planes in Auckland as he bids to re-join the squad in Sydney today.