Defending champions far too good for Andrew Webster’s challengers. Video / Sky Sport
To have any chance in NRL finals football, you have to bring your best performance.
And to have an opportunity against possibly the greatest team of the NRL era, you need to be almost perfect.
Instead, the Warriors fluffed their lines, in a big way, on their long-awaitedplayoff return, with a chastening 32-6 defeat to Penrith on Saturday.
There was hope - even without halfback Shaun Johnson - that the Auckland team could keep it close, as they had done in an impressive round 10 effort against the Panthers at Suncorp Stadium.
But it never looked likely. The Panthers were relentless and are a brilliant machine. This was Robert Patrick in Terminator 2, with no Arnold Schwarzenegger to save the day.
But the Warriors were also architects of their own downfall, with cheap errors, poor decisions and soft penalties and the contest was all but over after 30 minutes, with the home side ahead 18-0.
Warriors fullback Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad looking dejected after the loss to the Penrith Panthers.
It was a shame, as the physical effort was tremendous. The Warriors, who were forced to make more than 200 tackles in the first half alone, probably saved four or five tries before the interval with last-ditch stops. At one stage late in the first half, they withstood three consecutive sets on their line, which showed remarkable courage.
But there was no way to release the pressure valve, as the Warriors couldn’t get any momentum in possession.
Most of the 50-50 moments also fell to the home team, while referee Adam Gee was generous with a couple of calls, though they were minor quibbles.
Unfortunately, the tone was set early. The Warriors were caught offside chasing a yardage kick, then Marcelo Montoya shelled a towering Nathan Cleary bomb, before Brian To’o crossed in the fourth minute.
That was the worst possible start and things went downhill from there; in the first half they had only 36 per cent possession, with no territory, and 12 sets to the Panther’s 22. Errors and pressure compounded, with 20 missed tackles by halftime.
The second half was a better effort, though they struggled to put a dent in the Panthers.
Their lack of structure and organisation underlined the value of Johnson; there is probably nobody in the NRL more important to his respective team than the 33-year-old.
But even without him, they would have expected better. Much better. Instead, the attack was lateral and lacked variety, with too much one-out running. It didn’t help that they were constantly pinned deep in their half, then lacked any punch with their kicks. But the sight of both centres passing to their wingers when they were virtually already in touch illustrated the brain fade in the west Sydney furnace.
The makeshift halves combination also struggled without a specialist. Dylan Walker contributed defensively - with some superb stops - but couldn’t influence the game with the ball, while Te Maire Martin, who is not a natural organiser, looked rusty in his second game back, though never stopped competing.
It was also a chastening experience for some playoff rookies and Andrew Webster may shuffle his deck for next weekend. And the bench rotation didn’t look quite right, with Jazz Tevaga and Bailey Sironen used as middle forwards, conceding size to the Penrith pack.
But Saturday was also about Penrith. The victory was their seventh straight finals win, a record only achieved by two other teams since 1954. During that run they haven’t conceded more than 12 points to any team and their suffocating defence and willingness to compete on every play slowly drained the life out of the Warriors.
”They showed us what finals footy is all about,” captain Tohu Harris told Sky Sport. “We tried to do things we haven’t done all year. We have got to get back to what has worked for us all year. We have to learn how to withstand pressure and they were relentless.”
Michael Burgess has been a sports journalist since 2005, winning several national awards and covering Olympics, Fifa World Cups and America’s Cup campaigns. A football aficionado, Burgess will never forget the noise that greeted Rory Fallon’s goal against Bahrain in Wellington in 2009.
