Warriors react after Isaiah Papali'i scores. Photo / Photosport
Warriors react after Isaiah Papali'i scores. Photo / Photosport
Warriors coach Stacey Jones lamented a lack of patience and precision in a solid but ultimately frustrating effort against the Parramatta Eels on Friday night.
Looking to build on their homecoming victory at Mt Smart, the Warriors competed well for long periods against one of the competition heavyweights, with someoutstanding defence in the first half.
But some all too familiar lapses allowed the Eels to slip away after halftime, with three tries in 14 minutes, to seal the 28-18 result.
"We probably took a step forward and a couple back," admitted Jones.
Parramatta had that extra touch of class across the park, but the Warriors were left wondering what might have been, after they only trailed 10-6 at the interval despite a massive deficit in possession and territory.
"We come in at halftime feeling pretty good about ourselves, but we knew that we had to be patient with the footy," said Jones. "And unfortunately, at crucial times when we got down their end we came up some crucial errors and against a team like that they will hurt you and they did."
Four mistakes in the first 12 minutes of the second half stalled any momentum before Isaiah Papali'i and Clint Gutherson crossed in the space of three minutes.
The Warriors were also undone by some poor decisions.
A low percentage Shaun Johnson pass early in the tackle count resulted in a 90-metre intercept try to Waqa Blake. And Reece Walsh caught his teammates unaware with an ambitious 40/20 attempt, which led to a long-range Eels try to Maika Sivo on the other flank, as the Warriors chase was staggered and fractured.
Stacey Jones. Photo / Photosport
Another Parramatta touchdown came after Marcelo Montoya – who was otherwise superb – shelled a Mitchell Moses bomb, with Gutherson dotting down after Bailey Simonsson had picked up the scraps.
"A lot of that is footy and good teams get those things go their way," said Jones. "They make their own luck and unfortunately we were just making it a bit easier for them than what it should have been."
But unlike many other defeats this season, the Warriors at least came away with something to build on.
Captain Tohu Harris was outstanding, with 173 metres from 17 runs and a team-high 44 tackles while fellow prop Addin Fonua-Blake was another pillar, generating 103 post contact metres to establish momentum.
"We had some players that had a real dig," said Jones. "They just need players around them to be a bit more patient."
Euan Aitken, Wayde Egan and Jazz Tevaga were other standouts, as the pack competed well, despite a considerable size deficit. Montoya was a battering ram from the backfield, while Ed Kosi made an encouraging return in his first game since the Anzac day demolition in Melbourne.
Apart from a couple of errors, Johnson kicked and organised well and played a leading hand in the late tries to Kosi and Jack Murchie.
With any finals hopes long gone, Jones is focused on building resilience over the final stretch of the season.
"The big thing for us is when things don't go your way, it's how we deal with it," said Jones. "It's a matter of defending that next set and completing that next set after that and we're not quite there yet. We just need to find a bit of steel and effort in those areas."
