NRL: Warriors not smart enough, says Cleary

Warriors winger Manu Vatuvei is tackled by David Stagg of the Bulldogs during yesterday's match at Mt Smart. Photo / Getty Images

The reaction of skipper Micheal Luck summed up the New Zealand Warriors' huge disappointment at a defeat that leaves them teetering on the brink of missing the National Rugby League (NRL) playoffs.

The Warriors fell to a last-minute try against the Bulldogs in Auckland yesterday to lose 14-18 in a match they had been favoured to win.

Although the Bulldogs are among the competition frontrunners, they were missing a host of players to State of Origin duty, suspension and injury.

But they held their nerve over the closing stages to grab the decisive try through young interchange back Ben Barba.

"Just gutted" was Luck's response to another match where the Warriors failed to put enough points on the board despite having plenty of possession and territory.

"This was big opportunity for us and we lost it."

Deputising as captain for Steve Price, who is in camp with the Queensland Origin side, Luck said the Warriors were sunk by simple errors, of which he, too, was guilty.

"With a couple of minutes to go, we were in the position to ice the game and I coughed up cheap ball," he said.

"For whatever reason, we had some little lapses and the last minute they went the length of the field and we were not good enough to scramble."

The Warriors' third successive defeat dropped them to 13th on the standings, although they remain five points outside the top eight after Penrith and Manly also lost at the weekend.

Last year, the Warriors sneaked into the finals in eighth place with 30 points.

If the cut ends up being 30 again this year, they would need 15 points - seven wins and a draw - from the last eight rounds to make it.

Coach Ivan Cleary said he had not yet done the sums to work out whether a third successive appearance in the playoffs remained within the Warriors' grasp.

Instead, he was still taking in what happened against the Bulldogs, describing the match as a summary of his club's season to date.

"Not being able to convert points, making pretty poor errors when we had them under pressure," he said.

"And we couldn't defend those errors, particularly when it really counted at the back end of the game."

Cleary said it was a contest that had been there for the taking.

"We were in a position where we should have won, absolutely," he said.

"I felt we were in control of the game for long periods and our inability to score points hurt us. I also thought a few defensive lapses were costly too."

Cleary said he could not fault the effort of his players "but we're just not playing smart enough".

"There's a certain point where effort can get you, but if you're not using your brains enough and not executing well enough, sometimes you get beat."

The Warriors made a strong start, with winger Manu Vatuvei dotting down after just five minutes.

But tries either side of halftime, to hooker Michael Sullivan and fullback Luke Patten, swung the game the Bulldogs way.

Young winger Kevin Locke, who increased his growing reputation with another accomplished allround display, got the Warriors back in the hunt by pulling in a bomb to score his fourth try in six NRL appearances.

Fellow youngster Russell Packer, recalled in prop Price's absence, crashed over and Locke's conversion put the home side 14-12 ahead, before Barba produced his late winner.

- NZPA