New signings Chad Townsend and Dallin Watene-Zelezniak open up about joining the Warriors and the return of Shaun Johnson.
Where do the Warriors go from here?
The club has had some tough losses in recent seasons, particularly 2019 when they were on the wrong side of several nail biters.
But this year has been another level, and Friday's 19-18 defeat to the Dragons was the worst yet.
It wasn'tthat the Warriors played badly; they were the better side for most of the match and showed impressive grit at times.
But the way they contrived to lose the game, from an almost impregnable position, sealed one of the ugliest results in the club's history. The Dragons are a solid team, but they looked gone at 18-6 down late in the second half. They were being bustled into errors and the Warriors were finding yards through the middle.
But one moment, when prop Addin Fonua-Blake, who was otherwise excellent, tried to push an offload, gifted the Dragons some initiative. One simple try followed, then the Warriors fell into panic mode, exacerbated by Chad Townsend's curious drop goal attempt. But when you are desperate for a win, panic is almost inevitable.
They were unlucky, as every call and bounce of the ball in the frenetic final period seemed to go the Dragons way, epitomised by their third try.
Warriors captain Roger Tuivasa-Sheck hangs his head at fulltime against the Dragons. Photo / Photosport
But of all the things that went wrong, the worst was Roger Tuivasa-Sheck getting trapped in goal, with a minute on the clock, after none of his forwards got back to take the tough carry.
The failure to shut down the final play was also painful, as the right edge got their wires crossed, allowing Cody Ramsey to cross untouched.
The Warriors lacked leadership. Tuivasa-Sheck can't do it all, Townsend was playing with a busted shoulder (courtesy of an unpunished late hit by Tariq Sims) and Tohu Harris was off the field.
It's hard to see a way ahead in 2021. History shows that any team, not just the Warriors, can't really rebound psychologically from such a bitter sequence of close defeats.
Maybe one win (which should have happened on Friday) can change the course, but it's not looking good.
Coach Nathan Brown suggested that Harris (shoulder) and Eliesa Katoa (arm) will miss at least a week (and probably more) while the prognosis on Townsend doesn't look good.
"He is not great," said Brown. "I probably can't give you an honest assessment now but he had plenty of needles at halftime and he did really well to push through the game."
Reece Walsh appears to be a 50-50 proposition for the clash with the Sharks next Sunday, though Matt Lodge is likely to be available.
New Zealand Warriors coach Nathan Brown says his side are yet to learn how to deal with pressure at the pointy end of games. Photo / Photosport
Brown was understandably devastated and hinted at a deeper problem.
"Disappointed obviously, to lead 18-6 with not too long to go and the boys put a lot of hard work in, and then we find ourselves in the same situation with a couple of minutes to go as what we found ourselves in on many occasions this year," said Brown. "It's obviously not the first time it's happened and it's obviously not a fluke that it keeps happening.
"Sadly, all our best players in the back 10 minutes of the game all had crucial errors. We are just not quite good enough to deal with that at this stage."
In the aftermath of the defeat, their sixth in seven games, Brown didn't have an immediate recipe for a turnaround.
"All we can do is just keep practicing situations in training and keep working with the players and looking at the good and the bad," said Brown. "[It's] a process of working hard and trying to just manage those periods of the game a little better.
"Things don't keep happening by coincidence. We are just at that [stage] of our development and it's unfortunate that we keep putting ourselves in those situations. Hopefully we can get better at it."
Brown and his coaching staff will also come under the microscope, as the same issues keep repeating, whether it is decision making, fifth-tackle options or edge defence.
