Warriors v Newcastle Knights: Three things

Warriors player Jonathan Wright and Knights player James McManus jump for the high ball. Photo / Dean Purcell

Herald league report David Skipwith with three key points on the Warriors' close win over the Knights on Sunday.

1. Combinations beginning to click
There's still room for improvement and greater consistency but the Warriors are looking more cohesive as combinations improve and their young rookies continue to grow in confidence.

Halves Shaun Johnson and Chad Townsend are sharing the organisational and kicking duties better while also picking their times to run and test the line.

The right-side attack, much maligned earlier in the season, is beginning to hum with Bodene Thompson, Tui Lolohea and Jonathan Wright finding their groove outside Johnson.

After spending much of the first 10 rounds getting through a ton of defensive work, Thompson is threatening more with the ball in hand, and Wright scored his fourth try in five matches on the right flank.

Despite switching back to the centres after seven games at fullback, Lolohea looked right at home and finished with a try and 139 metres from 13 runs.

On the left side, Solomone Kata showed his attacking power when he powered past Beau Scott and Joseph Tapine before skirting around Dane Gagai to score.

Up front, bench forwards Sam Lisone and Albert Vete bring plenty of energy and aggression and will only get better as they get more game time.

2. Warriors take foot off the throat
The Warriors were dominant in patches and benefitted from moments of individual brilliance but lapses in concentration and sloppy defence allowed the understrength Knights to stay in the hunt.

Leading 8-0 following tries to Lolohea and Vatuvei the home side were working the ball out of their half when a simple knock-on at dummy-half from Sam Tomkins halted their momentum.

From the ensuing scrum win in midfield, Gagai breezed between Ryan Hoffman and Kata to race away and score their first points of the day.

Heading into the final quarter of the match and leading 20-8, the Warriors allowed the Knights to set up camp in attacking territory and repeat sets earned James McManus a try out on the left flank before Tyler Randall goaled to reduce the deficit to six points.

The Warriors kicked ahead again with Wright touching down to make it 24-14 but sloppy marker and line defence then allowed Akuila Uate to steal his second try from dummy-half to set up a tight finish.

The Warriors did well to hold on for the win and some rustiness was understandable coming off last week's bye round, but better sides will make them pay if they continue to leave the door ajar.

3. Ball control lacking
Warriors coach Andrew McFadden will not be impressed with his side's ball control after they ended the match with a 69 percent completion rate, finishing just 24 of 35 sets.

The Knights were more disciplined and despite missing a host of big name players kept themselves in the game on the back of an 89 percent completion rate, getting through 32 of their 36 sets.

The Warriors can take some joy from knowing they have plenty of improvement left in them but with games looming against title contenders South Sydney and Sydney Roosters they need to reduce their error count considerably.