Warriors interim coach Stacey Jones called for energy from his players in the build up to Friday’s game against the Bulldogs and boy, did he get it?
The Warriors won 42-18 at Mt Smart Stadium to pick their sixth win of the season and virtually remove the possibility of picking up the wooden spoon this year.
It was the first time the Warriors have cracked 40 points in a game since round 20 in 2020, when they beat the Sea Eagles 40-28.
It was also their highest score in a game since they defeated he Knights 50-14 in June 2016.
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What made the result all the more remarkable is that it came off the back of the dreadful 48-10 loss to the Rabbitohs the week before, with the team playing with far more passion and commitment than they showed at Sunshine Coast Stadium.
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Shaun Johnson scored a try and set up a number of others for the Warriors against the Bulldogs.
“There was a big focus for us all week around attitude and a change of mindset from what we had the week before,” Jones said.
“You can fix attitude in a week, you can’t fix a lot of structure. Obviously, coming home, that’s a sign that it really boosts this group.”
The mood among the Warriors fans and everyone involved in the club was one of joy after the game.
The result doesn’t stop this being a disappointing season, but it was a victory worth enjoying.
“There certainly was a bit of relief, especially after last weekend,” Jones said.
“We’ve been living out of a suitcase for a couple of months now and we’ve got three weeks to go with the same thing, so it’s making sure the boys are fresh and ready to go come game day.”
Jones had hoped for a good response after what happened against the Rabbitohs, but admitted he didn’t expect the transformation to be as big as it was.
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The Warriors players and fans enjoyed their biggest win of the season on Friday.
“Not off the back of last week,” he said.
“Off the back of that we were trying to do small things first.
“I thought our leaders were outstanding tonight. They were the ones we put it on straight after the performance at Sunshine Coast and they put their hands up.
When they play well, everyone else follows.”
Warriors captain Tohu Harris was also delighted about that effort shown by the players.
“Our attitude was completely different right from the outset of the game and we did a good job to keep it going right through the whole 80,” Harris said.
“I felt like that was our most complete performance in a while. There are obviously things we need to improve on, but I feel like for the majority of the game we had a good attitude and worked hard for each other.”
The Warriors led 18-6 at half-time, but it didn’t take long after the break for the Bulldogs to get the score to 18-18.
That’s usually the sign for a complete collapse by the Warriors, but it wasn’t the case in this game.
“That was a real pleasing thing,” Harris said.
“Being up by 12 points, then they scored two tries, but we were able to get ourselves back in the game, get some momentum, get a try ourselves and then kick on from there.
“That’s something we haven’t done a good job of in past games, that when things start to go against us, we haven’t reacted too well.
“But we did a good job of getting back in the game and swinging momentum back our way.”
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