At Mt Smart Stadium, Auckland: Warriors 42 (Viliame Vailea 6 min, Dallin Watene-Zelezniak 11 min, Edward Kosi 18 min 76 min, Eliesa Katoa 56 min, Shaun Johnson 74 min, Addin Fonua-Blake 79 min tries; Reece Walsh 7 goals) Bulldogs 18 (Jake Averillo 16 min, Kyle Flanagan 43 min, Josh Addo-Carr 50 min tries; Matt Burton 3 goals). HT: 18-6.
On report: Braydon Burns (Bulldogs), Matt Burton (Bulldogs)
The Warriors finished with a blitz of late tries to beat the Bulldogs 42-18 win at Mt Smart Stadium on Friday night.
In an entertaining game between two teams with nothing but pride left to play for this season, the Warriors again showed that home is where the heart is.
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Euan Aitken and the other Warriors players showed plenty of passion against the Bulldogs.
While they were truly appalling last weekend in the 48-10 loss to the Rabbitohs, there was hope that being at home would bring about a change in attitude from the Warriors players.
That’s exactly what happened, as there have been two completely different looking Warriors sides over the back end of the season.
There’s the one which plays at Mt Smart Stadium, that plays with passion and is fired up by the crowd.
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Then there’s also the one at away games, that looks like its already thinking of the beach.
Changing that away mentality will be Stacey Jones’s biggest challenge yet in his young career as an NRL head coach, but for now at least the club’s fans can enjoy what happens in Auckland. It wasn’t always great footy from the Warriors and there were mistakes, but at least they played with energy.
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Former Warrior Raymond Faitala-Mariner was one of the Bulldogs’ better players on Friday night.
The Bulldogs have been steadily improving since Michael Potter took over from Trent Barrett as the team’s head coach. But this was a big step backwards from them, with players making numerous unforced errors.
It was a dream start from the Warriors with Viliame Vailea scoring a try in the sixth minute, taking a pass from Shaun Johnson that put him into space a few metres from the try line.
Five minutes later Dallin Watene-Zelezniak showed how much raw pace he has, intercepting a pass thrown by Matt Burton and running 90m to score.
Wrestling back momentum is hard to do in the NRL these days, but the Bulldogs managed that and after sustained pressure, Jake Averillo scored the visitors’ opening try in the 16th minute.
Edward Kosi lengthened his scoring streak to four games, running off Reece Walsh’s shoulder before touching down in the left corner.
Vailea dropped the ball when he had a certain try scoring opportunity on the half hour mark and that was typical of how the half finished. Warriors dominating, but unable to turn that into points.
You could set your clock on the Warriors conceding a try in the 43rd minute of a game this season and Walsh had an absolute shocker in Kyle Flanagan’s try, firstly failing to catch Burton’s spiral kick, then losing the ball a metre from the line.
In the 50th minute, Josh Addo-Carr copied what Watene-Zelezniak did in the first half with a 90m intercept try, so all of a sudden the Warriors’ lead was gone.
But they went back in front with a Eliesa Katoa try in the 56th minute and had a number of close chances to add to their tally, but the game was sealed by a wonderful Shaun Johnson solo try six minutes from time and Kosi’s second try, plus one to Addin Fonua-Blake were the cream on top.
The big moment
Reece Walsh getting bamboozled by a Matt Burton spiral kick early in the second half then losing the ball a few seconds later. Both errors were unacceptable at NRL level and turned the game on its head at that stage.
Match rating
8/10: It may not have been the highest quality game in the NRL this season, but it was certainly entertaining. The Warriors turned it on, inspired by the big crowd at Mt Smart Stadium, but the Bulldogs brought plenty to the occasion too.
The big picture
After a week of soul-searching, the Warriors put on a performance which should mean they’re now unlikely to pick up the wooden spoon this season.
MVP
Tohu Harris admitted himself he had a bad game against the Rabbitohs last weekend, but he was back to his best at Mt Smart Stadium, with a true captain’s performance.
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