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New Zealand Warriors have shrugged off last week’s historic 60-point flogging to the Titans with a 32-16 victory over Brisbane at a sold-out Go Media Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
New-look halves combination Te Maire Martin and Chanel Harris-Tavita scored three of the Warriors’ six tries between them with Martin best on ground in injured halfback Shaun Johnson’s absence, finishing with a try and four try assists in a brilliant attacking display.
Meanwhile the Broncos’ chances of returning to the Grand Final took another hit with Kevin Walters’ team losing their fourth straight game as Reece Walsh was not selected for Brisbane after a tough night in Queensland’s horror defeat in Origin game two on Wednesday evening and star forwards Patrick Carrigan and Payne Haas also missed out.
Desperate for the two competition points after a poor run of form leaving them sitting eighth on the NRL ladder, it wasn’t a good start for Brisbane as Jack Gosiewski was forced off within the first five minutes with a suspected broken arm, likely ending the mid-season recruit’s 2024 campaign, and despite some quality offensive plays, the Broncos were never really in the contest.
If last Saturday’s 66-6 thumping at the hands of Gold Coast wasn’t the catalyst for change in a disappointing 2024 so far for New Zealand, it’s hard to know what would be. After a top-four finish and run to the preliminary finals where they lost to an excellent Broncos outfit in 2023, expectations were high across the ditch as the Warriors looked to go at least one step further in the quest for their first-ever NRL premiership.
“I think it was really important that we put (the Titans loss) behind us without walking past it,” Warriors coach Andrew Webster said.
“There was something different about this week. You could tell that the boys were on and they were prepared and we’ve just got to add a little detail to our muscle tonight, because we didn’t get that right.”
Asked how he and the coaching staff handled last week’s nightmare defeat, Webster was emphatic in ensuring it was never repeated.
“When we left Australia, we didn’t mention it at all,” Webster said. “Not all week. Because if you were in the hotel room the next morning when we watched it back, we made a deal that we were not going to walk past it and be real accountable right here and right now and what our actions this week have to be looking forward.
“People might think that’s a bit of a soft option to not bring it up constantly but we just didn’t see that would give us what we wanted to win tonight, and the best way to do that was to look forward after we were made accountable. We’re all in it together – I was, too.”
It’s been a tough run for Brisbane over the last month, dropping their last four contests as injuries have piled up and stars Patrick Carrigan, Payne Haas and Reece Walsh are missing from the line-up through Origin commitments.
Broncos coach Kevin Walters confirmed post-game that Gosiewski suffered a broken arm early in the contest and Fletcher Baker is likely to miss between four to six weeks with a knee injury.
“We just lacked a little bit of discipline, maybe, or things just not going our way,” Walters said.
“We got (the effort) right – we just need to fix up our skill and our discipline and we’ll be back on track. No worry from me. I know how much these guys are working hard and our training’s been of good quality. If we continue to train well that’s going to come through in our games.”
Walters added that the Origin trio will be back in training next week but the challenges keep coming as Brisbane welcome premiers Penrith Panthers to Suncorp Stadium on Friday night in what almost becomes a must-win clash as far as the Broncos’ top-four hopes are concerned.
Reece Walsh. (Photo by Bradley Kanaris/Getty Images)
The Warriors halves combined for the first four-pointer of the day as Harris-Tavita beat Kotoni Staggs close to the line from Martin’s quality pass.
With the Broncos under pressure in their red zone Martin was involved again – getting into dummy-half from a close-range play the ball, beating the defence with a dummy and burrowing over to extend New Zealand’s lead.
Andrew Webster’s team managed to complete at a very high level, limiting Brisbane to just 28 per cent possession at the 20-minute mark – and the running metres and error metrics did not make for pretty reading for Broncos fans, either.
Addin Fonua-Blake is tackled. (Photo by Phil Walter/Getty Images)
In the 28th minute the Warriors halves combined again as Martin’s deflected kick deceived Tristan Sailor and Harris-Tavita came from nowhere to somehow ground the ball before Staggs arrived and double his tally for the afternoon.
With all three of New Zealand tries coming down Brisbane’s right side and Staggs struggling, the Broncos centre capitalised on a defensive mix-up to get his side on the board.
Selwyn Cobbo thought he had scored after an incredibly athletic effort in the corner but the Bunker ruled he had lost the ball before grounding it over the line but the Broncos would not need to wait long as Deine Mariner showed some impressive foot speed to score and narrow the scoreline to 16-10.
Just when the sold-out gallery in Auckland could be forgiven for being apprehensive, Roger Tuivasa-Sheck took advantage of Martin’s deft kick and a perfect bounce to stretch the Warriors lead once more.
The Broncos would hit back with Xavier Willison bulldozing his way through the defence from close range but Brisbane again could not keep the Warriors out as Dallin Watene-Zelezniak rose athletically to meet Martin’s kick in mid-air and score.
Freddie Lussick added a sixth try to finish off Brisbane once and for all as New Zealand got back to winning ways.
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