• Match index
• Photos
• Match details
• Match report
• Highlights
• Back to 2006 index

Warriors 30 defeated Newcastle 18.

Newcastle's tired performances were meant to be put behind them after the bye, but if anything they played worse than ever in going down to a lowly Warriors side in round 15 of the NRL. The Warriors lead 30-6 with four minutes left on the clock and were always in control, as they gave captain Steven Price a match to remember in his 250th first grade outing.

The Warriors opened their scoring in the 13th minute when Nathan Fien scored a very easy try, dummying from dummy-half before going over. Tony Martin converted to hand the Warriors a 6 point lead.

Newcastle looked likely to score for the first half hour of the half, but were unable to cross the stripe. The best chance was when Brian Carney found space around the halfway line, before chipping ahead. Rookie fullback Nathan Hinton (called into the side when David Seage's hamstring injury saw him ruled out) caught the ball on the full, but could not quite make it all the way, before reaching out to plant the ball in a double movement. Despite some suggestion there was still momentum in the tackle, referee Jarred Maxwell gave the penalty straight away, without consulting the video referee.

A 26th minute penalty goal by Martin intersected Fien's second try on the scoring sheet, four minutes later. This one was a much more exciting effort, beginning with Awen Guttenbeil slicing through on the halfway line. He found Brent Webb who in-turn found Fien 30 metres out, and Fien raced away to score under the posts.

Newcastle would have been worried at 14-0 down, but they did manage a try heading into the halftime break. From a Warriors line drop-out with 3 minutes left on the clock, Brian Carney took advantage of a lack of defence out wide, and scored in the corner. Andrew Johns converted from the sideline, to leave the score 14-6 at the break.

Television viewers would have been surprised to hear that Knights coach Michael Hagan was relatively happy with the sides first half, which contained a lot of dropped balls, and did not offer much in the way of attack. The lethargic performance continued in the 49th minute when Sione Faumuina scored to virtually seal the result with half an hour still to play. Grant Rovelli put a well-timed grubber through, and Faumuina was able to regather and step rookie fullback Nathan Hinton to put the ball down. Newcastle were still in range at 20-6, but were just not playing well enough to bridge the 14 point gap.

The Warriors put further tries on the scoreboard in the 56th and 63rd minute of the game to blow the score out to 30-6. First Jerome Ropati broke through the Knights defence from the 40 metre line with a cross-field run and raced the distance to score in the corner for a fine solo try. Then Steven Price took advantage of a smart pass by the dummy-half Fien to score under the posts. The try was a fine way for Price to cap his 250th match.

Newcastle put some respectability back into the scoreline, and give a false indication of the closeness of the game, with late tries to Todd Lowrie and George Carmont. First Andrew Johns threw a cut-out pass to George Carmont who found Todd Lowrie with an unopposed run to the line with 4 minutes remaining, then Johns threw a fine cut-out pass to George Carmont who scored from close range. A pair of sideline conversions by Johns reduced the final margin to 30-18.

The Warriors played a controlled form of football which was focused on not making mistakes and taking their scoring opportunities, and it paid dividends. Having accounted for Newcastle twice in 2006, it is interesting to ponder how far they would have progressed if not docked four competition points for salary cap infringements before the season began.

Newcastle's performance was reminiscent of their round 4 loss at home to the Warriors. Handling was poor and they did not make the most of their opportunities, mainly by pushing foolish passes and basic errors. For a side that said they were looking for a big game after falling apart in the last two games before the bye, they were particularly disappointing.

What they said:

Andrew Johns:
"Mate, that was awful. We had the ball, we were making all the right noises, blokes saying they're up for it and that but it was an appalling performance. We were beaten in every facet of the game and it's disappointing … we are just not playing good at the moment."

Craig Smith:
"It's hard to play catch-up football. We suffered the consequences of pushing too hard and uncharacteristic mistakes do turn up."

Michael Hagan:
"[On the multitude of unforced errors] We've got some work to do still and I guess we were very disappointing in part of the game. It's a difficult comp that you're in and (the Warriors) played very well. We came up with a lot of unforced errors. We had more than enough time to get ourselves ready for this game and we weren't up to the mark."
"[On Andrew Johns] I thought he tried pretty hard. I thought his kicking game in the first half and the direction he gave us [were good]; we had a number of opportunities to score points which we didn't take advantage of but which wasn't through lack of effort or execution from him, I have to say."
"[On Nathan Hinton's disallowed try] I'm not convinced that it was a try but it certainly deserved the opportunity to be looked at."

Ivan Cleary:
"I am happy - happy on the inside. We're coming 13th."
"The defence we showed in the first half, particularly down our end of the field, set the win up. I guess we're putting ourselves in a position more to pick up the rub of the green along the way."