Warriors vs Roosters Round 10 recap

After a strong 70 minute performance against Melbourne, backed up by a very strong win against a Brisbane team in fine form last week, this match up against the Roosters was a huge statement game for the Warriors. After getting a good old fashioned hiding in Round 5, this was a prime chance for the Warriors to show that the limp form from earlier in the season was a thing of the past, and despite a valiant effort from the Chooks the Warriors managed to put up their second win on the trot.

This game had a lot of fans mouths watering over the potential forward pack match up. I have no idea what they're feeding the boys at the Roosters but they've put together a monstrous forward pack with Kiwi prop Waerea-Hargreaves leading the charge, and the Warriors forwards are never found wanting for size lead by another big Kiwi unit, arguably the form prop of the competition, Ben Matulino. But while the forward contest proved an entertaining battle, it was the freakish abilities of Warriors youngsters Shaun Johnson and Konrad Hurrell that decided the game.

Bustling young centre Hurrell justified the hype from those who watched him run all over Toyota Cup defences last season, rampaging his way to over 200 metres from his 12 touches, with 9 tackle breaks, resulting in two tries. Noted for his immense power and ability to shed defenders almost at will, Hurrell showed he had plenty of pace also, Anthony Minichiello offered him and inch and he took a mile, leaving the incumbent NSW fullback in his dust scoring a fantastic try.

Not to be outdone, prodigal half Shaun Johnson added to his long list of highlights by grabbing a brace for himself. Once again Johnson showed the type of footwork that would see any normal man tripping over himself, you almost have to laugh when you see the way he just embarrasses opposing defenders, but you really can't blame them, you blink and he may have stepped past three opponenets. Week by week we are seeing him show that same ability Benji has, to effectively freeze the opposition, as if he can pause time to let him come up with what he would like to do. The huge smile he wears when he crosses the paint and clear enthusiasm for the game is truly infectious, he's just a fantastic asset not only for the Warriors but for Rugby League in general. They were supported by a handy night from Maloney with the boot kicking 5 goals, and The Beast Manu Vatuvei finally breaking his try scoring drought.

It wasn’t all good news for the Warriors however, fresh from signing a one year contract extension the injury plagued Jerome Ropati picked up another injury to his knee and is expected to be out 6-8 weeks, the injury forcing Maloney to shift to fullback and Feleti Mateo into the halves.

For the Roosters 2^nd rower Aidan Guerra proved very impressive, grabbing a try to go along with 26 tackles and crossing the century metre mark. He seemed to pop up at all the right moments doing all the right things, he was very active and really put his mark on the game. Tackling machine Jake Friend notched up 44 on the night, nothing new for him but impressive nonetheless, and the big man, or one of the several big men, off the bench Lama Tasi was a handful with the ball in hand. Perhaps the biggest positive for the Chooks however was the debut of young phenom Tautau Moga. Crossing the ditch to Mt Smart is far from the ideal place to start your NRL career and he appeared a little timid at first. After being denied a try in the corner however, showing off some great athleticism, he seemed to decide that he belonged, getting himself more involved, looking very confident, dangerous with the ball in hand, and like he’d been around the NRL for years. I suspect it won’t be long at all until he starts giving NRL defences nightmares like he has opposition in the younger grades, the thought of seeing him and Hurrell going up against each other in future very tantalizing indeed.