Addin Fonua-Blake says criticism on Warriors teammate unwarranted

By Christopher Reive

Reflecting on last weekend’s loss to the Canberra Raiders, Warriors prop Addin Fonua-Blake believes outside criticism fell on the wrong shoulders.

Five-eighths Chanel Harris-Tavita suffered the brunt of that following the two-point loss last Friday as he missed all three of his conversion attempts after taking over from Adam Pompey (knee injury) – the last of which came just slightly to the side of the uprights.

However, Fonua-Blake labelled that as “unwarranted criticism” when speaking with media on Wednesday afternoon, and expressed his surprise the team’s performance hadn’t been picked over more.

“He missed the kicks but there were also 20 points scored against us. That’s not good enough,” Fonua-Blake said.

“We gave them a 14-0 head start, and I don’t think that was talked about enough either. It’s a team sport, we all leaked the tries.

“I’m going to back Chanel and that he’s going to ice some good moments for us on Friday.”

Prior to last weekend’s outing, Harris-Tavita had slotted both of his goal attempts this season, and through his Warriors career to date the 25-year-old has converted 78% of his attempts at goal.

But his missed conversion attempt of Fonua-Blake’s late try that would have tied the game capped off what captain Mitchell Barnett said was a performance in which the side let themselves down with errors.

“For me, goal kicking is just a blessing and doesn’t win you or lose you a game, even though fans can see it as that. It’s what we do to leak tries or leak field position, errors - there’s a lot of things that contribute to that,” Barnett said.

“That won’t define Chanel, every goal kicker has had a shocker with the boot, and he won’t be the last.”

It was a sentiment shared by coach Andrew Webster, who said there was a lot that his side got wrong prior to the missed kick, and noted several goalkickers had reached out to Harris-Tavita this week to share their experiences of bad nights with the boot.

Dwelling on the loss and what might have been would do the Warriors no favours now as they cling to their hopes of making the top eight.

Their charge to the finals has to start with a win over the lowly Wests Tigers at Mt Smart Stadium on Friday night, with the Warriors now sitting five points outside the top eight with 19 points.

Over the coming weeks, the side will host the bottom two sides in the Tigers (17) and Parramatta Eels (16), before ending their season with a tough run that features the Redcliffe Dolphins (7), Manly Sea Eagles (5), Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs (6) and Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks (3) - with all of those games barring the Bulldogs clash away fixtures.

“We’ve just got to win games,” Webster said.

“I can’t keep saying it every week because it’ll get to the point where it’s unachievable, but it’s certainly achievable and we’re really confident.

“We’ve just got to play our best footy and give ourselves the opportunity, and it would be nice to get a break go our way.”

Warriors (1-13): Roger Tuivasa-Sheck, Dallin Watene-Zelezniak, Ali Leiataua, Moala Graham-Taufa, Edward Kosi, Chanel Harris-Tavita, Te Maire Martin, Addin Fonua-Blake, Wayde Egan, Mitchell Barnett, Marata Niukore, Kurt Capewell, Dylan Walker.

Interchange (from): Freddy Lussick, Jackson Ford, Jazz Tevaga, Leka Halasima, Tom Ale, Bunty Afoa, Demitric Sifakula, Setu Tu, Ben Farr.

This article was first published on nzherald.co.nz and is republished here with permission