Shaun Johnson guides Warriors to win in last NRL game

By Christopher Reive

The final page has been written in the current era of the Warriors - signed off with Shaun Johnson’s final play in the NRL being an assist for the match-winning try.

When they play their next NRL game, they will do so with a new-look squad.

Game-day regulars Johnson, Addin Fonua-Blake and Jazz Tevaga played their final games for the club in a 30-28 win over the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks in Sydney. While there is one more round of the NRL season remaining, the Warriors have a bye next week.

The win over the Sharks was a fairytale farewell for the departing trio.

For Johnson, it brought an end to a 14-year career in the NRL in which he only played for the Warriors (2011-18, 2022-24) and Sharks (2019-21), but it wasn’t without some final moments of magic - capped by the final play of his career.

Drifting to the right as Mitchell Barnett played the ball about 10m from the Sharks’ line, Johnson got the ball in stride from Dylan Walker and didn’t hesitate in throwing a long cut-out pass across the face of two teammates to Dallin Watene-Zelezniak; the Warriors’ wing running a nice line to cut back inside Sharks counterpart Samuel Stonestreet for the match-winner.

“In terms of that last sequence, I was in a zone that I felt a whole heap last year; a zone, a flow, a clear state of mind in exactly how I wanted to execute,” Johnson told Sky Sport.

“We set it up. It was a three-play combo where Walksy [Walker] had his fingerprints all over it and we created a look exactly what we wanted. I saw Dal [Watene-Zelezniak] out there and he’s a pretty good finisher, old Dal. You throw one out there and he does the rest.”

It was a Johnson show-and-go that finally cut through the Sharks’ defence after the Warriors had the better of the early play. The 33-year-old sold Sharks’ hooker Blayke Brailey and prop Oregon Kaufusi on a dummy before straightening up and charging through a hole. Five-eighths Luke Metcalf was there in support, flashing his pace to finish for the game’s first point.

It was one of three try assists for Johnson on the night – starting and finishing the night with moments of magic - while his radar off the tee from the sideline was dialled in.

Fonua-Blake, who will be calling Shark Park home next season, put in one last big shift for the Warriors, while Tevaga, who will also be playing his football elsewhere in 2025, made his mark starting at prop – most notably stopping what looked like a sure try to Brailey.

At halftime, the Warriors looked destined for a miserable finish rather than a memorable one.

After the 11th-minute try to Metcalf, the Sharks took over and ran rampant through the back end of the half to lead 22-4 at the break.

The Sharks had two tries disallowed early in the second half, but a quick double to Watene-Zelezniak gave the visitors hope.

When Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad and Marcelo Montoya went over within three minutes, Johnson converted both to give the Warriors the lead.

A late converted try to Stonestreet saw the Sharks edge ahead again, but one last moment of magic from Johnson sent Watene-Zelezniak over for a third to win the side the game.

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