Webster’s pride as Warriors settle for draw

By Alex Powell

While no side in the NRL would ever choose to settle for a draw, Warriors coach Andrew Webster knows things could have been much worse for his team.

After 80 minutes, and an extra 10 of golden point, neither the Warriors nor Manly Sea Eagles could be separated on Saturday night, and played out a 22-all stalemate at Go Media Stadium.

However, that scoreline doesn’t entirely tell the whole story. In a poor start, Webster’s Warriors fell to a 16-0 deficit in the first half, and were down 22-10 late in the second.

But late tries to Dallin Watene-Zelezniak and Shaun Johnson inspired the team to parity, after the latter kicked a penalty after the siren to bring about extra time.

After six games, the Warriors sit seventh on the NRL ladder, but could be overtaken by the end of the weekend as both the Canberra Raiders and Wests Tigers loom with Sunday fixtures.

However, in a competition of such fine margins, only time will tell how valuable the point against Manly will prove to be.

And while the Warriors were forced to dig themselves out of a hole of their own making, having actually managed to do so isn’t lost on the coach.

“At the end of the day, I thought a draw was a good result from 16-0 down,” said Webster. “The big thing we’re talking about in there is why are we 16-0 down? What have we got to fix?

“But obviously we did great to come back, we never gave up. I’m super proud of that.

“It was tense at the end, but I thought we were going about it the right way. We just didn’t get it right.

“In golden point particularly, we were super aggressive with our defence, and we didn’t give them a chance.

“I’m glad that we were the team throwing more punches at the end.”

As captain, Tohu Harris has played through his fair share of disappointing Warriors results.

Sides of the past would have easily collapsed at being 16-0 down in the first half.

But as has been the case since Webster took over at the start of 2023, this Warriors team appears to be different in its resolve.

However, echoing his coach, Harris knows the Warriors can’t afford to keep making the mistakes that plagued them on Saturday.

“Like Webby said, we came back from 16-0 down,” said Harris. “That’s tough to do against a quality side like Manly.

“But at the same time, it’s disappointing to get a draw, because we hurt ourselves on so many different occasions.

“I feel like if we were more clinical, we didn’t hurt ourselves with unforced errors, we would have given ourselves a chance to get the win.

“But from what happened tonight, to claw back from 16-0 down, to fight out way back into the game, to give ourselves a chance in overtime, I’m really proud of the effort.

“But there’s so many things we could improve on.”

Webster also rejected any notion that the decision to award the Warriors a penalty on fulltime was deserved.

At 22-20 down in the dying seconds, Johnson was taken out by Sea Eagles prop Josh Aloiai, and awarded a shot at goal to draw level.

The resulting kick sent the game into golden point, but neither side could be separated from there.

As part of an NRL crackdown on charging down kickers, the penalty was more than justified.

Earlier this week, Warriors reserve hooker Freddy Lussick was handed a four-game ban for breaking the leg of South Sydney Rabbitohs half in a similar challenge.

And with consistency in refereeing decisions being key in ensuring the NRL’s credibility as a sporting product, Webster had no issue in the call going his side’s way - regardless of the context of the match.

“It was definitely the right call,” Webster asserted. “We know what’s been happening lately with us as a club and Freddy.

“It’s a situation that’s unfortunate. I don’t think Josh meant it - he’s trying to charge the ball down.

“He’s trying to kick a field goal, Josh has got to do that, he’s got to go for the ball. It was just unfortunate that happened. Fortunate for us, unfortunate for them. It gave us a chance to draw the game.

“But they’re the rules, that’s how it is.”

The Warriors return to action on Friday night, when they travel to face the St George Illawarra Dragons in Wollongong.

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