Knights still wary of Warriors despite big loss

By Will Toogood

The Warriors’ defeat at the hands of the Panthers doesn’t change the fact they are a top-four side.

Words you might expect to come from Cameron George, Tohu Harris or a regular down at your local watering hole - however, these are the thoughts of Newcastle Knights backrower Tyson Frizell.

“They’ve been quite consistent all year and one game doesn’t change anything - they’re a top four side for a reason,” he told Newstalk ZB.

Frizell and the Knights are the lucky customers to face the Warriors for the first home playoff NRL match at Mt Smart Stadium for 15 years, after they beat the Canberra Raiders in a thriller on Sunday.

The Wollongong-born Frizell - whose adopted brother is none other than Highlanders and All Blacks loose forward Shannon - told Newstalk ZB’s Clay Wilson the Warriors’ brand of football is what has got them to where they are.

“They’ve been able to play a certain type of game style with their back three eating a lot of metres and bringing their middle forwards into the game... they’ve got a good mixture right across the park.”

He says that game plan they have relied upon throughout this season, coupled with their defensive pattern, had them as deserving top-four finishers.

“Their defence has been outstanding, they’re able to move fast in their defensive line and shut out a few teams, score a lot of points too.”

Frizell says the Knights want to play their footy the same way, and expects it’ll make for a good game in front of a sellout crowd.

The nationwide support behind the Warriors this season hasn’t gone unnoticed across the Tasman and the Knights know they’re in for a rousing atmosphere when they enter the Fortress of Faith.

“It’s going to be unreal. We’re not going to be on the right side of the roars and the cheers but as a footy player you want to be a part of those games, it’s what you play footy for,” Frizell says.

“We had a whole town riding us home on the weekend and I guess New Zealand have a whole country riding them home too.”

The Warriors don’t need anyone to tell them they are deserving of their top-four finish - you can’t fluke your way to that spot on the ladder in the NRL.

What they may need this week is some words from coach Andrew Webster et al around sticking to the aforementioned game plan and structure that has got them this far.

Captain Tohu Harris told the Country Sport Breakfast on Gold Sport they’ve learned some valuable lessons from Saturday against Penrith.

“Sticking to what we know and what we’ve done all year. That’s defensively, we’ve got to be a lot better there, we’ve got to be prepared to go the full 80 minutes.”

Too often the Warriors put themselves under unnecessary pressure against the Panthers. As the scoreline mounted, they forced passes and made poor decisions. Harris says this is an area they’ll be working on in preparation for Saturday.

“You can’t give those quality sides an easy way out of their own half and we’ve got to do a better job of building more pressure - we let them off the hook too many times.”

He downplayed the loss of star half Shaun Johnson - saying the team had practised all week in planning to suit up against Penrith without him - and told Gold Sport while he thinks Johnson has been the best player in the comp, one player can’t be relied upon to drag a team through.

The atmosphere at Mt Smart will be in the Warriors’ favour on Saturday, but Harris says they can’t let the occasion get the best of them.

“It’s going to be a big occasion so we’ve got to prepare for that, but it excites us. We can’t let it overawe us, we’ve got to make sure we go out there with a clear head and execute the game plan that we’ve set. If we get too excited or buy too much into the situation, we might lose our heads a bit.”

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