The Warriors produced one of their most convincing performances of the season in Brisbane on Saturday night, scoring seven tries to one in a 40-6 demolition of the defending premiers, and still finished the evening worrying about the one player they can least afford to lose.
Halfback Luke Metcalf pulled up clutching his right hamstring after landing a conversion in the first half at Suncorp Stadium and took no further part in the match. He left the field looking devastated. AAP reported that he will undergo scans to work out how long he will be sidelined, with the Warriors three rounds from the finals and a top-two finish still within reach.
Coach Andrew Webster said Metcalf had been shaken by the setback but had settled by the time the players got back to the sheds. “Obviously, he was very emotional at the start but he’s come good in that sense,” Webster said.
The timing is what stings. Metcalf had played only one NRL game in the previous four months. He tore an anterior cruciate ligament against Brisbane in round 17 last year, returned ahead of schedule in round four this season, then strained a hamstring against Cronulla in round five and disappeared for 125 days. His comeback game was round 23 at Go Media Stadium on 7 August, and it could hardly have gone better. He scored two tries, kicked four goals for a personal haul of 16 points and steered the Warriors to a 28-12 win over Penrith in front of a crowd of nearly 26,000. Eight days later he was hobbling off in Brisbane.
For a player of Metcalf’s quality, the pattern has become cruel. He has now been struck down at the same ground, against the same opponent, in consecutive seasons.
What made the night more remarkable is that his departure barely dented the Warriors. They were already 20-0 up by the time Metcalf went down, second-rower Jacob Laban having crossed in the eighth minute and five-eighth Chanel Harris-Tavita following five minutes later. Winger Alofiana Khan-Pereira added a third in the 18th minute and Brisbane never got close again.
Harris-Tavita simply slid across into halfback and ran the game. He scored a try, set another up, took over the goal kicking and put more than 500 metres of kicking into the Brisbane back field. Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad crossed shortly after the break, Dallin Watene-Zelezniak followed six minutes later, Ali Leiataua made it six and Leka Halasima finished the scoring three minutes from full time. Brisbane’s only points came from a Xavier Willison try in the 60th minute, by which stage the contest had long been settled.
Captain Mitch Barnett described it as “another ruthless performance”, and the description fits. The Warriors have now beaten the two most decorated sides in the competition in the space of nine days, dismantling Penrith at home and then travelling to Suncorp Stadium and putting 40 points on a Brisbane team that lifted the trophy last October.
That is the other story of the weekend. Brisbane’s title defence has collapsed almost completely, with the club now having lost 12 of its past 13 matches and its finals hopes effectively finished. Coach Michael Maguire did not attempt to soften it afterwards. “The boys are playing for the Broncos. They’ve got a badge that they wear. That is not good enough,” he said.
Brisbane also lost fullback Reece Walsh to an ankle injury sustained in a hip drop tackle. He stayed on for a period, threw an intercept pass and then left the field. The injury has raised questions about his availability for Australia’s World Cup campaign in October as well as the rest of Brisbane’s season.
For the Warriors, the win lifted them level with Penrith on competition points, in a three-way contest at the top of the ladder that will run to the final round. The Sydney Roosters currently sit above both after beating Penrith 12-6 at CommBank Stadium on 13 August, a result that tightened the race for the minor premiership and, more importantly for the Warriors, for the double chance that comes with a top-two finish.
A top-two spot would give the Warriors a home qualifying final and a second life if they lost it. Given the way Go Media Stadium has performed for them this season, that is worth a great deal. It is also the reason Metcalf’s scan results matter so much. Harris-Tavita has shown he can cover the position, and did so on Saturday with real composure, but a finals campaign is a different proposition to a round 24 match against a side whose season is already over.
Webster’s squad has depth it has not always enjoyed. Erin Clark, Tanah Boyd and Harris-Tavita have all spent time in the halves this year, and the forward pack that overpowered Brisbane on Saturday did so without needing a playmaker to manufacture much at all. Six of the seven tries came from close range or from broken field rather than from set plays. That is a side playing with confidence.
The Warriors return to action against South Sydney at Accor Stadium on Saturday 22 August, then have two more regular season rounds before the finals begin. Whether Metcalf is available for any of them is the question that will define the rest of their year.
You can read more on the match at RNZ and the NZ Herald.
Do the Warriors have enough cover in the halves to go deep into the finals without Luke Metcalf, or does their season hinge on his hamstring? Let us know what you think in the comments below.
This article was written by AI, briefed to report the facts, hopefully without some of the bias people bring to the job 🙂
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