The Warriors have broken their duck for season 2022 securing their opening win over the Wests Tigers 16-10 at Campbelltown Stadium.
It was a match both coaches would've wished ended sooner than it did, as they both bombed several scoring opportunities.
The home side kicked off the of the two in this one, when Jock Madden took the ball to the line and found his captain (well, one of them) James Tamou, who barged over the top of fullback Reece Walsh to claim the opening try of the contest. With the easy conversion from Luke Brooks, Wests Tigers took the lead by 6-0.
The visitors quickly hit back off a clever kick by Chanel Harris-Tavita, targeting his winger Marcelo Montoya in the air, collecting a result for the visitors. Euan Aitken (who announced this week it will be his last year for the Warriors) grabbed the scraps and hit back. Reece Walsh nailed his kick from the sideline and we were back on even terms just after the 20-minute mark.
There was some controversy when replays suggested Luciano Leilua may have scored in a play that was ruled a knock-on live by the referee. It looked like a knock-on and Ziggy Przeklasa-Adamski made a bold live decision - although he could've used the video referee just to be sure, as it was a try-scoring situation. The locals weren't at all pleased with this decision, booing the officiating crew off the park at half-time.
Off the next set after this no-try, Kodi Nikorima put a lovely kick up and the Tigers couldn't handle the kick and Adam Pompey flew under the radar to score the visitors' second try. With the kick at goal successful from Walsh, the visitors went up by a converted try.
The Warriors quickly went up by two converted tries when Walsh knocked over a penalty goal for a 14-6 lead, but the home side had the last laugh going into the break, when Jock Madden put up a lovely kick for David Nofoaluma, who did wonderfully well to bat it back to Daine Laurie before he linked up with Zane Musgrove to get the Tigers back in the contest. Brooks knocked the kick through the posts and the Warriors had a slender lead of 14-12.
The second half can only be described as diabolical, it has to be said. Errors by both sides during key attacking raids blunted chances to assert their dominance.
The Warriors only added one penalty goal with Walsh knocking over a chip shot to be up by 4 points.
The turning point came when Chanel Harris-Tavita knocked it on and Jock Madden raced away to score. Marcelo Montoya made the try-saving tackle, but unfortunately, he held on way too long in the tackle and Ziggy Przeklasa-Adamski has no choice but to sin bin him for a professional foul. Wests Tigers' goal-line attack can only be described as horrible as they didn't even look like scoring against a 12 man defensive line.
The Tigers travel to Queensland next week to take on the Titans while the Warriors take on the Broncos at their temporary base at Redcliffe.