Round 14: Warriors v Sharks preview
Well rested Sharks look to inflict more pain on woeful Warriors
The Warriors moving on from Nathan Brown was the biggest news in Rugby League for about three hours before Madge got the sack on Tuesday. If the way the players performed against Manly last week is anything to go by, the mid-season coaching change isn't something they'll be losing any sleepover.
The end of Brown as the Warriors coach was as predictable as it was necessary. He has a dismal 42% winning record when hired for the 2021 season and proceeded to gradually take the Warriors backward from a 10th place finish before he arrived, to 12th last year and 14th at the time of his departure.
Club legend Stacey Jones will take over as interim coach for the rest of the season, and it remains to be seen whether or not he can inspire a Todd Payten 2020 style resurgence of a Warriors side desperate for some direction and identity.
They come up against a Sharks side that will be extremely well rested after having round 13 off with a bye. None of their players are in either origin top 17, meaning those who suited up in Round 11's loss to the Roosters will have had 15 days of rest by the time kickoff rolls around.
It is a luxury that the Sharks probably don't need against this opposition. The Warriors were absolutely horrid against Manly, allowing them to roll up field with ease on multiple occasions, and in the rare instance they would make a stop defensively they would immediately turn the ball over cheaply.
If the Warriors struggled stopping Harper and Koula last week, what chance exactly will they have against Ramien and Talakai?
Despite their shaky form as of late, the Sharks are still sitting in 6th place on the table and have one of the easier schedules coming up. Their next three games are against the Warriors, Titans and Bulldogs, and winning all 3 would be great not only for their ladder position but for their confidence, considering they haven't won back to back games since round 5.
In the only change for the Sharks, Ramien is back in at centre replacing Tracey.
For the Warriors, they receive a much needed boost to their forward pack with Josh Curran returning from injury, however they are still without Addin Fonua-Blake. Stacey Jones has opted to bring in Dunamis Lui to make his club debut from the bench, with Aaron Pene making way for the ex-Raider.
Last meeting: Round 9 2022 - Sharks 29 Warriors 10
Who to watch: After a slow-ish start, high profile recruit Cam McInnes has been starting to get back into the form that saw him establish himself as one of the games premier players at the Dragons. After coming off the bench in his first 4 games for the Sharks, McInnes has started at lock for the Sharks every game since round 7, and his performances have meant that Craig Fitzgibbon will have a good kind of selection headache on his hands when Dale Finucane returns from injury later this year. Two weeks ago against the Roosters he ran 13 times for 128 metres, made 2 line breaks, a tackle break and an offload, all while making 34 tackles for only 1 miss. He also scored a try that put the Sharks in a position to make an improbable comeback, which didn't end up happening.
I'm going to go a little bit left field for the Warriors and say that the interim coach Stacey Jones is the one to watch this week. No I don't mean stare at him in the coaches box all game, rather watch the whole Warriors team to see how much effort they're willing to put in, particularly in defence. Last week against Manly, they conceded at least three tries simply by not being bothered to commit to making the tackle. The first try, where they let big man Sipley go over basically untouched from dummy half, and the second one where Olakau'atu was allowed to fall over the line on a crash play with zero momentum were hallmarks of a side that weren't willing to put in for their coach. Morgan Harper running right past three Warriors defenders to put Garrick over under the posts was the icing on the cake. Success for Jones in his first game as a head coach won't come from his team winning the match, although that would be a bonus, it would come from his team putting in 100% effort to give them some sort of a building block for the rest of this season and into the next.
The favourite: The Sharks are 14.5 point favourites on the road this week.
My tip: On form, the Warriors would have to be the worst team in the comp at the moment. Here's hoping they can turn it around, but I don't see it being in this game. Sharks by 18.
