9 Jul 2018

Roller coaster Warriors will not go far in the postseason

8:51 pm on 9 July 2018

What's going on with the roller coaster Warriors?

Simon Mannering.

Simon Mannering. Photo: Photosport

Time to check in with the Warriors and after last Friday's hammering by the Panthers, the scene isn't great.

When it comes to sports teams, the word "roller-coaster" isn't really one you want yours to be associated with. The bad news for the Warriors is that's exactly what can sum up their season.

The good news is that at least it's better than last year.

This is a side that started out by winning six of their first seven games. The year was shaping up as the year they might finally crack their NRL Premiership duck, but after their trip to Penrith that's looking like a long-shot.

This game should've been a gimme for the Warriors. The Panthers had Nathan Cleary, James Maloney and Tyrone Peachey out on Origin duty, and were missing Josh Mansour and Reagan Campbell-Gillard with injury.

This was a test of the Warriors' ruthlessness, to put a severely understrength side to the sword and collect two points that would edge them close to the playoffs. Instead, they were on the end of a 36-4 torching, with their only points coming deep into garbage time.

While it's worth mentioning an incredible performance by Panthers' stand-in half Jarome Laui that set up the result, the focus on this side of the Tasman should be how the Warriors again added to a worrying trend this year: When they lose, they almost always get thumped.

Any other year and that game would be an easy shoe-in for worst performance and it may well prove to be but it's worth remembering that the team is in good company for the title.

This is a side that was massacred on Anzac Day by the Storm, destroyed by the Roosters at Mt Smart, and then towelled by the Rabbitohs at the same venue.

It's hard to tell which one of these is the worst. The 50-10 loss to the Storm was a stunning punch to the gut after a great start to the season.

The 32-0 result against the Roosters was a literal shoulder to the face of their home ground advantage.

While the 30-10 loss to the Rabbitohs looks not as bad in comparison, the worst thing about that is that it reminded everyone of just how easily the Warriors can slip back into the malaise of regularly losing.

David Fusitu'a dives to score for the Warriors in their match against the Parramatta Eels.

David Fusitu'a dives to score for the Warriors in their match against the Parramatta Eels. Photo: PhotoSport

The crazy thing about all of those results is that they came either side of good, tough wins over the Dragons, Tigers and Eels. At least the loss to the Panthers came a week after another loss, but even then that would've been a win if it wasn't for some ghastly refereeing that gifted the result to the Sharks.

How have the 2018 Warriors, who started the season like the team we've all been desperately wanting them to be, suddenly turned into the most extreme example of inconsistency since the Beatles somehow released Yellow Submarine in between the White Album and Abbey Road?

It's always been a bit of a roller coaster ride for the Warriors fan base, although the last few seasons have been more sitting at the bottom of the incline. Now it's up one week and flying down the other side at a frightening pace with no obvious explanation as to why.

But at least the great start they made has set them up to make the playoffs, even if they do have to endure a few more hidings. But if they can't snap out of it, their first postseason appearance in seven years won't last very long.

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