Pre-Season Prediction: 13th
Actual Finish: 13th
Highlights:
- Try scoring wingers: For the second year in a row the Warriors had a monster winger who scored a boatload of tries. Last year it was David Fusitu'a, this year it was opposite winger Ken Maumalo.
The towering winger crossed the line 17 times in his 23 appearances in 2019. This saw him finish fourth on the top try scoring tally for 2019.
Considering the Warriors only scored 72 across the season, that's an incredible number.
The Warriors have traditionally big wingers but in Maumalo they have a real gem. He ran for almost 200 metres per game in 2019, mainly out of his own end. 16 line breaks and 72 tackle breaks show how hard he is to contain. He also lead the league in post contact metres with 1490.
On the other wing is last year's top try scorer, the aforementioned Fusitu'a who this year crossed for a relatively lean five tries, but also chipped in for over 120 metres per game.
The two star wingers have become like extra forwards coming out of their own end, and attacking superstars close to the opposition line. Huge!
- Beginning and end to the season: For Warriors fans there was plenty of frustration in 2019, however their bookend performances were incredible.
The Warriors started the season with a massive home win over the Bulldogs.
The 40-6 flogging soothed nervous fans who didn't know what to expect and gave them the feeling they'd be better than the expected lower sides.
Young Adam Keighran had a day to remember scoring a try and kicking six goals. Simply put they couldn't have done much more.
Fast forward to round 25. The Warriors travelled to Canberra with only pride to play for, while their hosts were gearing up for a title tilt.
A late Blake Green try and Issac Luke conversion saw their side sink the grand final bound Green Machine.
If you only watched those two games you'd swear blind the Warriors had to have had a fantastic season.
Low Lights:
- Never in finals contention: Despite enjoying a brilliant start to the season and briefly leading the competition, the Warriors were never genuine finals contenders.
For every great performance there was a shocker to follow not far behind.
Their amazing round 21 win over Manly was sandwiched in between two 30+ point hammerings.
The Warriors are a side rarely accused of consistency but every move they made in the pre-season was designed to improve on that.
Sadly, other than perhaps the opening weekend, they never looked like a side likely, or capable of finals footy.
- No replacement for SJ: The Warriors took the biggest gamble in club history by allowing club marquee superstar Shaun Johnson to leave.
The move had the potential to spark younger players to step up and take over or it had the potential to sink the club's finals chances for literally seasons.
I wouldn't go as far as to say releasing SJ was a disaster but they certainly didn't have the cattle that could step up and replace the go to half.
Johnson needed a change of scenery, so I'm not criticising the club's move, however they moved on a perceived highly paid, inconsistent half, to replace him firstly with rookies, then a highly paid inconsistent player.
The major difference between Johnson and Nikorima is that the formers ceiling in terms of performance is much, much higher.
Warriors fans can be forgiven for shedding a single tear watching their former club hero literally end the Tigers season in round 25 and lock in his new club's finals presence.
- Luke out: In isolation the departure of Luke isn't a huge negative given he was reduced to bit part player in 2019, but what a sad way for such a hugely hyped signing to end his tenure in Auckland.
Luke was brought to the club to be that missing piece of their title charge.
He had some brilliant moments but the fact he arrived an international star and left a fringe first grader isn't fun.
Hopefully he and the Warriors both fare better in 2020.
Star Player: Roger Tuivasa-Sheck
The Warriors megastar entered 2019 as the Dally M medalist and very well could have gone back to back in winning the award again this year.
Ultimately he would finish in sixth but he was head, shoulders and then some above the rest of his teammates at times.
Running for over 200 metres per game, RTS also scored seven tries, laid on 10 try assists, made 14 line breaks and broke 136 tackles.
All while captaining the side, making some ridiculous try-saving tackles and being literally everywhere.
RTS may be the most important player in the competition right now.
Season Grading: D
A season that started so well, truthfully ended very quickly.
The Warriors were far from the worst team in the competition across 2019 but, as mentioned, they never looked like a side with genuine finals aspirations.
RTS was a megastar, Maumalo scored tries for fun, and Blake Green played beyond his expectations, but otherwise the stand out performances just weren't there.
It's hard to pinpoint exactly what went wrong across the season, but in both attack and defence the consistency just wasn't there.
It's an almost copy and paste every season but Stephen Kearney still has not discovered the magical cure to solve the Warriors inability to produce week to week.