[ad_1]
The Warriors ended a season like no other with a 40-28 win over Manly that showed the club has a good dose of scoring ability for incoming coach Nathan Brown to take advantage of.
Perhaps it was the football gods’ way of saying “Thank you” to the team whose sacrifices helped keep the 2020 season afloat.
The match was doubled as a fitting sendoff for veteran forward Adam Blair. The 51-Test veteran signs after 331 games for Melbourne, Wests Tigers, Brisbane and the Warriors.
The crowd at Central Coast Stadium gave the nominal home team a standing ovation as they raced onto the field and passed through an honor guard made up of Manly players.
The Warriors have spent months away from home, been through two head coaches, had to use four players on loan from other NRL clubs and still had eight wins. They finished two victories before playing in the final.
Blair said goodbye with the mighty Haka
Players like Roger Tuivasa-Sheck, who missed the game through injury, have not seen their loved ones since the beginning of May.
Sunday’s result at Central Coast Stadium, their home away from home, gives the Warriors two victories against the Sea Eagles in the same season for the first time since 2003.
He also gave retired international forward Adam Blair his first kick on goal in 331 NRL games.
As expected, it was a festival of points. All 14 attempts of the afternoon were scored with three players scoring doubles: Eliesa Katoa, Patrick Herbert (Warriors) and Abbas Miski (Manly), while utility running back Adam Keighran scored a hat-trick.
The Warriors were stunned by the Sea Eagles’ spirited start, finding themselves down 10-0 after attempts by Reuben Garrick and Corey Waddell.
All-inclusive: Within the 2020 Warriors season
But then they went crazy to score 26 unanswered points against a little dominance from the Daly Cherry-Evans skipper.
He first kicked a 40/20 to get his men into enemy territory.
But when that didn’t materialize in points, he sent a clever cross kick for winger Abbas Miski to run 50 yards, knock off three potential tacklers and plant the ball.
The 26-14 score at halftime gave a little more respect to a boys’ team that was very depressed. They had lost seven of their last eight games heading for the road to Gosford. It’s one in nine now.
In a game with no consequences for the late 2020 series, fans got their money’s worth from the game of just 20 minutes.
There were two attempts each with the advantage changing hands as well.
Then center Keighran scored the Warriors’ third try in six minutes for the home team to jump to a 16-10 lead.
Katoa has a double and the Warriors push further
Not wanting to break the theme of the afternoon in side-by-side action, and another off-contract Guerrero at winger Hebert crossed to stretch the lead to 10 points (20-10).
Forward Katoa scored his second to provide an excellent first half of entertainment with eight attempts in total.
The second half had just 41 seconds when Miski scored his second, but the momentum was still the Warriors.
Nikorima kicks for Herbert
Keighran got his next two and the Warriors were looking for the merchandise even with 15 minutes to go.
There were two more attempts by the Warriors, but Manly had the last laugh with center Brad Parker scoring the last four points of the day.
Something to contemplate during the offseason for Manly is that the Sea Eagles have now conceded an average of 34 points per game since the 12th round.
