Nail-biting win for Warriors
Warriors and Cowboys fans were on their feet screaming as their sides battled it out for a Golden Point win at Moreton Daily Stadium tonight.
It was to be the Warriors’ night, with star halfback Shaun Johnson’s wobbly field goal the difference.
During the post-game press conference, Cowboys’ coach Todd Payten said his side ‘gift-wrapped’ the win for the Warriors with their substandard performance, but there was a feeling in the crowd that it could have gone either way right up to the moment Johnson sealed the 25-24 win for his team.
It’s the third win in a row for the Warriors who defended well in the final moments in the round five game and during the Golden Point battle.
There were also signs of growing confidence in their attack at times.
It was something the Warriors' fans in the crowd enjoyed as they called for their boys to “pass it to Shauny” or yelled “on ya Bunty” as the prop drove the ball up the middle.
On a night, when a gusty south-easterly made kicking a field goal trickier than usual, there was a roar as Johnson’s kick found its mark.
So what is Warriors’ coach Nathan Brown most pleased with tonight?
“The scoreboard at the end of the day … you sit here on the back of it. You know, Toddy and his boys will be disappointed. We’re very happy … I thought we deserved to win on the back of our goal-line defence,” he said.
“To repel them the amount of times we did on the back of the possession they had … I think the boys certainly earnt the right to win the game.”
Fighting back into the game
The Warriors’ fightback from an 18-6 deficit started with a Josh Curran try just before halftime and continued with a try to Kodi Nikorima immediately after the break.
The Cowboys scored another in the 20th minute before Euan Aitken evened the ledger to make it 24-all where it remained locked until the final siren.
When asked if the vocal crowd gave the side a lift, Brown said there was no doubt.
“This is the closest thing to a home ground we’ve had for three years as a football club … we never had atmosphere or anything like this anywhere else in the past few years,” he said.
“To be here, live here and train here … you get a bit of an affiliation with people around town. I saw a fair number of people come into the game and they said, ‘I’m not a Warriors supporter but while you’re here I am a Warriors supporter’.
“For the boys to have the crowd cheering them on, there’s no doubt it certainly helps.”
The squad now faces a tough few weeks on the road.
“We play the top end of town in the next two weeks on the road – we’ve got Roosters and Melbourne who have been the two best footy clubs, probably sporting clubs, in Australia for the past 20 years,” Brown said.
“That will give us a real good look at actually how much growth we’ve had and how much more we need to get.”
It starts with the Roosters at the SCG on Sunday at 2pm.