Credit / nrl.com
After starting the season with back-to-back losses, the NZ Warriors have done a complete 360 and won their last two on the trot, including an impressive 20-6 'home' victory over Brisbane in the Broncos' backyard on Saturday night.
In a change of script from previous weeks, the Warriors scored early and kept the pedal to the floor for a 16-6 half-time lead at Moreton Daily Stadium in Redcliffe, north of Brisbane.
The Broncos stepped it up after the break but an impressive Warriors' defence kept them scoreless in the second half to give the team from Aotearoa their second win in a week after last week's battling 16-12 victory over West Tigers.
Warriors coach Nathan Brown said it was "brilliant" to play at Redcliffe in front of a 'home crowd' and to "get a nice tough victory."
"Today was probably the nearest thing to a home game this club's had for nearly three years, he said.
"We actually train here every day, we sit in this room every day, most blokes live around the corner. We haven't experienced that as a football club in nearly three years."
Source / nrl.com
Brown, who told media after the game the Warriors had kept their game simpler this week, said the victory over the Broncos was "well-earned".
"We certainly scaled our game back a little bit, so we didn't come here expecting to play our greatest brand of footie as far as entertaining, he said, sitting alongside captain Addin Fonua-Blake.
Brown did, however, acknowledge they had scored "a couple of nice tries".
"All our hookers and halves had never played together before, so to defend like we did - they've got some extremely hefty players that are very dangerous.
"We certainly scaled it back, toughed it out, defended well and I thought we got a well-earned victory."
Brown admitted the team's simpler style of game had cut out some of the ill-discipline and errors of past weeks.
"Without a doubt," he said. "We've had a lot of issues that we've had to start the year with, error type of things, some of them at the wrong time instead of playing footie at the right time.
"So we scaled it back, we definitely did better than last week and next week we'd hope to improve a little bit again."
The Warriors coach said the entertaining footie needed to take a backseat to getting the basics right.
He said if the team can keep defending well and get enough points on the board, "we can keep working hard to try and defend our way to victory while we build our attack."
Source / nrl.com
Fonua-Blake said the team's second-half dominance had a lot to do with the good work of Chanel Harris-Tavita, Reece Walsh and Shaun Johnson putting the ball in the "perfect position" to help the team win possession.
"It was definitely a credit to our halves putting the ball in the right places on the kicks. It's a lot easier to defend coming off the sideline," he said, acknowledging the Broncos' dangerous outside backs.
Brown again this week said the Warriors are a better side this year than last season
"The bottom part of the competition I think is definitely far stronger than it was last year."
However, he said the jury was still out whether the Warriors would be there or thereabouts at the business end of the season.
"At the end of the day, those good sides know how to keep going, and going and going. That's something the rest of us that haven't been up there for a long time need to be good at."
The Warriors' next game is at home to the North Queensland Cowboys on Friday night.
Warriors 20 (Jesse Arthars 2, Marcelo Montoya tries; Reece Walsh 2 cons, 2 pens)
Broncos 6 (Adam Reynolds try, con)
HT: 16-6