Source: Radio New Zealand
Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad is helped off the field against Cronulla Sharks. Photosport
Analysis: Back-to-back defeats have set NZ Warriors squarely on the back foot and their three-game winning start to the 2026 NRL season seems a long time ago now.
Their 36-22 defeat to Cronulla Sharks featured many of the worrying signs of the previous week’s lapse against Wests Tigers, when they fell off the top of the competition table.
The worst may be yet to come, with a formidable and wounded adversary looming, and worrying injuries beginning to stack up.
Warriors coach Andrew Webster has little time to restore the confidence that marked their play only a few weeks ago now.
Here are some key takeaways from the loss to Cronulla.
Best player
You can’t look past a wing that scores a hat-trick of tries and Dallin Watene-Zelezniak has corner-flag heroics down to a fine art.
With the arrival of former tryscoring champion Alofiana Khan-Pereira at Mt Smart, many anticipated he would quickly replace the incumbent, who bore the brunt of the Warriors’ right-edge defensive lapses last season.
Dallin Watene-Zelezniak scores one of three tries against Cronulla Sharks. www.photosport.nz / Izhar Khan
This was vintage DWZ on attack and that’s not something you simply cast aside.
Unsurprisingly, Watene-Zelezniak emerged as his team’s highest fantasy scorer (69 points), leading them in running metres (188) – 90 of them in one desperate dash – and linebreaks (2).
Hooker Wayde Egan was in the wars and had to return to the field late, when understudy Sam Healey left for a concussion check, eventually leading the Warriors’ tackle count (39).
Second-rower Leka Halasima completed another 80 minutes, finishing the contest at centre, when Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad left injured, and made 34 tackles.
Lock Erin Clark was rewarded for his industry with a late penalty try, while front-rower Jackson Ford’s 65 post-contact metres will keep him near the top of this category across the league.
Key moment
Trailling 24-10 at halftime, the Warriors needed to score next and achieved this, as Watene-Zelezniak completed his hattrick and halfback Tanah Boyd converted from the sideline.
Momentum had seemingly swung their way, but they handed it straight back, when Halasima tried to play the ball quickly, but Roger Tuivasa-Sheck was too slow arriving at dummy half.
Cronulla pounced on the ball and stormed upfield, and while the Warriors held out their initial thrust, they made another mistake as they tried to break out of their half, which allowed second-rower Teig Wilton to score.
Since he announced his impending departure to Wakefield Trinity, Tuivasa-Sheck has delivered a couple of shockers and compounded this mistake with two more that led to Siosifa Talakai’s game-clinching try.
Siosifa Talakai celebrates his try against the Warriors. Photosport
He spilled a high kick in his own 20 and, as the Sharks arrived in numbers, was brushed aside in a one-on-one tackle by Talakai on his way to the tryline.
Best try
Really hate judging this category in a loss like this, but perhaps nothing sums up the rocks-and-diamonds nature of the Warriors defence than Watene-Zelezniak’s second try – a 90-metre intercept effort from near his own line.
Defensively, the Sharks seemed intent on exploiting a rightside Warriors defence that has continued to struggle for cohesion.
Watene-Zelezniak is repeatedly caught having to cover two converging attackers, but guessed correctly to score a runaway that would surely have been another Sharks try, if he had got it wrong.
Even then, he was almost run down by Sharks fullback Will Kennedy and needed another spectacular dive at the corner to finish off his opportunism.
Injuries
Ironically, the injuries suffered in this game may actually return the Warriors to a line-up resembling the one that cruised through the opening three games of the season.
Webster may have second-guessed himself, when he installed Nicoll-Klokstad at centre against the Tigers. He liked the idea of Taine Tuaupiki at fullback, but he has not shown enough in his two outings to justify the move.
If Nicoll-Klokstad can’t clear concussion protocols, Tuaupiki may get another life, but Ali Leiataua should return to the midfield, after he scored a winning intercept try for the reserves in NSW Cup this weekend.
In his second game back from knee recovery, five-eighth Luke Metcalf also left with a hamstring strain, opening the door for Chanel Harris-Tavita’s comeback.
Luke Metcalf faces time on the sideline, after a hamstring injury against the Sharks. Photosport
Playing outside Boyd, Metcalf has not fired and that has undoubtedly thrown the Warriors’ timing off. His injury may spare Webster a painful decision.
Egan was hobbling before halftime, but returned after the break, while Healey passed his head injury assessment, so both seem clear for next week.
Of course, co-captain Mitch Barnett will again be missing, with a broken thumb.
Cronulla Sharks
The Sharks broke a three-game home losing streak against the Warriors and are now approaching the form everyone expected from a team that fell one game short of the grand final over the past two seasons.
They host Sydney Roosters in Perth next Saturday and have a chance to consolidate their sport in the top four.
What the result means
The Warriors slide down the competition table from second entering the weekend to fourth (after Newcastle’s win over Canberra) and possibly further, depending on the Tigers v Parramatta Eels result on Monday.
Their +84 points differential has been slashed to +54, but remarkably, their 156 points scored is still second behind only Penrith Panthers.
After starting the season with three wins over highly rated opponents, the Warriors are now perilously close to suffering three straight losses, which would put them in a scramble for playoff spots early in the campaign.
The scariest part of that is their next opponents…
What’s next
Melbourne Storm have dominated the Warriors like no other NRL team, winning 70 percent of their previous meetings, including the last 17 encounters since 2015.
They have inflicted some horrible hidings over that period, including the historic 70-10 Anzac clash in 2022 and a couple of 50-point efforts.
Worst of all, the Storm are coming off three straight defeats of their own, including a 50-10 result against the Panthers this week.
You just know they are better than that and will be desperate to prove that against a vulnerable Warriors outfit in Melbourne.
Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
