April 29, 2025 • 8 mins
The Warriors have named an unchanged lineup to face the North Queensland Cowboys in the NRL's Magic Round in Brisbane on Saturday.
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Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Sports Talk podcast with Dancy Wildergrave
from News Talk.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Z'd be anyway, enough of that, Let's go to add
assistant coach. We're talking about him before us. Name is
Slade Griffins, sistant coach, defense coach of the Warriors, and
he joins us. Get a Slade welcome to the show.
Speaker 3 (00:26):
Yeah, thanks thanks for having me.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
Yeah, no, thanks very much for joining us on the program.
Massive game coming up this week. In before we talk
about that and the rise and the rise of the Warriors.
Interesting this NRL crackdown, So people are saying, even though
they're denying it around that the head high tackles and
the Warriors are right at the bottom of that list.
And I'm told, well, Andrew Webster Reckon, that's entirely down
(00:52):
to you as the defense coach. Pretty high praise from
your boss their Slade.
Speaker 3 (00:58):
No, I wish.
Speaker 4 (01:00):
Oh. Look, yeah, it's something we've obviously identified, like every team,
and they started cracking down on it. Look, there's accidents
that happen in the game, and sometimes someone's level might
change quickly and the accidentally catch them. But we do
like to tackle rather than wrestle, and we do have
a few really good low tacklers in our team, so
we try really encouraging them to tackle low and kind
(01:22):
of cut legs. So yeah, that probably has helped us there.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
So that's all technique, because you can put all the
technique you want into a player's training, can't you. But
sometimes it goes awry on the park. I mean someone
gets cleaned out underneath and they fall into a tackle.
This hard thing to control and a hard thing to adjudicate.
They've got to feel a bit for the refs.
Speaker 4 (01:41):
Yeah, I really do feel for the refs obviously, like
they run like double the CA's the players.
Speaker 3 (01:47):
Do you have to make these split second decisions.
Speaker 4 (01:50):
I've obviously been giving guidelines to adjudicate too, But look,
it is a contact.
Speaker 3 (01:56):
Sport, Like I said, like these guys.
Speaker 4 (01:58):
Are apart from ten meters and they're coming together at
lightning fast speeds and then, like like we said, the
level chain and then all of a sudden, you accidentally,
you know, hit them on the face with a little
bit of a stray arm and you get seen to
the bin when it wasn't even that forceful. So I
heard Andrew Abdo last night saying they're going to recalibrate,
(02:19):
So yeah.
Speaker 3 (02:19):
We'll see what happens this weekend.
Speaker 2 (02:21):
Is it essentially though? Even though the amount of players
being bend at the moment, are they still in the
right wavelength? Do you think they're getting it right? The
referees are the way they're adjudicating this.
Speaker 4 (02:31):
I haven't been up to date with every single one.
I just know there's obviously been an increase. So yeah,
I just think they've been put in a bit of
a tough situation, and like Andrew Abdo said last night
that they probably went a little bit too far, So
I think they're going to get the balance back this week.
So yeah, we'll just see how it happens all week
in control is what we can control, and like we've
just got to be careful and obviously you never want
to make contact with the.
Speaker 3 (02:51):
Head anyway, no one coaches that. But yeah, like I said,
sometimes accidents happen on the field.
Speaker 2 (02:57):
Let's hope no more excellence come out this weekend in
the Magic Round. To be looking to carry on your
FORMUA sitting pretty at the moment fourth on the competition ladder.
I suggested this out of the season, not many people
want to pick that you're doing well, and you're coming
up against the cow men who aren't that too far
behind you. I think they're sitting six that the mad
What are they bring to the party.
Speaker 4 (03:15):
Well, yeah, like they are four on the trot, so
they're in fine form. They're they're playing really confident. They're
just such a deadly team with the ball. Obviously they
work really hard in defense. They've got you know, a
lot of origin players in that team, so based on
hard work, but with the ball dead and drink water.
Speaker 3 (03:32):
Like they just look into attack on the edges all
the time.
Speaker 4 (03:35):
So one, you obviously want to tackle well, and so
they playable down so you can get your numbers right
to give yourself the best chance against them, because yeah,
they back themselves and they are gunslingers on and.
Speaker 3 (03:45):
They're really good. They execute really highly, So yeah, it's
going to be a very good game.
Speaker 2 (03:49):
How much do you change what you guys are doing
defensively when you're coming across these teams that can do
that and sling that ball around, because it looks like
you're not getting too overly engaged with what they're doing.
You're just doing the simple stuff, right.
Speaker 4 (04:01):
Yeah, Like we've got our system that we pride ourselves on.
We've got to obviously processes and structures, but then amongst that,
you know, the players have a bit of freedom and
we'll id something in the other team that we want
to change a little bit towards, or something we think
we can do that weekend, But we kind of also
want to drag them into our game as well. So
(04:22):
we've been playing the long game by trying to get
a bit of fatigue in the game. Play some armorstled
footy and yeah, complete high locoties give.
Speaker 2 (04:31):
Yeah, well we had the same problem, didn't you put
potential problem a couple of weeks back when you took
on the Broncos with what they've gone out wide and
assassin's everywhere, pace and step, and that didn't bother you either.
So I'm figuring a similar thing comes up this weekend. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (04:48):
Yeah, they're a very deadly team.
Speaker 4 (04:50):
So we've prided ourselves on being a defensive club. I
know it's easy to say, but something.
Speaker 3 (04:54):
We've worked really hard at and doesn't just mean we're
going to be that. We've got to do it every week.
I think you can see kind of the momentum swings
across the NRL at the moment.
Speaker 4 (05:02):
It's very hard to be a great defensive team all
the time, but that's something and we're really priding ourselves on,
so it doesn't matter who we come up against. The
boys that worked really hard over preseason obviously for real
defensive mindset and the focus to be reliable on that
side of the ball.
Speaker 2 (05:18):
So no real team changes. Consistency in selection Sleigh, that's
a massive part of what makes an NRL team successful.
I don't think you can underestimate what it means to
have players in combo constantly.
Speaker 4 (05:34):
Yeah, we obviously had a rough Round one and everyone
gave the coaches a bit of flag for sticking with
the same team.
Speaker 3 (05:42):
But we've had a few guys.
Speaker 4 (05:44):
Forced out due to injury, been a little bit lighter
in the backs, and we've had that next man up
mentality and the guys that have come in have done
a really good job. So yeah, we're fortunate enough that
obviously the boys played well, they've earned this spot. Like
you said, we've trusted them with what we've seen on
the training paddock, not only the first eight rounds but
over the preseason, so it obviously helps having those combinations
(06:04):
and Sedd and Stone now as well.
Speaker 2 (06:06):
What's it like traveling over to Brisbane for the Magic
Rounds home game for you? But it's kind of not
really at home. Your home game last week too, but
it wasn't really at home. Is this something that you
I suppose how do you prepare for going to the
dirty heat of Brisbane in a Magic Round? Is there
much preparation required to think change from what you do
(06:28):
normally or not necessarily.
Speaker 3 (06:30):
I think it's not going to be too hot this weekend,
which helps. Obviously, it's just very.
Speaker 4 (06:34):
Hard, like we're not bothered by the heat, but sometimes
just hard when you're not exposed to it. So that
Melbourne game was like thirty two degrees and I think
it was twenty degrees in New Zealand.
Speaker 3 (06:43):
So unfortunately you just don't get exposed to it sometimes.
Speaker 4 (06:45):
But look, we get a really good following in Brisbane.
There's a lot of Warriors fans. Last year was an
awesome game, like we had half the stadium and Warriors
kit and they were allowed as well. So yeah, the boys,
we're looking forward to getting over it. I think we're
all professionals in the game now, but even just as
a footy fan, it's a really cool weekend. It's an amazing
buzz about the town. Doesn't matter what team you go for,
(07:05):
everyone's go their jerseys on and it's just a good
vibe the whole weekend.
Speaker 2 (07:09):
And I'm presuming you we are a Warrior's jersey when
you're sitting in the crowd. I'm joking.
Speaker 3 (07:13):
I'm joking, of.
Speaker 2 (07:15):
Course, and just the we peace on the season so far,
were you're sitting on the table. I don't know if
you watch any of the Australian talk shows around the NRL,
I can say fairly that they don't really mention the
Warriors much. You guys are flying under the radar. It's
got to be good for you, isn't it.
Speaker 3 (07:36):
Yeah, no, we'll fly under the radar. We're happy being
the underdogs.
Speaker 4 (07:39):
So oh yeah, just the old cliche like we honestly
do just worry about one week at a time, and
even worse, we just try to win every day.
Speaker 3 (07:46):
So that's been our mindset lately.
Speaker 4 (07:48):
We've just been trying to win every training session and
then that sets us up for the game.
Speaker 2 (07:51):
Carry on with that mindset, it's working for us. Slay Griffin,
thanks very much for your time. Go well, travel safe.
Speaker 3 (07:57):
Yeah, thanks very much having.
Speaker 1 (07:58):
Me for more from sports talk, listen live to news talks.
It'd be from seven pm weekdays, or follow the podcast
on Iheartrady Know
You're listening to the Sports Talk podcast with Dancy Wildergrave
from News Talk.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Z'd be anyway, enough of that, Let's go to add
assistant coach. We're talking about him before us. Name is
Slade Griffins, sistant coach, defense coach of the Warriors, and
he joins us. Get a Slade welcome to the show.
Speaker 3 (00:26):
Yeah, thanks thanks for having me.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
Yeah, no, thanks very much for joining us on the program.
Massive game coming up this week. In before we talk
about that and the rise and the rise of the Warriors.
Interesting this NRL crackdown, So people are saying, even though
they're denying it around that the head high tackles and
the Warriors are right at the bottom of that list.
And I'm told, well, Andrew Webster Reckon, that's entirely down
(00:52):
to you as the defense coach. Pretty high praise from
your boss their Slade.
Speaker 3 (00:58):
No, I wish.
Speaker 4 (01:00):
Oh. Look, yeah, it's something we've obviously identified, like every team,
and they started cracking down on it. Look, there's accidents
that happen in the game, and sometimes someone's level might
change quickly and the accidentally catch them. But we do
like to tackle rather than wrestle, and we do have
a few really good low tacklers in our team, so
we try really encouraging them to tackle low and kind
(01:22):
of cut legs. So yeah, that probably has helped us there.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
So that's all technique, because you can put all the
technique you want into a player's training, can't you. But
sometimes it goes awry on the park. I mean someone
gets cleaned out underneath and they fall into a tackle.
This hard thing to control and a hard thing to adjudicate.
They've got to feel a bit for the refs.
Speaker 4 (01:41):
Yeah, I really do feel for the refs obviously, like
they run like double the CA's the players.
Speaker 3 (01:47):
Do you have to make these split second decisions.
Speaker 4 (01:50):
I've obviously been giving guidelines to adjudicate too, But look,
it is a contact.
Speaker 3 (01:56):
Sport, Like I said, like these guys.
Speaker 4 (01:58):
Are apart from ten meters and they're coming together at
lightning fast speeds and then, like like we said, the
level chain and then all of a sudden, you accidentally,
you know, hit them on the face with a little
bit of a stray arm and you get seen to
the bin when it wasn't even that forceful. So I
heard Andrew Abdo last night saying they're going to recalibrate,
(02:19):
So yeah.
Speaker 3 (02:19):
We'll see what happens this weekend.
Speaker 2 (02:21):
Is it essentially though? Even though the amount of players
being bend at the moment, are they still in the
right wavelength? Do you think they're getting it right? The
referees are the way they're adjudicating this.
Speaker 4 (02:31):
I haven't been up to date with every single one.
I just know there's obviously been an increase. So yeah,
I just think they've been put in a bit of
a tough situation, and like Andrew Abdo said last night
that they probably went a little bit too far, So
I think they're going to get the balance back this week.
So yeah, we'll just see how it happens all week
in control is what we can control, and like we've
just got to be careful and obviously you never want
to make contact with the.
Speaker 3 (02:51):
Head anyway, no one coaches that. But yeah, like I said,
sometimes accidents happen on the field.
Speaker 2 (02:57):
Let's hope no more excellence come out this weekend in
the Magic Round. To be looking to carry on your
FORMUA sitting pretty at the moment fourth on the competition ladder.
I suggested this out of the season, not many people
want to pick that you're doing well, and you're coming
up against the cow men who aren't that too far
behind you. I think they're sitting six that the mad
What are they bring to the party.
Speaker 4 (03:15):
Well, yeah, like they are four on the trot, so
they're in fine form. They're they're playing really confident. They're
just such a deadly team with the ball. Obviously they
work really hard in defense. They've got you know, a
lot of origin players in that team, so based on
hard work, but with the ball dead and drink water.
Speaker 3 (03:32):
Like they just look into attack on the edges all
the time.
Speaker 4 (03:35):
So one, you obviously want to tackle well, and so
they playable down so you can get your numbers right
to give yourself the best chance against them, because yeah,
they back themselves and they are gunslingers on and.
Speaker 3 (03:45):
They're really good. They execute really highly, So yeah, it's
going to be a very good game.
Speaker 2 (03:49):
How much do you change what you guys are doing
defensively when you're coming across these teams that can do
that and sling that ball around, because it looks like
you're not getting too overly engaged with what they're doing.
You're just doing the simple stuff, right.
Speaker 4 (04:01):
Yeah, Like we've got our system that we pride ourselves on.
We've got to obviously processes and structures, but then amongst that,
you know, the players have a bit of freedom and
we'll id something in the other team that we want
to change a little bit towards, or something we think
we can do that weekend, But we kind of also
want to drag them into our game as well. So
(04:22):
we've been playing the long game by trying to get
a bit of fatigue in the game. Play some armorstled
footy and yeah, complete high locoties give.
Speaker 2 (04:31):
Yeah, well we had the same problem, didn't you put
potential problem a couple of weeks back when you took
on the Broncos with what they've gone out wide and
assassin's everywhere, pace and step, and that didn't bother you either.
So I'm figuring a similar thing comes up this weekend. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (04:48):
Yeah, they're a very deadly team.
Speaker 4 (04:50):
So we've prided ourselves on being a defensive club. I
know it's easy to say, but something.
Speaker 3 (04:54):
We've worked really hard at and doesn't just mean we're
going to be that. We've got to do it every week.
I think you can see kind of the momentum swings
across the NRL at the moment.
Speaker 4 (05:02):
It's very hard to be a great defensive team all
the time, but that's something and we're really priding ourselves on,
so it doesn't matter who we come up against. The
boys that worked really hard over preseason obviously for real
defensive mindset and the focus to be reliable on that
side of the ball.
Speaker 2 (05:18):
So no real team changes. Consistency in selection Sleigh, that's
a massive part of what makes an NRL team successful.
I don't think you can underestimate what it means to
have players in combo constantly.
Speaker 4 (05:34):
Yeah, we obviously had a rough Round one and everyone
gave the coaches a bit of flag for sticking with
the same team.
Speaker 3 (05:42):
But we've had a few guys.
Speaker 4 (05:44):
Forced out due to injury, been a little bit lighter
in the backs, and we've had that next man up
mentality and the guys that have come in have done
a really good job. So yeah, we're fortunate enough that
obviously the boys played well, they've earned this spot. Like
you said, we've trusted them with what we've seen on
the training paddock, not only the first eight rounds but
over the preseason, so it obviously helps having those combinations
(06:04):
and Sedd and Stone now as well.
Speaker 2 (06:06):
What's it like traveling over to Brisbane for the Magic
Rounds home game for you? But it's kind of not
really at home. Your home game last week too, but
it wasn't really at home. Is this something that you
I suppose how do you prepare for going to the
dirty heat of Brisbane in a Magic Round? Is there
much preparation required to think change from what you do
(06:28):
normally or not necessarily.
Speaker 3 (06:30):
I think it's not going to be too hot this weekend,
which helps. Obviously, it's just very.
Speaker 4 (06:34):
Hard, like we're not bothered by the heat, but sometimes
just hard when you're not exposed to it. So that
Melbourne game was like thirty two degrees and I think
it was twenty degrees in New Zealand.
Speaker 3 (06:43):
So unfortunately you just don't get exposed to it sometimes.
Speaker 4 (06:45):
But look, we get a really good following in Brisbane.
There's a lot of Warriors fans. Last year was an
awesome game, like we had half the stadium and Warriors
kit and they were allowed as well. So yeah, the boys,
we're looking forward to getting over it. I think we're
all professionals in the game now, but even just as
a footy fan, it's a really cool weekend. It's an amazing
buzz about the town. Doesn't matter what team you go for,
(07:05):
everyone's go their jerseys on and it's just a good
vibe the whole weekend.
Speaker 2 (07:09):
And I'm presuming you we are a Warrior's jersey when
you're sitting in the crowd. I'm joking.
Speaker 3 (07:13):
I'm joking, of.
Speaker 2 (07:15):
Course, and just the we peace on the season so far,
were you're sitting on the table. I don't know if
you watch any of the Australian talk shows around the NRL,
I can say fairly that they don't really mention the
Warriors much. You guys are flying under the radar. It's
got to be good for you, isn't it.
Speaker 3 (07:36):
Yeah, no, we'll fly under the radar. We're happy being
the underdogs.
Speaker 4 (07:39):
So oh yeah, just the old cliche like we honestly
do just worry about one week at a time, and
even worse, we just try to win every day.
Speaker 3 (07:46):
So that's been our mindset lately.
Speaker 4 (07:48):
We've just been trying to win every training session and
then that sets us up for the game.
Speaker 2 (07:51):
Carry on with that mindset, it's working for us. Slay Griffin,
thanks very much for your time. Go well, travel safe.
Speaker 3 (07:57):
Yeah, thanks very much having.
Speaker 1 (07:58):
Me for more from sports talk, listen live to news talks.
It'd be from seven pm weekdays, or follow the podcast
on Iheartrady Know
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