Ben Francis: NZ Herald Sports Journalist unpacks the Warriors loss to the Eels

A controversial knock-on call has left the Warriors' NRL top four hopes hanging by a thread as they fell 26-22 to the Eels at Mt Smart. 

The Warriors —who at one stage faced a 16-point deficit— stormed back in the contest, only to have a late Adam Pompey try that would've seen them take the lead denied by the bunker due to a knock-on in the kick chase. 

D’Arcy Waldegrave was joined by NZ Herald Sports Journalist Ben Francis to break down the action. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the All Sport Breakfast podcast with Darcy
Waldgrave from News Talk Z'B.

Speaker 2 (00:11):
First, I'm glad someone else is to explain last night
because I'm getting tired of Ben Francis out of a
herald that joins us now he writes plenty of wonderful
words around the vague world of the Warrior has been
welcome to the program. How do you explain last night?

Speaker 3 (00:31):
God, Darcy, I don't even know to really begin to
be honest. It was such a bizarre game, considering the
fact the Warrior has literally dominated every statistical statistical category
and didn't come away with the win. It's a massive result,
of course, because it essentially means a top four finish
is probably unlikely. And I would say a date with

(00:54):
the Panthers and Round one of the finals is looming
at least that will be at Mount Smart. But we
all know what happened last time the Panthers came to town.
But look, the Warriors, at the end of the day,
their own worst enemy. First two tries that you'll scored
literally against the run of play, and that I think
that came back to bite them. The Warrior is definitely
their own West enemy.

Speaker 2 (01:15):
What's with their ability to be asleep for the first
five minutes of the game. It's just it's not a habit.
Please tell me this is not a habit. But when
you turn around and you're down a try converted try
and the game's only just opened, that's not a great
place to start.

Speaker 3 (01:32):
Nah, But it seems it seems to have been a
thing that's happened a lot this season. I'm actually going
to go through and see how many times I have
conceidered the first try this season in games, because I
swear it has happened a lot more than it hasn't happened.
So so it's one of those things where it is
slightly concerning because you're always playing on the back foot.
But it is a bit worrying, and that is something

(01:53):
that Webster will need to address, especially with finals two
weeks away.

Speaker 2 (01:56):
Well, it's not even conceding the first tries, the time
which it takes and it's done. Sometimes the first few
minutes it's all wow, wow, wow. It's difficult to come
back for that. Now we look at the decision by
the Bunker, which at its best as questionable. I don't
think it was enough to overturn that on field decision. However,

(02:17):
the game came down to that it should never have
got to that position, So you can't point at the
bunker you got appointed the Warriors and go, how on
earth did you find yourself that far behind? And happened
a ready to come back?

Speaker 3 (02:31):
Well one hundred percent right, And that's one of the
things Andrew Webster touched on in this press conference. He said, look,
we can't blame this decision for the loss. They were
down twenty points to four at one stage and it
wasn't until about twenty five minutes ago when their attack
actually started looking lively and we saw lequahal Asima get
a double there and that was fantastic, and that was

(02:52):
the sort of time you thought, look, the Warriors probably
do have a chance here. And then of course it
came down to that last play where they crossed fans
or they'd stolen late win, and it turned out obviously
the metric had touched the ball when he admitted that
after the game. But as you kind of say, the
bunker has to be conclusive for them to overturn. It
was it conclusive that the ball went forward. Look, it

(03:14):
depends on who you support and what you believe at
the end of the day. But I have no doubt
this is going to be a talking point, especially over
in Australia over the weekend, and no doubt someone's going
to be getting a hold of NRL official and say,
please explain.

Speaker 2 (03:27):
This is anything. Though, at least we can look over
the ditch and see what happened to the Storm and go, wow,
it's not all that bad.

Speaker 3 (03:37):
Yeah, forty second half points star see that by the
score by the Roosters. That was absolutely incredible, and the
Storm had resting players. But look that was Craig Bellamy's
six hundred official game and he was absolutely livid after
the game. So look, I think that's the thing with
the NRL all the results. You know, there have been
players rested by lots of the contenders and it has

(04:01):
thrown some of those results up in the air. And
it's going to be like that for the next this
round and next round as well, especially depending on how
some of those other results play, because you're going to
look at like the Raiders next week, for example, they're
probably in a position to rest players against Dolphins who
are actually competing for that last playoff spot. So there's
so many ramifications at play in terms of how these
results will play and where teams could finish.

Speaker 2 (04:23):
And I'd say a lot of these coaches and teams
could be done with dragging the game down. They're not
doing right by the game making these decisions, and I
know that I'm not alone with this. Hey, Ben francis
real pleasure having you on air. Thanks very much for that.
You enjoy the West, the rest of weekend and sporting.
I'll catch you on Tuesday. Have get on your bros, Darcy.

Speaker 1 (04:46):
For more from the All Sport Breakfast with Darcy Watergrave,
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