Warriors halfback Shaun Johnson is not getting too down despite the Warriors coming up short in a 16-12 round one loss to the Sharks. The game, played in front of over 24,000 at Go Media Mt Smart Stadium, never really rose to any great heights aesthetically but Johnson paid tribute to the committed effort of their opponents.
"I thought they came with a real grit and we applied a lot of pressure," he told media after the game.
"But ultimately probably we made a little too hard on ourselves with some of the errors and discipline, things that we gave up at certain points throughout the game."
The Warriors will be ruing not cashing in on an extremely dominant opening first half hour, in which they held an 80 percent territory advantage. However, the only return were early tries to Addin Fonua-Blake and Luke Metcalf.
"We wanted to play a certain style," said Johnson.
"We did that at times, but probably just not for long enough periods and yeah, bit disappointing that we couldn't cross the line obviously."
Roger Tuivasa-Sheck of the Warriors looks dejected after losing the round one NRL match between New Zealand Warriors and Cronulla Sharks. Photo: Phil Walter
Despite the frustrating nature of the loss, Johnson was quick to point out just how long the NRL season is.
"I think there's a lot to our game. It's going to put us in really good stead if we hold on to it throughout the season. Last year when we won round one, we came back here with the same attitude. We were rusty that night, but we won that night. So sometimes winning can mask a lot."
Coach Andrew Webster echoed the sentiments of his halfback, saying that the team was relying on "the big play" rather than "trying to get our flow on".
"We had enough ball there at the end of the game to win, but we didn't set it up well enough."
The Warriors actually outdid the Sharks in every attacking stat, including forcing five line drop outs to none. However, Webster admitted that injuries meant that he was not able to use his interchange the way he would have liked, with prop Tom Ale not seeing any gametime.
"We had to make too many subs for blokes that normally play 80 minutes," Webster said.
Hooker Wayde Egan's arm injury seemed to be the main culprit, forcing Freddy Lussick back onto the park for a much longer stretch than planned. Warriors debutant Kurt Capewell also has rib cartilage damage, which may keep him out of next week's match.
That is against the Storm in Melbourne, about as tough an assignment as the Warriors can get. The defending champion Panthers found that out the hard way in Friday's late game, going down 8-0 at AAMI Park, a stern warning by the defensive-minded Storm to the rusty Warriors.