Warriors: 2021 season by the numbers
- Author
- Timestamp
The Warriors have had to deal with more than their share of adversity over the past two seasons and have shown admirable fight through much of it, eventually falling to a 12th-placed finish.
Their chances of making the finals were alive for almost the entire season despite a horror injury toll, some key mid-season departures and no home games in two years.
Nathan Brown's first season in charge came with no shortage of challenges and there were mistakes as well, but with a couple of young players making their mark and a ton of resilience, coupled with some handy 2022 signings, better times could lie ahead.
Regular season win/loss record
The Warriors have had to make more adjustments and sacrifices than any other club over the past two COVID-disrupted seasons, with not a single home game since 2019.
In that period they have had to move multiple times, with 'home' games predominantly played at Gosford's Central Coast Stadium and the last few months of 2021 out of a variety of Queensland venues.
As such analysing their record at 'home' versus 'away' in that period is of limited use but for what it's worth they had a slightly better record in 2021 when they were the official home team, winning five of 12 as opposed to three of 12 away.
They won three of seven at their adopted Gosford home base before the competition shifted to Queensland, winning three of eight total games from that point on - at Suncorp Stadium in round 20, Cbus Super Stadium in round 21 and Redcliffe in round 22.
Run metres differential
The Warriors' failure to make the finals or take a single win away from the top seven teams was heavily impacted by their struggles to contain opposition yardage.
They finished 12th for average metres made and 14th for both metres conceded and differential. In a statistic that is highly correlated to ladder finish year after year, they simply didn't spent enough time in opposition red zones and allowed opponents into their own too often.
Try scoring - game time
The Warriors found similar numbers of tries across all four quarters of games, with between 18 and 21 season tries coming in each.
However with tries generally easy to come by later in halves as defences tire and games open up, the Warriors weren't able to lift their scoring in the way more successful teams were.
Tries conceded - game time
On average, Warriors matches could be pretty neatly divided up into the first and second 20-minute block of each half, with the team highly competitive in the first 20 and fading badly in the second 20.
If you could distil the season down into just the first 20 minutes of halves, the Warriors go close to making the finals. Based on just the second 20 minutes of halves they get outscored consistently.
Part of that is around their attack but a much more significant component is their defence, with the Warriors leaking far more tries in the second 20 minutes of each half.
Their differential by quarter is -2, -18, -4, -8. In particular the 20 minutes leading into half-time is an area for Brown to address for next season.
Tries scored/conceded from six-agains
The Warriors weren't great at capitalising on six-again calls but it wasn't something that cost them too badly either.
The offside component in particular was not an issue for Nathan Brown's men with just three tries conceded all year off the back of an inside-10 restart. Only the Dragons (one) and Panthers (zero) fared better in that department. However 13 conceded off the back of a ruck infringement was of more concern, the equal sixth-most of any side.
Overall they conceded 16 tries in the set after a six-again call in 2021, which was the eighth-best figure of any side.
They scored just 12 however, ranking them equal 11th best. Five of those came from inside 10 infringements and seven from ruck infringements.
Metres gained from offloads
The Warriors maintained their reputation as one of the more prolific offloading sides in the NRL in 2021, with their fourth straight season as one of the top four offloading sides in the competition.
Again Roger Tuivasa-Sheck was at the heart of it, finishing as the team's top offloader despite his emotional early departure to rugby union six weeks before the end of the season with 22 offloads for 201 metres added in the season.
Addin Fonua-Blake (20 offloads for 173 metres) and Jazz Tevaga (21 for 126) also made an impact with their second-phase play.
Goal-kicking accuracy
The Warriors finished mid-tier for goal-kicking, but it would have been higher if Kodi Nikorima had retained duties through the full season.
Nikorima slotted them at almost 81% with 42 goals from 52 shots. Reece Walsh was the main kicker from round 15 onwards, going at a still-creditable 70% with 21 goals from 30 shots.
There were two games the Warriors could have won with more successful goal-kicking.
In round 12's 29-28 loss to the Cowboys, each team converted four of five tries before the Cowboys won with a field goal but the one that stings is round 23's loss to Brisbane in which just one of six goals went through the sticks in a 24-22 loss that saw the Warriors score one more try than their opponents.
Players used
The Warriors' 36 players used in 2021 was joint most in the NRL along with the Broncos, and was largely influenced by the challenges of being based overseas combined with a monster injury toll.
Euan Aitken, Josh Curran, Addin Fonua-Blake, David Fusitu'a, Chanel Harris-Tavita, Tohu Harris and Peta Hiku all endured long injury lay-offs.
Reece Walsh joined the club early in the season and played 16 matches while Dallin Watene-Zelezniak moved from the Bulldogs in round 16 and Matt Lodge played six of a possible nine games after his switch from the Broncos.
Ken Maumalo, Leeson Ah Mau and Roger Tuivasa-Sheck left the playing group mid-season.
Overall there were six NRL debuts handed out, the equal third-most of any club.
Average tackles made
The Warriors were forced into making the second-most tackles of any club in 2021 with only the Dragons (356.5) having to make more on average.
No doubt this defensive load took some gas out of the tank at different times. Wayde Egan (818 at 40.9), Tohu Harris (620 at 41.3), Jazz Tevaga (702 at 31.9), Bayley Sironen (659 at 34.7) and Josh Curran (547 at 34.7) led the way
Encouraging for the Warriors their average missed tackle count was just the ninth most at 30.2 per game.
Steals and losses
It's not the most significant statistic from the season but rather a quirky one – the Warriors were on the wrong end of the biggest steal differential in the NRL.
The Warriors produced just three steals of their own all season – the equal fewest of any side. However they had the ball pilfered from their grasp a total of nine times – the equal third most.
Their differential of -6 on the steals front was the worst of any side across the season. Although if it makes them feel any better, the next worst differential of -5 belonged to premiers Penrith.
