Newcastle Knights celebrate a try to left winger Greg Marzhew. Photo: David Neilson/Photosport
NZ Warriors v Gold Coast Titans
5pm Saturday, 26 July
Go Media Stadium Auckland
Live blog updates on RNZ Sport
As the euphoria of a miraculous last-ditch win subsides, NZ Warriors coach Andrew Webster has defended his players over aspects of their performance that let them down against Newcastle Knights last weekend.
The Auckland NRL outfit snatched their 12th win of the 2025 NRL season, with a freakish, 40-metre try from teenage second-rower Leka Halasima as time expired, leaving Knights and Warriors fans incredulous.
The result puts them on a countback to secure a playoff spot, sitting fourth on the competition table, with seven games remaining and eight points clear of the ninth-placed Dolphins. Four more wins would be enough, maybe three, if they can sort out their points differential.
"We probably didn't play our best football, but we kept competing to the end and fortunately we had someone athletically gifted like Leka, who could come up with a play like that," Webster reflected.
"I felt like we had three good shots at winning the game on our own two feet."
The Warriors put themselves in a deep hole by conceding three consecutive tries before halftime, two of them past the right-edge defence of winger Dallin Watene-Zelezniak, centre Kurt Capewell and halfback Tanah Boyd.
Newcastle centre Bradman Best had earlier brushed off a tackle from Capewell in his own half, as he broke 80 metres downfield in an attack ultimately nullified by trysaving tackles from fullback Taine Tuaupiki and Halasima.
"When they moved the ball to the left, we were too tight, so our middles and our left edge weren't winning those tackles, therefore putting our right edge under pressure," Webster explained. "The right edge needed to be better, so it was a collective thing.
"In isolation, the right edge weren't where they wanted to be, but there were lots of pieces to that puzzle."
In truth, the right edge has been a problem all season, but it has also been a revolving door of injuries, starting with the inability of centre Rocco Berry to stay on the field.
The last four outings have seen three different wingers, with Watene-Zelezniak suffering an ankle injury that required Ed Kosi and Adam Pompey to fill the void.
Injury to Berry has seen Capewell and Moala Graham-Taufa start in the No.4 jersey, but also utility Te Maire Martin and Pompey required to switch there midgame at times.
Four games ago, Luke Metcalf was the halfback stationed on that side of the field, before suffering a season-ending knee injury.
"Unfortunately, we're just not staying healthy in that area, are we?" Webster observed. "Fingers crossed, we get some continuity there - that always helps - but they're all world-class players, particularly when they get a challenge, they always stand up.
"I'm confident this week will be their best week together. It's hard when they don't get reps, and people are in and out, but there's no excuses."
Watene-Zelezniak missed the first nine games of the campaign with a broken wrist, with Tuaupiki deputising on the right edge. The flying winger was just finding form, when he tweaked his ankle against Penrith Panthers, and returned earlier than expected against Wests Tigers two weeks ago.
Tanah Boyd takes a field goal attempt against Newcastle Knights. Photo: David Neilson/Photosport
"Defensively, there were a lot of things inside him that weren't going the way we would have liked, but if you look at his form before he got injured last time, he was starting to ease his way back in and starting to hit the best player he can be," Webster observed.
"Each week, he'll build to that. We'd love every player to be at their best every week, but the thing I took away from it, defensively, our second-half adjustments, Dallin, Kurt and Adam, when he moved there… they were extraordinary at getting back to what works.
"We fixed it at halftime - they fixed it straight away. Obviously, Newcastle planned to keep going there, but they started getting turned away."
Capewell picked up a knee injury near halftime against the Knights and persevered another 20 minutes after the break, before succumbing, but he has been named in that position again against Gold Coast Titans this week.
Graham-Taufa was probably only a makeshift solution in a loss to Brisbane Broncos, while Ali Leiataua - who started the season at centre, with Berry recovering from shoulder surgery - isn't ready to return from a knee complaint.
Another option that might have tempted Webster was shifting first-choice fullback Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad to the midfield, where he has played for the Kiwis, with Tuaupiki in the No.1 jersey.
"Our preferred option is established centres, but at this point in time, Capey can fix issues and has done a really good job," Webster said.
Boyd was left kicking himself - and not much else - in the final moments, as he desperately chased a field goal or penalty to give his team a winning edge.
His first field goal attempt was probably the closest, drifting right, but two others never stood a chance. From the second, the Warriors won a penalty for an offside chase, but Boyd pushed his 34-metre kick from the tee left.
Finally, his last-ditch, long-range effort was charged down, but fell to Halasima, who captured the headlines.
"His individual reflections at that time were that he wishes he nailed those opportunities," Webster said. "Our reflections are that good players want to keep taking those moments.
"He was thinking the right things and knew what he wanted to do - he took an early field goal when there would be no pressure. He's just got to step up and ice the moment, and the only way you do that is by wanting the ball again.
"No one practices harder, so that moment will come for him."
Webster wasn't with the Warriors three years ago, when Boyd proved his abilities by slotting a field goal for the Titans to beat them 27-26 at Mt Smart.
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