Lavinia Kitai takes a high shot. St George Dragons v One New Zealand Warriors Women. Photo: David Neilson / www.photosport.nz
A miserable weekend for the Warriors was capped off at Jubilee Stadium in Sydney, with the Warriors women slumping to their third straight defeat. This time it was the St George-Illawarra Dragons that triumphed, 26-18, however that's now two of the three losses that's gone to a team below the Warriors on the ladder.
At least there are excuses, with injury and suspensions meaning that the Warriors came in under gunned, but this now means the Warriors are suddenly in an uphill battle to make the playoffs.
Despite a sparkling performance by Patricia Maliepo, who is by now clearly the most crucial signing the side has made, the Warriors paid a sluggish start that saw tries run in by Maria Paseka and Teagan Berry for the Dragons.
Payton Takimoana and Maliepo answered back for the Warriors to give them a 12-10 halftime lead, with Takimoana scoring just after the break.
However, things fell apart after that, with a string of handling errors costing the Warriors dearly. Tori Shipton and Jayme Millard scored, with Millard knocking over three conversions to push the score out to 26-18.
The Warriors certainly had enough ball and field position to mount an assault on the that deficit, but ultimately they were their own worst enemies with more dropped ball and failure to complete their sets.
The result now makes the bottom half of the NRLW ladder very congested, with the Warriors one of four teams on six points and the Bulldogs right behind them on five.
Things don't get any easier for them next weekend, when they host the second placed Broncos in Hamilton.
Read how the game unfolded here:
