NRL: Warriors v Cowboys: Key takeaways from another nail-biting win

They call it 'Magic Round' for a reason - but it almost became 'Tragic Round' for the NZ Warriors, who nearly blew an 18-point lead over North Queensland at Suncorp Stadium.

Three tries in seven minutes - almost four in nine - brought the Cowboys within a converted try of victory, and the so-called 'home' team had to dig deep for their two points and a share of the NRL competition lead.

Here are some key takeaways from the heroic 30-26 win in Brisbane.

Centre of concern

The Warriors face a midfield injury crisis, after losing both Ali Leiataua and Rocco Berry this week.

During the week Leiataua, who suffered an ankle injury at Magic Round last year and was subsequently sidelined for two months, hoped he could escape unscathed this year.

Instead he could not reach kickoff, tweaking an ankle in training, and was replaced by winger Ed Kosi, with Adam Pompey moving infield.

Midway through the second half, Berry pulled up with an apparent hamstring strain - the same injury that forced his late withdrawal from a game last month - forcing second-rower Kurt Capewell to line up in the centres.

Significantly, the Cowboys plundered that rightside defence during their revival.

Next week is likely too early for either Roger Tuivasa-Sheck or Dallin Watene-Zelezniak to return from injury - maybe RTS could have reprised last season's attempted switch to the midfield.

Coach Andrew Webster may have to consider making Capewell his starter - he's filled that role for Queensland at Origin level - or dipping into the reserve side, where Morgan Harper or Moala Graham-Taufa appear the best options.

Two-way Metcalf

So much has been said about the man who has made Shaun Johnson's No.7 jersey his own, but Luke Metcalf just continues to build on his reputation.

On attack, especially in the first half, he had the Cowboys in fits, scoring two tries and running for 164 metres while converting four of the Warriors' five tries to finish with an 18-point haul.

At just 83kg, Metcalf isn't known for his defence, but provided perhaps the crucial tackle of the contest when he chased down Cowboys winger Murray Taulagi and dragged him into touch, as he appeared to score a try that would have levelled the scores, with a sideline conversion to come.

"We're more proud of that tackle than anything else he did all night," coach Andrew Webster said. "Halfbacks aren't renowned for that, but good ones are."

Captain Mitch Barnett said: "Momentum is a hard thing to stop in the NRL, especially against the Cowboys and good attacking teams like that.

"Sometimes you just need a play like that."

There has been a slight question mark over this goalkicking - he missed a penalty handy to the posts before halftime, but slotted one after the break, and now has a 62 percent success rate, which ranks near the bottom of the competition rankings.

He's also had two faultless nights against Manly Sea Eagles (6/6) and Wests Tigers (5/5), and kicked winning penalties against Wests and Brisbane Broncos.

On current form, you can't take the tee off him, but hopefully his accuracy improves as the season progresses.

Stat attack

Through the opening eight rounds, the Warriors have led the competition in set completion with 82 percent success.

Given the conditions, which included pelting rain at times, their 91 percent (20/22) return through the first half was nothing short of incredible and paved the way for their 28-12 lead at the break.

That fell away over the second 40 minutes, when they completed just 13/18, but they finished with 82 percent, which should still put them at or near the top of that stat again on Monday.

Game of two halves

Afterwards, Barnett described the first half as the best performance the Warriors had produced all season.

"I think our DNA is starting to show, which is the most pleasing thing," he said. "I still don't think we're where our ceiling is, which is a positive.

"We've got a really keen group that love to learn and if we can learn while we're winning - especially those tight ones - we'll be so much better for it at the back end of the year."

Another stat the Warriors will be happy to achieve - they are finally out of the red on points differential. Their four-point win means they have now scored exactly as many points as they have conceded this season, but they are still the worst among the top eight in that regard.

Cowboys fast finish

North Queensland entered the contest with a four-game winning streak and a promise that they would come home strongly over the second 40 minutes.

During their redhot run, they had outscored their opponents 80-24 after the break, by an average of 14 points.

Last week, they actually trailed Gold Coast Titans 18-12 at halftime, before dumping 38 unanswered points on them.

Three weeks before that, Penrith Panthers led 18-12, but could not score in the second half, as the Cowboys chalked up 10 points to win.

They outscored the Warriors 14-2 down the stretch and showed no lead is necessarily safe against them.

Their fourth defeat of the season drops them out of the playoff picture for now and they host the four-time defending champion Penrith Panthers - a team due a win - next Saturday.

Healey on debut

After joining the club in the off-season, hooker Sam Healey became Warrior No.290, when he entered the fray with 14 minutes left on the clock and his teammates running out of gas around him.

He almost created an audacious try that would have given them some valuable breathing room, when he kicked along the ground from dummy half, toed it ahead again, chased and flicked the ball back into the field of play to the supporting Pompey, who touched down.

The sequence seemed too good to be true - and it was. Replays showed the ball had bounced on the deadball line, as Healey chased it down.

"It would have been the sealer," Webster said. "He's not short of confidence, he did one of those in training during the week.

"I put him on at lock and kept Wayde [Egan] there for a period. We had so many people tired and, when you lose an outside back like Rocco Berry and people shuffled, you lose subs for your forwards.

"We had guys on empty and I had to ask Sam on his debut to go play a role he hadn't done.

"We trusted him at the end - I told him he'd probably play the 'championship round' at the end of the game - and I'm just so happy for him. He's a bit older than most debutants, but he deserves everything he's got."

Healey is the son of former Cronulla Sharks half Mitch Healey, who played more than 200 games for that club from 1989-2000.

Home away from home

Not many teams can travel 2000km from their home stadium and enjoy the same level of support as the Warriors, even if this was technically a 'home' fixture for them.

Whether it's the number of Kiwis now living in Queensland, the local goodwill generated during their stay at Redcliffe during their Covid exile or simply their sacrifice to keep the competition running during that pandemic, the Warriors certainly lived up to their reputation as every league fan's second-favourite team.

We're now used to the Mt Smart faithful singing the Warriors victory song, but it's a completely different thing to hear it reverberating around Suncorp Stadium, while the Warriors chant seemed to pick up the players and carry them across the finish-line over those final 15 desperate minutes.

Take a bow, Warriors fans! Let's see you again in two weeks, when they return to face the Dolphins at the same venue.

Next up

Now 6-2 and sitting among the competition's top three, the 'Wahs' return across the ditch next Saturday to face the hapless St George Dragons at Wollongong.

The Dragons lost 34-28 to Wests Tigers this weekend and are now 3-5, with wins over Melbourne Storm, Gold Coast Titans and Manly Sea Eagles.

They have been boosted by several high-profile signings this season, including former Parramatta Eels fullback Clint Gutherson, centre Valentine Holmes (North Queensland) and hooker Damien Cook (South Sydney Rabbitohs), under premiership-winning coach Shane Flanagan (Cronulla Sharks).

On paper, they are dangerous and it feels like only a matter of time before they find their new identity under Flanagan.

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