Metcalf seizes the chance

“I spent some time in the [halfback role] when Shaun got injured and I feel like that sort of opened my eyes up to a few things about what he wants from me,” Metcalf stated to NRL.com.

“I should also be setting up the back of shape and doing other things like that, as well as how I should be talking to him and how he probably wants me to talk to him.

We weren’t used to playing together when we started last year, but we’ve put a lot of practice in this preseason.

“At the beginning of the preseason, I had a really good conversation about my body and my mindset and what I needed to change and improve with Webby and Ballin [Cupples], our head of performance,” Metcalf said.

“I now have a strategy, and I follow it because I understand that if I don’t, I could put myself in danger—physically.

With the exception of a few standout individual performances—Roger Tuivasa-Sheck was outstanding at both fullback and center—the Warriors committed mistakes throughout the game. Their worst moments may have been in the last 30 minutes, when they allowed the Dolphins to score three of their four tries.

After finishing the game on the wrong side of a 9-0 penalty count, Webster remarked that his team’s lack of discipline was also a major cause for concern.

“That [penalty count] was fair, we brought that on ourselves and that’s not good enough,” Webster stated.