Warriors coach Andrew Webster has revealed famous person halfback Shaun Johnson virtually didn’t play in Saturday’s beautiful semi-final win over the Knights as a result of calf harm that dominated him out of final week’s loss to Penrith.
Johnson appeared on the entrance web page of an area newspaper the day earlier than the membership’s first dwelling remaining in 15 years, however it wasn’t till Friday that he was given the inexperienced mild to tackle the Knights.
He arrange two tries within the 40-10 thumping that units up a date with the Broncos subsequent week.
“He came super close to not playing,” Warriors coach Andrew Webster revealed.
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“We literally didn’t know until yesterday. We were confident that yesterday was going to go well, but we weren’t sure.
“We made sure we got him to the start line today, and he made sure that he got himself to the start line.
“He’s done a terrific job. Not only did he get himself there, I thought he had a big impact and gave everyone confidence.”
Johnson was on restricted duties this week and Webster admits he has no concept what coaching will seem like for his important man within the days main as much as the Broncos match.
“He could pull up really well and we could get an extra training session out of him, instead of just the captain’s run,” Webster mentioned.
“If we don’t then we’ll stick to the formula. We’ll just see how he pulls up.”
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The Knights couldn’t lay a hand on Johnson who pulled up properly though teammates Wayde Egan (head knock), Marata Niukore (knee) and Josh Curran (finger) can be monitored.
Webster took nice pleasure in watching his halfback play and was by no means nervous about his calf till the ultimate few moments when Johnson let unfastened and began enjoying like he did 10 years in the past.
“I was nervous with 10 to go when he was putting on a double right foot step and carrying on like he was 18,” Webster joked.
“That was frustrating me. I was just like ‘calm down, kick to the corner and get off the field’ but he was carrying on like a lunatic. He didn’t need to do it.”
Meanwhile, Knights star Kalyn Ponga is eager to keep away from shoulder surgical procedure after his facet’s season got here to a grinding halt.
Ponga missed the Round 27 win over the Dragons with an AC joint harm however returned within the finals and kicked the profitable penalty aim towards Canberra.
“I hope not,” he replied when requested if he’d have to go underneath the knife.
“From what the physios and the performance staff are saying, you either can or you can’t, but I’d prefer not to.”
The 40-10 loss wasn’t a good reflection of simply how properly the Knights have completed to bounce again from a backside 4 spot two months in the past to then win 10 video games in a row.
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They did it with out hooker Jayden Brailey for a lot of the yr after he tore his ACL towards the Warriors in Round 6, whereas Ponga additionally missed 5 weeks and was despatched to Canada to satisfy a concussion specialist after yet one more head knock.
He returned and produced arguably his greatest season within the NRL after he selected to make himself unavailable for the Maroons, and it’s why he’s assured the ache of Saturday’s loss can drive the younger squad to larger and higher issues in 2024.
“A lot of players have developed so much this year,” Ponga mentioned.
“I think there’s a core group within the team now and we’re all on the same page. We all want the same thing and we’ll carry that into next year.
“We’ll be happy with what we did this year, but we wanted three more (wins) and we wanted to keep riding the wave we’re on.
“I don’t mean this in a good way, but I think losing that way might sit bitterly for a few people, and it should. We should carry that through the off-season and into the pre-season. It should drive us into next year because we fell short of a goal.”
Source web site: www.foxsports.com.au
