Warriors: 2020 season by the numbers

Operating under an even greater degree of adversity than any other club, the Warriors were one of the real surprise packets of 2020, staying in the finals hunt until the final fortnight of the season.

Forced to relocate across the Tasman for the rest of the season following the round-three resumption, with several players having to return home for personal reasons and several more rubbed out for the year by injury, the squad also had to endure the club's mid-season decision to sack coach Stephen Kearney.

But they never stopped giving their all, earning some gutsy wins and benefiting from a few loan players from other clubs along the way.

There were some hugely promising seasons from rookies that bode well for the future, giving incoming coach Nathan Brown a fair platform for 2021 – despite not yet knowing which country the players will be based in when next season rolls around.

Warriors' top five tries of 2020

Home and Away record

The Warriors played their home games out of Gosford once the season resumed and they did a remarkable job there, putting in some impressive performances and finishing with a 5-5 "home" record (including a loss and the Gold Coast to Canberra and a huge win over the Knights in Tamworth) and going close to beating top teams the Panthers, Roosters and Eels.

Their away record was a bit of a let-down but roughly in line with most recent seasons.

Run metres differential

It's hard to win more games than you lose when opposition sides are running effectively a full set of six more than you every game, on average. The Warriors were mid-table with their own running game but just conceded a few too many metres week to week.

They missed the early-set punch of Ken Maumalo (188 metres per game from eight games) following his mid-year return to New Zealand while skipper Roger Tuivasa-Sheck (219 per game) and forward leader Tohu Harris (173) were inspirational.

Try scoring – game time

There was no period in games where the Warriors had a significantly better chance of finding the try line. Overall they scored a couple more tries in the second half of halves than in the opening 20 of each period.

Tries conceded – game time

Defensively the Warriors had issues starting games, with eight more tries conceded than scored in both the first and second 20-minute blocks of games across the season.

Their 24 tries conceded between the 20th and 40th minutes was the most expensive quarter.

Things tightened up in their second halves and especially in the final quarter of games, with just one more try conceded than scored in final quarters, suggesting if they can tighten up their first-half defence next year they could win a few more games.

Tries scored from six-agains

With nine tries scored in sets following ruck infringements earned, the Warriors finished 11th best in this stat – near enough to their final ladder position of 10th. All up they were mid table for ruck infringements conceded with 69 but won 79, which was the third most.

Metres gained from offloads

The Warriors threw more offloads (214) than any team besides the Eels (276) although they finished fifth-best for metres gained from offloads, suggesting the Roosters, Storm and Sharks were all better at using the tactic.

Jazz Tevaga was the most prolific offloader for the Warriors while Peta Hiku and Tuivasa-Sheck weren't afraid to toss a few as well.

Goal-kicking accuracy

With a 71% strike rate across the season, the Warriors fell 11th for goal kicking accuracy but Chanel Harris-Tavita kicked them at 80% when he was on-field. There were also no Warriors matches won or lost on goal kicking in 2020 so a few extra goals would not have moved their ladder position.

Players used

It's probably unsurprising the Warriors used the equal-most players in the NRL this year with 32. That included four loan players (Poasa Faamausili, Jack Hetherington, George Jennings and Daniel Alvaro) after they had four players (David Fusitu'a, Ken Maumalo, Agnatius Paasi and King Vuniyayawa) leave the Central Coast bubble and return home for compassionate reasons and Blake Green depart for Newcastle mid-season.

There was a shocking injury toll, particularly in the middle forwards, with the likes of Leeson Ah Mau, Bunty Afoa and Nathaniel Roache rubbed out for the season and plenty more spending time on the sidelines.

Tackle breaks

The Warriors' 487 tackle busts ranked then 14th in the NRL. It's not something we'd usually expect from a team that usually carries the ball with plenty of vigour, whether that be from the forwards, backs or playmakers.

Only the Cowboys and Bulldogs busted fewer while of the top seven teams for most busts, six finished in the top eight of the ladder.

It's no surprise their inspirational skipper led the way with 85 busts from fullback good enough to rank fifth in the NRL. But it's telling that second-most for the Warriors was the 33 from Maumalo, who played just eight games.

Unsuccessful challenges

It probably wasn't the difference between winning and losing many or any games, but the Warriors need to brush up on when and how they challenge a refereeing decision.

Their 14 unsuccessful challenges was the most in the NRL with just seven successful.

That left them with a strike rate of one in three, or 33%, with only Brisbane and Newcastle (29% and 27% respectively) with a worse strike rate in the first year of the rule change.

2020 Form Guide