Kearney laments Warriors' lack of execution

After showing improvement in their attack over the past fortnight, the Warriors acknowledge they took a big step backwards by failing to get over the tryline against Brisbane in an 8-2 loss on Saturday night.

Despite having more sets with the ball than Brisbane, including a glut of possession inside the opposition half, the Warriors failed to register a single line-break and were held tryless for the first time since round 10 last year.

On top of that, the immediate outlook may get worse yet for the Auckland-based side, with interchange weapon Jazz Tevaga suffering a game-ending high ankle sprain late in the first half.

Saturday's loss followed a positive run of attacking form for the Warriors after they won back-to-back games against St George Illawarra and Penrith, averaging 28 points scored and seven line-breaks in those two matches.

Coach Stephen Kearney appeared at a loss to explain the no-show with the ball.

"With the footy we were nowhere near where we could be," Kearney said.

"I thought we created enough opportunities, but I just thought our execution and our detail in that area… we just weren't good enough to execute them.

"Some key positions tonight [weren't good], we weren't quite at the top of our game.

"[Brisbane] are a big physical team, so they force things on you…. if you look at 'Greeny' [Blake Green] I think he was rushed a lot of times tonight by the speed of the line."

Post-match Brisbane coach Anthony Seibold acknowledged his side's efforts to nullify Green played a part in shutting down the Warriors' attack.  

"He's a really smart player Blake, he understands the game and has got time, so you need to try and close down that time for him," Seibold said.

"I thought we were really good with putting inside pressure on him, making him play early. I think we did a sound job."

Throughout the match at Mount Smart Stadium, Brisbane appeared content to give away ruck penalties in order to prevent the Warriors from generating quick play the balls inside the attacking 20.

As a result the Broncos were pinged eight times for infringements in the first half alone.

While Kearney said it was likely an intentional tactic used against his side, he refused to blame that, or the way the referees officiated the ruck, for the loss.

"I would imagine [it was Brisbane's plan], but the referees have assured us that if that's the case that they are going to penalise it," Kearney said.

"All that aside, the reality is we got ourselves in a position where we could have come up with a couple of scoring plays, but we didn't.

"I thought it was our own doing tonight in terms of not getting the result."

The Warriors have the bye in round 12 before hosting the Storm the following week.