Greats divided over call that could turn NRL premiership race

Warriors coach Andrew Webster has a dilemma on his hands.

Luke Metcalf presented an irresistible case for him to not lose the No.7 jersey again after blowing Penrith off the park.

The talk heading into that match was if the third-placed Warriors can’t beat Penrith in Auckland, then they can’t win a grand final.

“We’re going to see where the Warriors are this weekend, if they don’t beat Penrith they can’t win the competition,” Andrew Johns said on Wide World of Sports’ Immortal Behaviour.

“This week really decides if they can win the competition.”

Johns tipped the Warriors, and they ended up getting the chocolates 28-12.

Metcalf played the match in jersey 18 because Te Maire Martin was a late withdrawal due to a hamstring injury.

“It was two days ago Te Maire hurt himself, Luke didn’t even get himself an attacking rep, he just got to defend and yesterday he got to do some stuff with the boys on captain’s run,” Webster said after the win.

“It was late and unfortunate for Te Maire but Luke, the last five or six weeks, has strung some good footy together. At training, we’ve been getting to defend Luke, which has been awesome.

“I’m rapt with all our halves from Tanah (Boyd), Te Maire, Chanel (Harris-Tavita) and Luke ... even Jett Cleary and Luke Hanson in our reserve grade. We get to face really good stuff in a training each week and you’d pick any of them with confidence.”

Injuries have been the story all year for the Warriors in the halves, but they haven’t let it disrupt their season, unlike other teams.

Metcalf himself didn’t start the season due to the ACL injury last year that stopped him from winning what looked like a near certain Dally M Medal.

When he returned, Tanah Boyd’s form was so good he had to play at five-eighth.

Metcalf played two games, both losses, and then was out again with a hamstring injury.

Boyd’s form was so good that by May, Metcalf opted to sign with St George Illawarra as it appeared the No.7 jersey was no longer his.

Boyd himself then did his ACL, but Metcalf’s journey back into first grade wasn’t simple.

The merry-go-round of halves at the Warriors meant Chanel Harris-Tavita and Martin had taken the reins.

Two years ago, with half options sparse in the NRL these days, the league world wondered how the Warriors would replace Shaun Johnson after his retirement.

Now they are spoilt for choice.

Metcalf, against the Panthers, showed everyone why he was a Dally M contender right up until his injury last year.

He had to grind back through NSW Cup to get there too, having never entered the field as a reserve from round nine onwards.

After Friday’s win over Penrith, Metcalf appeared on Sky Sport’s panel alongside Johnson and his teammate Roger Tuivasa-Sheck.

The halfback spoke candidly about the season not going the way he envisaged and that it’d been a “different sort of four months”.

But he visualised how he would return, and everything went to plan.

Of course, the energetic Johnson couldn’t let him go without asking about his try scoring celebration.

That moment came early in the match when he set up a Kurt Capewell linebreak, then got the ball back to score under the posts.

He closed his eyes and raised both arms in the air, a celebration inspired by English football star Jude Bellingham.

“There was a chip on the shoulder,” Metcalf smiled after Johnson probed him about the celebration.

“As an athlete you’ve got to have that. Things haven’t gone the way I thought they would this year, but that’s all part of the journey.

“If you don’t have that, you’ve got to create something that gives you a little bit of an edge and motivation.”

But has he done enough to take the No.7 jersey full time, even when Martin returns?

“I’ve got no opinion on that,” coach Webster said after the game.

“I just thought he was good, I want to celebrate Luke, he deserves praise tonight.

“I’m not thinking future. There’s too many twists and turns to worry about that right now. I think the great players pick themselves each week.”

On Nine’s 100% Footy, Paul Gallen had an unexpected take, declaring he thinks Martin will return at No.7 when fit.

“Do you?” a surprised Allana Ferguson replied.

Gallen argued that Martin had laid down the groundwork for where the Warriors are now.

“He’s kept them inside that top four all year ... (Metcalf has) played one game of football in 24 rounds, I’m not having a go, I like Luke but you’ve got to do it every single week, that’s his challenge now,” he said.

Cameron Smith was surprised Metcalf had been playing reserve grade up until this point.

“I agree with Gal that you can come back and play a one-off blinder, it was all set up for him, at home, sold out, big game against Penrith,” he said.

“But for me, he’s a quality player. No matter what’s going on next year, if there’s been a dispute (it doesn’t matter), it’s all about winning.

“If he’s the best person to take your team forward to win the premiership, he has to be there.”

The final string in Metcalf’s bow may just be what Gallen was talking about.

The likes of Boyd, Martin and Harris-Tavita have delivered the Warriors a top four spot.

But can they win them a competition? It’s the hypothetical question that will be on everyone’s lips come September.

Johns himself had previously said his “knock” on the Warriors was they haven’t got an X-factor.

Maybe, waiting in reserve grade, they just found it.

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