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Hot Warriors start earns Brisbane NRL win

3 minute read

Three first-half tries have carried the Warriors to a 20-6 NRL win against Brisbane in their 'home' game in Redcliffe.

REECE WALSH.
REECE WALSH. Picture: Chris Hyde/Getty Images.

Two first-half tries from Jesse Arthars and a masterful display from young star Reece Walsh has carried the Warriors to a 14-point win against Brisbane.

Arthars, on loan from the Broncos, made his parent club pay as his temporary home raced to an early 12-0 lead, kicking on to win 20-6 at Redcliffe's Moreton Daily Stadium.

The win sees them square the ledger at 2-2 after four rounds, while it means consecutive losses for the Broncos after starting 2-0.

"We didn't come in and expect to play the greatest brand of footy as far as entertainment, we've got a couple of nice tries, but we certainly scaled our game back," Warriors coach Nathan Brown told reporters.

"All of our halves and hookers and fullback have never played together before, that's obviously a bit of a new one for us.

"To defend like we did, they've got some extremely gifted players that are very dangerous ... (that) was very, very good as it was last week as well.

"They got one try from a kick so it was certainly just scaled back, toughed it out and defended well and I thought we got to a well-earned victory."

Arthars crossed twice in 21 minutes, the second courtesy of Walsh who dummied then rode a spinning tackle to find the centre in plenty of space to score.

Marcelo Montoya was the other Warrior to cross for a try, completing a sweeping team move to score in the corner on the stroke of halftime.

Brisbane captain Adam Reynolds had got his side going by cleverly gathering his own grubber, but it was a rare positive moment on a tough afternoon for the Broncos.

Adding insult to injury, Brisbane finished with only two fit players on the bench as five-eighth Albert Kelly (foot) and forward Pat Carrigan (knee) exited early, with both expected to be long-term injuries.

They played with 12 men in the first half when Tom Flegler was reported for a third time and sin-binned, and he was remarkably reported for a fourth time in the second half for a hip-drop tackle that saw Warriors forward Ben Murdoch-Masila taken from the field.

Warriors Matt Lodge and Addin Fonua-Blake set the tone in a dominant first half and carried for 177m and 202m respectively.

"We've got a fair number of youthful players in our side ... I just think he wanted to make a point of putting in a good solid performance," Brown said of Lodge's motivation against his former club.

"I don't think he has any animosity towards the Broncs or any extra motivation to play well, I think he just wanted to play well because he knows that's what he needs to do for us and his job."

The only negative for the Warriors saw Jazz Tevaga reported for the tackle that injured Carrigan.

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