Warriors slammed in 50-16 loss to North Queensland

The Warriors recorded their sixth loss in a row at Mt Smart Stadium and did so in a way only this club can do.

Playing some of their best football of the season, they raced out to a 16-0 lead after 12 minutes, but then completely fell apart to trail 24-16 at the break and eventually lost 50-16.

For a short while all of the misery there’d been around the club for over a month disappeared and with the young halves pairing of Mason Lino and Tuimoala Lolohea carving it up, it seemed that the 14,412 spectators at the stadium were witnessing the dawning of a new era.

However, all that hope and excitement disappeared as quickly as it materialised and it ended up being yet another disappointing night for the home team in Auckland.

If the result wasn’t enough pain, the Warriors also look set to be without Jacob Lillyman for the remainder of the year, after the prop left the field with a suspected cheekbone injury sustained in the first minute.

Despite that the Warriors started the match by looking to chance their arm and – no longer burdened by trying to make the top eight – played with a new found freedom.

The locals roared out of the gates, fullback Tui Lolohea jinking past multiple defenders to open the scoring, closely followed by a nerve-settling play from debutant Mason Lino who dropped a well-weighted grubber for Ken Maumalo to pounce on and post an early 10-0 advantage.

But the break after Tamou was hit in a big tackle by Warriors skipper Simon Mannering turned the momentum.

The third try came when Lolohea, who was wearing Shaun Johnson’s No. 7 jersey, ran on the last, broke the line and sent a ideal kick for Peyroux to score.

Three more tries rubbed salt into the Warriors wounds to complete a run of 50 consecutive points and close out a dominant Cowboys display.

The Cowboys went on to rack up nine unanswered tries, with winger Kyle Feldt nabbing a hat-trick and centre Justin O’Neill getting a brace.

But the win was blighted by injuries to Tamou (neck) and five-eighth Michael Morgan (ankle) in the first half. He had his 12th outing of the campaign in Saturday’s 20-16 win against Wests Tigers, scoring a try and kicking four goals from four attempts – and being named man of the match – to take his tally for the season to 90 points.

Here’s Lolohea absolutely destroying the Cowboys defence for the first try.

Ben Spina’s first NRL try early in the second spell put the Cowboys further ahead before fellow interchange forward Coen Hess, 19, marked his first-grade debut by barging over.