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'Freakish play': Webster hails Halasima's heroics in Warriors win

Author
Ben Francis,
Publish Date
Mon, 21 Jul 2025, 1:32pm

'Freakish play': Webster hails Halasima's heroics in Warriors win

Author
Ben Francis,
Publish Date
Mon, 21 Jul 2025, 1:32pm

Warriors forward Leka Halasima鈥檚 stunning game-winning try against the Newcastle Knights has earned high praise from coach Andrew Webster.

The 19-year-old swooped on a charged-down Tanah Boyd field goal, then accelerated away into open space, stepping the fullback before carrying three Knights defenders over the line to score as the siren sounded to clinch a 20-15 win in Newcastle.

The Warriors were shellshocked as they looked destined to lose to an understrength Knights side missing Kalyn Ponga.

In the final minute of the match, Boyd missed a long-range penalty goal, but the Warriors got the ball back from a 20m drop-out, and four plays later, Halasima produced his moment of magic to help his side clinch their 12th win of the season.

The result is massive in the context of the Warriors鈥 season as it maintains their four-point gap over the fifth-placed Brisbane Broncos in the standings with seven games remaining in the season.

The Warriors are aware of the potential Halasima possesses, as they re-signed him through until the end of the 2029 NRL season back in May.

鈥淲e had some really good looks at field goals, penalty goals, we were earning that through our defence and then we just come up with a freakish play by a young guy who鈥檚 got heaps of talent,鈥 Webster said post-match.

鈥淭hat鈥檚 what he鈥檚 got in his toolkit ... so just happy for the boys ... it wasn鈥檛 pretty tonight, but I still felt like we wanted to try and earn the victory and go after it.

鈥淚 liked the way that we kept fighting and kept going after the moment wasn鈥檛 happening for us.鈥

Halasima has played in all 18 games for the Warriors this season, scoring eight tries, and he鈥檚 been involved in many jaw-dropping moments, including his try against the Wests Tigers in round four.

While Halasima is the talk of the town, Webster is urging everyone to remember hat he鈥檚 still in his first full season of the NRL, having made his debut late last season.

鈥淚 think with every exciting player, they have just got to stay grounded and not get ahead of themselves,鈥 Webster said. 鈥淚 haven鈥檛 seen those signs of him.

Warriors coach Andrew Webster: "I liked the way that we kept fighting." Photo / Alyse WrightWarriors coach Andrew Webster: "I liked the way that we kept fighting." Photo / Alyse Wright

鈥淭he first thing he should be working on this week is his defence again and improving that and if he does that, then that stuff just comes natural to him.

鈥淚f Leka keeps improving with that other stuff, he鈥檒l become a brilliant player, because you鈥檒l see all that natural stuff like you saw at the end of the game.鈥

Webster also offered some words of encouragement to Boyd, who looked devastated after missing two field goal attempts and then the penalty goal shot.

Boyd was playing his second NRL game for the Warriors, taking the reins at halfback following a season-ending ACL injury to Luke Metcalf.

Tanah Boyd has taken over at halfback for the Warriors. Photo / PhotosportTanah Boyd has taken over at halfback for the Warriors. Photo / Photosport

鈥淚鈥檓 sure he 鈥 by his standards 鈥 he still didn鈥檛 feel great,鈥 said Webster. 鈥淗e鈥檚 got higher standards and he wanted to ice those moments.

鈥淗e didn鈥檛 hide, he wanted to keep going. I think he鈥檚 just going to improve every week.

鈥淲e got back to a draw game and then we gave ourselves a really a good look with eight minutes to go and then we fought our way back then again to have another opportunity. So that won鈥檛 define him, that鈥檚 for sure.鈥

The Warriors are back at home for their next clash on Saturday against the last-placed Gold Coast Titans.

Ben Francis is an Auckland-based reporter for the New Zealand Herald who covers breaking sports news.

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