One New Zealand Warriors front rower Jackson Ford has collected his third maximum of the season to leap back to the top of the Dally M leaderboard after Saturday’s stunning 38-14 win over Melbourne.
In a performance studded with outstanding individual contributions from Warriors players, the judges awarded six points to Ford to boost his tally to 23 points, two clear of Penrith’s Nathan Cleary after six rounds.
In a full 80-miniute effort – his second of the season – he made a team-high 175 metres (the most for any forward on the field) from a game-high 23 runs including 66 post-contact metres (equal best with teammate Demitric Vaimauga) plus three tackle breaks, a line break and his third try of the year.
He also made a team-high 36 tackles with only one missed tackle.
Ford earlier picked up six points for his displays against the Sea Eagles and the Raiders while he polled five points against the Knights.
Match Moment #5: Ford squeezes over for third try of season
The remaining six points were split among three Warriors players, hooker Wayde Egan with four and one each for halfback Tanah Boyd and centre Roger Tuivasa-Sheck.
Egan made 57 metres from nine runs (six from dummy half), had two line break assists, two try assists and two tackle breaks and two try assists, handled the ball 104 times and made 25 tackles.
Match: Storm v Warriors
Round 6 -
home Team
Storm
13th Position
away Team
Warriors
3rd Position
Venue: AAMI Park, Melbourne
Boyd provided 14 points from seven goals, had a line break assist and try assist, received the ball 56 times, made 29 tackles and made 497 metres from 15 kicks. With his one vote Boyd is on 12 points in seventh spot.
Tuivasa-Sheck, switched from the wing to the centres, had his first try of the season, made 152 metres from 19 runs including 46 post-contact metres, made a line break, five tackle breaks and 10 tackles (most notably the try-saving shot on Melbourne winger Will Warbrick).
Dally M leaderboard | Round 6
23 Jackson Ford (One New Zealand Warriors)
21 Nathan Cleary (Panthers)
17 Dylan Edwards (Panthers)
16 Scott Drinkwater (Cowboys)
15 Braydon Trindall (Sharks)
14 Adam Doueihi (Wests Tigers)
12 Tanah Boyd (One New Zealand Warriors)
11 Jake Clifford (Cowboys)
Other One New Zealand Warriors:
4 Wayde Egan
3 Roger Tuivasa-Sheck, Taine Tuaupiki, James Fisher-Harris
1 Dallin Watene-Zelezniak
