Hat-trick hero Will Warbrick said that every game in a Storm jersey this year is special as he hopes to play his part in a late surge to finals footy.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The 1.93m tall Kiwi scored three tries and was a key contributor to two more in the Storm\u2019s 42-20 victory over the Raiders, managing to snare almost every aerial ball that came his way.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cHonestly, I’ve put in a lot of work during the week, and from the start of the year, and it’s something that I really do try to work hard at. Sometimes I don\u2019t get rewarded, but tonight I\u2019m glad it paid off,\u201d he told NRL.com.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was awesome be able to catch a few of those balls, especially at home. I do get a lot of joy from being able to perform well in front of our fans.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI’m obviously moving on from end of this year [to the Warriors], and so every game for me is really special. I’m just trying to just enjoy each one.”<\/p>\n
Warbrick also made 153 metres, picked up a try assist, and burst through eight tackles in a strong all-round performance.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s a big, strong athlete, and his ability in the air on the kicks is second to none,\u201d said coach Craig Bellamy.<\/p>\n
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Warbrick in a purple patch<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I played, wingers being the man of the match was unheard of, but these days wingers have got a whole heap more work to do. I thought he was certainly a big difference for us.<\/p>\n
\u201cI also thought some of his running was tremendous, and he defended well with that edge. He will be rapt with his performance tonight, and he should be \u2013 we were rapt with his performance as well.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
He said that the dominance in the air against counterpart Savelio Tamale was a plan pre-game.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cYeah, it was a plan,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s one of my strengths, and something that I work on every week with Jahrome [Hughes], so it just really paid off. It\u2019s something I try to do in every game, but I probably got rewarded for it more in this game.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
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NRL Best Moments – Round 16<\/p>\n
With the season-long injury to Xavier Coates, and the much shorter \u2013 while impressive – Moses Leo on the other wing, Warbrick has taken up the mantle of being the Storm\u2019s key threat from high balls.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI don’t know if I feel the responsibility [without Xavier there],\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just try to figure out what works for me and what my strengths are, and I believe that it is one of my strengths. It\u2019s something Craig drives through during the week. I’m glad to do my bit for the team.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The game had extra meaning for Warbrick. It was designated as the Storm\u2019s inaugural mental health round, with the club encouraging players and fans to \u201ctackle tough together”.<\/p>\n
Storm old boys were at the game, the crowd was urged to check in with the person beside them pre-match, and there were fundraising efforts for mental health charity Beyond Blue.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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Ativalu Lisati Try<\/p>\n
Warbrick was one of the driving forces behind the club establishing the round, having been open about being diagnosed with depression.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI’m really happy that the club took the initiative to have a round like today, and I hope it’s something that remains going forward,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s an important topic. It\u2019s making a creating a conversation about it for everyone, people that attend, people at home, just anyone, so it’s more of a common thing now, to speak about.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIf people need help, they should get help, and it\u2019s good to check on people around you. I’m glad the club and people that joined the club were able to create a round like this.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Hat-trick hero Will Warbrick said that every game in a Storm jersey this year is special as he…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":751983,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":["post-751982","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nrl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-national-rugby-league","tag-nationalrugbyleague","tag-nrl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/751982","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=751982"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/751982\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/751983"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=751982"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=751982"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=751982"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}