Knights at home

Its hard to come up with the adjectives to describe how bad the result against Manly really was. Second worst Warriors losing scoreline of all time probably says it all. To say Ivan Cleary was speechless is the understatement of the year.

I hope this is a blip and not a harbinger of the season ahead. Anderson's downfall came as a surprise after a series of strong seasons and I hope last season was the first step in a climb to the grand final rather than the crest of the Cleary wave. Losses like this lay bare the Warriors weaknesses on defense and their lack of leadership in the absence of Price and Wade Mac. Although the Herald's Chris Rattue is not that interested in the Warriors - generally I agree with the tone of this piece on the potential debacle that awaits. Not sure if I agree however that the key flaw in the Warriors set up is the lack of quality kiwis in the skill positions.

You have to hope it can get better at home this weekend against the Knights. The Knights were dire last season so the Warriors need to assert themselves and smash them at home. However it should be noted that on the table the Knights are third with a 2-1 record and a +16 points diff, whilst the Warriors are 14th with a 1-2 record and a -46 points diff. SMH power rankings for this week put the Warriors 12th (not at the bottom yet!) and the Knights 8th with the Broncoes ranked as the top team at present.

So its not going to get any easier and Cleary knows this - a win as always is vital to maintain at a minium a 0.500 record at least until Price returns to inject some fortitude into this teddy bears picnic.