Warriors Bye - Great week for the All Whites

Well no Warriors this week. Great week for the All Whites drawing with Slovakia. England are not going to get out of their group they are so bad. And the Lakers won the NBA title. Again. However one thing I do like about the Lakers is Ron Artest. You have to love that psycho. Check out his post game press conference. Bro nice work to thank your psychiatrist in your postgame interview.

Great win for the Warriors after tight game in Newcastle

Nice work on the win tonight. Warriors squeaking home 32-24 over the Knights in Newcastle. Maloney, Vatuvei and Moon all putting in strong performances. Maloney kicked six from six goals which is sweet. However without wanting to cut him down unnecessarily many of those shots were from straight out in front.

Some shocking errors and ghastly defensive lapses made this game alot closer than it needed to be. Locke is turning into a major defensive liability. With that said the Knights looked good on attack on the wing but pretty poor throughout most other facets of the game.

Andrew Johns - OMG- how many PR howlers can the Johns brothers generate in one lifetime? These guys are a shocker on so many levels. How do you reconcile Joeys talent for the game with his drug abuse and racism? Its not a good look for a game under pressure when one of the arguably greatest players ever and a massive media star has so little perception of how to behave in a public setting. Origin is intensively competitive but lets retain some self respect people.

This win basically keeps the Warriors alive in the competition. A bye this week and then they need six wins from eleven remaining games - starting with the Roosters in Christchurch. This is a nominal away game so lets hope the Cantabs can turn on a good home crowd atmosphere for the Warriors.

Am looking forward to the first of the All Whites games this week - should be alot of fun. As for England v USA - a good game to watch but England looking typically subdued and vulnerable. They have the talent - they just don't know how to combine it to deliver strong performances consistently. Capello is a great coach so I am hopeful of improvement. As for Robert Green - his name will live in infamy after one of the worst goal keeping errors of all time in a World Cup match.

Oh and cheers for the candid Queensland origin squad photos Ali - keep up the good work.

Bros Icing Bros

I don't much like Smirnoff Ice, but I do like this game. Nice post on the NY times about it here. I want to see more of this in Auckland.

As for Warriors v Knights- I think its pretty even match up but the TAB has the boys as long dogs. Guess its the second string halves combination and the absence of Tate. However the Warriors need the win pretty bad.

Its hard to retain focus on the NRL with the World Cup kicking off this weekend but more sport is good.

Second half of the season

Good game vs St George in dire rainy conditions. A really strong effort from the boys but just too much dropped ball against a pretty classy side. Pity about the result and a pity about Tate's jaw putting him out for the season. So we face the remainder of the season, and next season, without Tate and Price.

Vatuvei came through the game fit and Mannering is fit and solid. So this is good news. Isaac John put in a good performance and Seymour will be fit and back in the side eventually. I am banking on Seymour returning in time for the Warriors v Eels on 4 July (round 17) - when I will be in attendance at Mt Smart once again. Lets hope the weather is a bit better then.

Before then we have to face the Knights away next up (rnd 14) followed by a bye week (round 15) and then the Roosters away (round 16). Right now we sit 11th - 2pts outside the eight with one game left in the round).

So with only 12 games left to play - lets have a quick look ahead to the countdown to oblivion. I estimate that with the storm out of the picture this year we need only at least 28 points to make the playoffs. Right now we have 12 points with a bye in hand - so that will give us 14 points. So we need a further 14 points, or seven wins at least out of our last 12 games - to make the playoffs.

Our run home looks like this (table positions are as of right now with one game left in the round):

Round 14 - Knights - 12th - (a)

Round 15 - bye

Round 16 - Roosters - 9th - (a)

Round 17 - Eels - 8th - (h)

Round 18 - Panthers - 2nd - (a)

Round 19 - Storm - 16th (=1st) -(h)

Round 20 - Rabbitohs - 6th - (a)

Round 21 - Titans - 5th - (h)

Round 22 - Sharks - 13th - (a)

Round 23 - Knights - 12th - (h)

Round 24 - Sea Eagles - 3rd - (a)

Round 25 - Broncoes - 7th- (h)

Round 26 - Eels - 8th - (a)

So of all these teams only the Knights and Sharks are placed lower than us in the table. Fortunately we get to play the Knights twice. So we have to beat them both times to stand a chance. We also likely have to beat the Roosters so we need our next two games to be wins.

So lets say we can beat the Knights twice, and get wins against the Sharks and Roosters, thats four wins in hand - we need to find three more - looks tough as we have to play the improving Eels twice as well as the 2nd place Panthers, the 3rd place Sea Eagles, 5th place Titans and the Storm, again.

I would say Broncoes and Rabbits are winnable - so that means we need at least one more win and Titans at home is where I am going to hang my hat. Although splitting our games with the Eels would also help.

Dragons are a scary prospect

I am very worried about the Warriors prospects this weekend. Seymour will not be playing and will be out another 4 weeks with a minor fracture. This means we will be starting Maloney and Isaac John in the halves up against the best team in the competition. This is far from ideal.

On the flip side Mannering, Luck and Vatuvei will all start. This should give us some hope.

Considering the pulverisation the team received last week at the hands of the Tigers I am keeping my expectations extremely low.