Returning Troops a mixed blessing

Tate, Hohaia, Seymour and Locke are all fit to play against the Storm Saturday night. This is good news but is almost a disaster because they have to shift Ropati out of fullback and Brown back in to the second row when they have both played so well at fullback and centre respectively. Moon, Tupou (hand injury) and John (knee injury) dropped.

Sad to see Isaac John lost for the season as he has been something of a revelation but its great to have the experience of Seymour back in the side to partner Maloney.

The return of Tate, Locke and Hohaia I am just not sure about. Yes they are all quality experienced starters but we have to weigh that against the disruption to what has been a winning unit caused by their return. Cleary knows what he is doing however and there were some tired players after last weeks heroics so we have to bank that the freshness of the returning senior players can galvanise the side to lift against what will be a very challenging Storm side.

Am looking forward to the Storm game Saturday where I will be joining the Wellington Warrior at Mt Smart once more. My only worry is that the TAB has placed the Warriors as favourites for this match. That is never a good sign. Particularly when this is a full strength Storm side who smashed us last time we played them. We have to hope that pyshologically the Storm just aren't up for this game which will be played in the cold and wet at Mt Smart (forecast is rain for game time again).

I would say right now Maloney and Lewis Brown are battling for Warriors player of the year honours.

In transfer news it looks like Matai is keen to join the Warriors for next season so that should give us even more depth.

Everything is looking bright for the Warriors. Only problem is that it is at times like these that the wheels have in the past come off. Lets hope thats not the case this week!

Awesome defensive win

Well that was a big time win for the Warriors. With the ref putting them under seemingly endless repeat sets in their own red zone for the entire second half they managed to keep Penrith out. Nice work and its one win closer to the playoffs. With this kind of form we can start thinking about finishing in the top 6.

This setup with Brown in the centres and Ropati at the back is producing some great performances and some big wins. Isaac John looks like he may have a knee injury which should hopefully be covered by Seymour's return. As for Hohaia, I don't know if he is a starter right now, even if fit.

Great trio of wins for the Warriors now the run home

So three nice wins in a row for the Warriors. The most recent an awesome performance smashing of the Eels at Mt Smart in the pouring rain. I was there to watch and although I really like the view from the lower eastern its not much fun to sit in the continuous rain and cold for three hours.

I like Lewis Brown in the centres. I think he is a good option there to produce line breaks with his speed and power. He can also rotate into the middle for hit ups when required. There is alot of interchangeability developing in the squad. Born out of necessity due to the horrible run of injuries the team has suffered. When will Seymour return?

Anyway the Herald is pegging 30 pts as the cut off for the playoffs. I tend to think with the Storm out of the equation 28 points would be enough. Mid round we sit on 20 points. So either way we need 4 or 5 games out a remaining nine. Looking back on my earlier post 12 games out about the run home we have managed to win all three of our games so far. Nice. So the remaining games look like this:

Round 18 - Panthers - 2nd - (a)

Round 19 - Storm - 16th (=about 4th) -(h)

Round 20 - Rabbitohs - 7th - (a)

Round 21 - Titans - 5th - (h)

Round 22 - Sharks - 14th - (a)

Round 23 - Knights - 12th - (h)

Round 24 - Sea Eagles - 6th - (a)

Round 25 - Broncoes - 8th- (h)

Round 26 - Eels - 11th - (a)

This is looking feasible. We only have to win half or just over half our games. Sharks, Knights and Eels should be automatic wins if we are half way serious about a playoff run and can maintain consistency in our form with players returning from injury to inject some added firepower.

So thats leaves us looking for one or two more wins to lock in the playoffs. Today would be a great game if we could pick up a win it would put us into really serious contention. However its likely no more than a 50/50 proposition at best. I do think we can win two out of our four games v the Rabs, Titans, Sea Eagles and Broncoes. Any two will do.

I think the great thing about this years comp for the Warriors is none of the teams look that scary. The Storm on their day are terminators, but we don't have to worry about them this year. So that leaves what to my mind are marginal contenders in the likes of the Dragons, Panthers and Sea Eagles. If our squad was fit I think we are good enough to join a top four with those three teams. Other teams have had their moments, in particular Souths and the Tigers but none have really established consistency. This is the time of the season to do it and without wanting to get too excited if we play our cards right we could be this seasons Eels.

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.

New look Warriors side next year

Well that loss to the Tigers was so bad I am going to pretend that it didn't happen. Seymour's injury is apparently not serious (knee bruise) so hopefully next week we will have Maloney and Seymour both starting and we need the direction. We also need Vatuvei back pretty desperately to add some strike power.

I don't think this season is a total write off yet but its starting to look like the end of an era at the Warriors. Price will be retired next season. Wade Mac has been sold. Tate is unlikely to re-sign with the Warriors as he wants to go back to Queensland.

This article discusses what kind of a hole this leaves in the Warriors team. In fact with the acquisition of Inu and Mateo - the Warriors have adequate cover at centre, prop and fullback.

So what to do with the gaping space in our salary cap. Acquire a megastar seems to be the undercurrent - a game breaking hooker for example. The fact the Storm are going to have to carry out a dramatic financial restructure means there may be some mega talent on the market and the Warriors are one of the few teams with the legitimate cap space (there will be more scrutiny next year after the Storm experience) to spend big. Names being suggested include Inglis and Cam Smith.

This article from the SMH touches on the same issues - with Melbourne Storm hardman Brett White being the name in the frame for the Warriors.

In addition apparently Price's heel situation continues to be so bad he is seeking second medical opinions from overseas specialists in a last ditch attempt to get on the field this year.

So what could a 2011 Warriors side look like - presuming no injuries. Lets start by assuming that they sign no one further.

1. Hohaia

2. Vatuvei

3. Ropati

4. Locke

5. Inu

6. Maloney

7. Seymour

8. Rapira

9. Packer

10. Heremaia

11.Mannering

12. Mateo

13. Luck

14. Lillyman

15. Henderson

16. Ta'ai

17. Brown

And we actually have even more depth beyond this already. With the addition of a $400k plus megastar (Cam Smith anybody?) - this team could have serious potential in 2011 if it stays healthy.

Real world issues

Seymour returns and Warriors win strong at home

Great win for the Warriors last night to halt the slide towards oblivion.

Watching those three losses in a row was hard to take. Injuries played there part with Seymour, Price, Mannering and Vatuvei missing - but the balance of the squad had some really bad performances. I have said it before and I will say it again - I don't mind losing. If I did, supporting the Warriors would be unbearable. But what I cannot accept and what this franchise should not accept from its players is utter and total capitulation. Those losses against the Storm, Panthers and Raiders were a progressive descent down the tubes with each loss worse than the last. This decline must be arrested as soon as possible and last night the signs were there that this ship can be turned around.

My guess is Price will not play at all this season. He might make a late season cameo or even suddenly become available for the playoffs but basically the team is going to have to manage without him. Mannering is due back next week but his injury must be pretty serious when you consider he basically has been out since incurring the injury eight weeks before round 1 (thats 18 weeks of recovery time and he is only now available?). Vatuvei limps off again last night and his injury looks bad as well. M and V may be both out for the bulk of the season at this rate.

So we are left with Seymour to provide leadership and direction to what has been looking a rudderless squad. And last night he showed that he can be that guy with the Warriors looking much more assured generally, taking a calmer less helter skelter approach and much better last tackle options.

Maloney looked much more comfortable partnering Seymour than having to manage the playmaking and kicking duties on his own.

My favourite player of the last few rounds and putting in another sterling performance last night - Ukama Tai. He is Mr Effective for the Warriors forward pack at present. Much improved performance by Locke as well and I thought Ropati also made a big contribution.

Interesting stories out there re Wade Mac. He has been dropped to reserve grade for the last two weeks. I still think he is probably worthy of the bench and he provides useful cover should yet more injuries in the back line occur. But he has clearly lost his spark after knee surgery. He is not the same player he was. Interestingly it appears Wade Mac and Price are two of the Warriors highest paid players. Price is going and if Wade Mac were to go as well this would leave a lot of cap open.

This brings me to the signings of Mateo and Inu. Both these players have the reputation of being freakishly talented but lacking in the hard work and application department. Cleary has to know this already and if he can draw the best out of them - these are fantastic additions to the squad. On the other hand the Warriors is a bad place to be for those who are less than true believers in the cause. Psychological fragility is this clubs calling card. We need players who work hard and never take a game off. Campion, Price, and Cleary are all examples of this. Toopi, Lau'atiti and Sione Faumuaina are all examples of fantastically talented players at the Warriors who just weren't mentally committed all the time for the good of the team. Sometimes these guys looked like they would rather be somewhere else. This is a culture and a mental outlook that needs to be ruthlessly avoided and I will be watching Mateo and Inu closely to see what their work ethic is like next year before I put my hopes on them being the saviours of the franchise.

And finally Lebron James James James James James. Another exit from the NBA playoffs. This time in pathetic fashion after the Cavs have been the NBAs dominant team for the entire season. Not good enough. Some serious soul searching is required. Iverson, Malone, Barkley, Ewing, Stockton - these were all great players. But no rings means they cannot hope to approach the status of Jordan/Kobe/Magic. Lebron needs to perform when it counts. You can't blame it all on him - after all its a team game. The organisation he chooses to join at this juncture of free agency needs to be structured around him to produce a winning unit. But the kind of capitulation we saw this week is unacceptable by the standards of performance he has demonstrated himself capable of many times before. Lebron has to ask himself - can he accept being just a super talented player but an overall loser like Tmac - or does he want to join the pantheon of the greatest of all time.

BOOM!

Yes that is the sound of the the Melbourne Storm imploding. Stripped of their 2007 and 2009 titles and basically disqualified from the 2010 season. These guys are screwed after systematically scheming to bypass the salary cap for years.

To cap it off we will be playing them this weekend. Unscripted drama. It surely cannot hurt the Warriors chances.

In other news Clinton "toops" Toopi has made the starting lineup for the Titans. But sorry toops you are way overshadowed by the most explosive penalty ever handed out for salary cap rorts.

Bye bye Storm your franchise is finished for the foreseeable future.

And if all that is not enough shocking news for you - Eric Watson has broken his back whilst ski-ing in Switzerland. He is apparently alive, not paralysed and should make a full recovery.

Injury crisis continues - Locke dropped

Well this injury crisis is like a cloud of volcanic ash that just
keeps on hanging around. When will we ever get to start Price,
Mannering, Vatuvei and Seymour at the same time. Luck and Ropati are
back but thats cold comfort as we head towards the storm. Locke has
been dropped, and lets face it he has been pretty poor the last few
weeks. At a minimum we need to be tough in defence. Its the only way
this team can survive right now.

Abysmal, ghastly, dire and embarrassing

Welcome back to the future. Penrith 40, Warriors 12 - at Mt Smart. The Yo yo Warriors are back in town. How bad was that performance? Well lets put it this way, Penrith did not even have to play that well to be up 22 nil inside of 20 minutes.

Too much dropped ball. Too many stupid mistakes. Too many poor last play options. Too many missed tackles. Not enough pride. You can't pin this on one player. This is the pent up result of all the top stars having been out for so many weeks. Its just not good enough. We need to some leadership back in the side asap.

Second half there were hints of a fight back but that got snuffed out pretty quickly.

The only good thing that happened today was Man U beating City to crawl back into the premier league title race after Chelsea's surprise loss to Spurs.

Falling behind in a great season

Hey guys sorry I have been falling behind on the blog. We just moved house and the broadband only just got activated after almost 3 weeks! A real pain but at least now I am back online and MySky is in effect so its all good from here on in.

And how good is this Warriors season shaping up to be. I note the disappointing loss to Manly - which I attended at Mt Smart. Good fun and really tight game. An arm wrestle. Lack of strike power was notable in the absence of Vatuvei. Tupou showed promise but he is not the finished article just yet. I sat in the Western stand and it was pretty cool but I think I like the Eastern stand better. Let me know your thoughts.

As for the game vs the Dogs - my goodness the NRL and the Warriors in particular deliver an entertaining product sometimes. What more could you ask for than tied at 24 in the final minute with a miracle try off a Lewis Brown kick to win the game for the boys. Unbelievable. Lewis Brown is a star in the making - and he is a great centre/2nd rower in the Mannering mould. And despite the no doubt excessive attention after a few hot performances - Maloney is starting to make me believe he is the real deal.

This team has a lot of potential, especially when you start considering the injury report. Its almost a whole team worth of players waiting in the wings. Cleary may end up with some real selection battles if these guys all get fit. For example when Seymour is fit how will he restructure a halves combo that seems quite effective at present? Moon looks most likely to be dropped but he shows some real signs of improvement as well. But what about the Hiho/WadeMac scenario. you can't drop Hohaia on current form so how do we put this jigsaw together if Seymour is good enough to start? Depth is a good thing so lets hope all these guys can be fit soon.

Tupou will start in place of Vatuvei this Sunday vs the Panthers at Mt Smart - he is a good prospect, but he is a long way from being the beast.

Injury Report

Steve Price - heel infection - ever? round 7?

Mannering - hamstring - round 7 maybe?

Vatuvei - hamstring - round 7 maybe?

Ropati - hamstring - round 7 maybe?

Seymour - broken thumb - round 9?

Michael Luck - broken right index finger - round 6

Henderson - knee injury - made it to the bench in round 5 and will be on the bench again in rnd 6

Sione Louisi - leg infection

Isaac John - foot

Shawn Johnson - ankle

Elijah Taylor - serious knee injury - maybe out till 2011

I also think at least one player - Locke - is carrying injuries that have not been openly admitted. In a recent interview he said that he was having problems with his shoulder rotator cuff - such that he had difficulty raising his arms to catch the high ball. I also wonder if he doesn't have a knee injury as well. His form has not been that great so far but he has alot of talent if he is fully fit.

This is Clearys team for the match v the Panthers this weekend - interesting to see him start WadeMac at fullback with Hohaia in the halves pushing Moon to the centres:

1 WADE McKINNON
2 KEVIN LOCKE
3 BRENT TATE (c)
4 JOEL MOON
5 BILL TUPOU
6 LANCE HOHAIA
7 JAMES MALONEY
8 SAM RAPIRA
9 AARON HEREMAIA
10 JESSE ROYAL
11 LEWIS BROWN
12 BEN MATULINO
13 JACOB LILLYMAN
Interchange:
14 IAN HENDERSON
15 JEREMY LATIMORE
16 RUSSELL PACKER
17 UKUMA TA’AI

Most entertaining Warriors game ever?

What can I say. I feel as if my brain has exploded. A 48-16 win for the Warriors away to the Broncoes at Suncorp stadium in front of 30,000 plus fans - most of whom seemed to be Warriors supporters. Most points ever conceded by Brisbane at Suncorp.

A hat trick of tries for Maloney who only narrowly missed out on a multi-game suspension in front of the judiciary mid-week. He also scored 28 total points matching Ivan Cleary's single game point scoring record for the Warriors. Maloney may never reach quite these heights again but he is a real find and more than just great cover whilst Seymour is injured.

After early tries to each of Vatuvei and Mannering both were lost to what look to be serious hamstring injuries after about 20 minutes. This is a major loss but the scale of the acheivement in the win overshadows these apparently serious injuries. The surviving Warriors players put in one of the all time great performances for the club and the jersey and the fans. Maloney was an obvious stand out but his points should not cause fans to ignore the strong performances right throughout the side with Tate, Hiho, McKinnon, Ropati and Locke in particular all contributing big time. The forwards were also solid for the whole game - Packer is a big unit.

What more is there to say - the physios will be working big time this week to try and field a side next week with players like Locke, WadeMac and Heremia also apparently injured during the game but playing on. No doubt there will be a drop off after such a spectacular result but as a fan you cannot ask for much more than this.

Amazing entertainment and spectacular play by the Warriors.

I am exhausted after watching that game - amazing to think the Broncoes led 16-14 shortly after halftime - that means the Warriors scored 34 unanswered points in the second half.

Halves crisis averted as Maloney found not guilty

Wow great news with Maloney being found not guilty by the judiciary of a dangerous throw vs Sharks.

This means Cleary is left with his second option at halfback available - as does not have to look further down the depth chart or restructure the team entirely. However it will be interesting to see how Hiho is used.

Warriors win big over Sharks at Mt Smart

Well first off - what a great game last night. The Warriors storming out of the blocks to go 16-0 up and despite wavering in the run in to halftime coming back strong to win the game 30-16.

Big bummer of the year is the thumb injury to Seymour that ruled him out of last nights match and may well see him out for 6-8 weeks. This is the nightmare come to fruition for the team because most opponents will be a lot harder to beat that the miserable Sharkies. As we saw last night with a number of conversions missed in his absence, Seymour is far and away the number one kicking option in addition to being critical at halfback. Without points from conversions we will have to score 1.5 times as many tries to end up in the same place. The Warriors concealed the Seymour injury in the leadup to last nights game in the hope it would throw off the Sharks gameplan. Thats all good but I was pretty disappointed to only find out as the teams ran onto the park that Seymour was not starting. There is a hint in this article from the SMH that maybe the thumb injury did not happen during last weeks game vs the Titans but in more controversial off-field circumstances - does anyone have anything on this?

I did however have a really good time attending the match last night. We decided to travel to and from the game by public transport which was a roll of the dice but it worked out ok. We started off with a bus from New Lynn bus depot. Thank goodness that place is about to be demolished, its even more desolate that I remember. The bus wound its way through Owairaka and 3 Kings before rocking up right outside the entrance to Gate C exactly on time. How convenient.

I have been away so long I have never sat in the new eastern stand and it was great, good facilities and seating. It was easy and quick to get beers and the view from the stand was excellent.

The match itself was great fun. Outside of a knockon from the initial kickoff - for the first 20 minutes or so the Warriors were utterly dominant and at 16-0 I thought maybe this was going to be a 50 point blowout win. The Warriors had a number of line breaks including a few great runs by Tate, Hiho, Locke and Lewis Brown who really impressed me all round. A couple of the line breaks happened right in front of our seats and seeing these guys chew up the metres with the entire Sharks pack chasing them was really fun to watch.

But then the dreaded pre-halftime drop off occurred with several soft tries being conceded. This collapse was so total that the Sharkies were able to climb all the way back to 16-14 at halftime and all the way to 16-16 with an early penalty in the second half.

A word has to be said about the quality of the refereeing. It was terrible. Please NRL can the Warriors get a game with a decent ref please? At one point a number of dodgy decisions stacked up (if there are two men in the tackle its a strip bro) to make it look at times like the officiating team had money on the Sharks.

So going into the second half the Warriors still had work to do but they managed to stabilise and dominate the second half through repeat sets, a low error rate and solid defending. The continuing bad refereeing decisions didn't help but the Warriors were assisted by the fact that the Sharks are ghastly. We can feel pretty happy that this is not the club we have to support. They are miserably pathetic. Trent Barrett had nothing.

Vatuvei was his usual powerhouse self - seemingly unstoppable from 10 out. However he needs to ensure he is not the channel through which soft tries are scored in his corner. This has happened two weeks in a row now. The Beast is a legend but in a similar vein to Lomu he needs to defend strong too. But don't get me wrong - he is a megastar right now and he does his work when needed - when he takes the ball up the middle he takes it with power.

There was some minor tension in the second half but the result was hardly in doubt and finally Rapira sealed the game with a barging try late on and it was all over.

So overall a good win that was well needed. The loss of Seymour is a real worry but we just have to move on and assess the alternatives in his absence. Maybe Hiho in the halves is an option? Not all teams we play will be as poor as the Sharks. Teams like the Dragons, Storm and Eels will not give up 16 point starts and will blow us off the park if we lapse like we have done in the late first half of the first two games.

It was really fun to be at Mt Smart - checking out the atmosphere and the various members of the Warriors entourage. Notable gear bag and water boys spotted during the game included Ruben Wiki, Ian Henderson and Jerry Seuseu. Steve Price was also a prominent presence on the sideline coming out at the end of the game to congratulate the team on a job well done. The word is that the 36 year old Price is in full training and may be in the starting line up for next weeks game away to the Broncoes. This is good news.

Feel free to place your comments on the game or anything I've said by clicking on the comments button below.

Lets hope the winning continues for the Warriors next week in a tough away game in Brisbane.

Only hours to go till season 2010 kicks off at Mt Smart

Not long now till the Warriors home game vs Sharks. I will be heading off to Mt Smart shortly.

Lots of articles in the various press today focussing on Mannering's first game of the season and first game as captain. We can expect alot of attention on him from the Sharks. Frankly he is not the key player for the Warriors in this game - his contribution is of course important as his leadership as captain but we need crisp energetic performances in the back line to win.

Seymour vs his old club should add a bit of spice and I would expect a) that the Sharks will try and smash him and b) that he will be amped to beat his old club. So an interesting sub-plot there. Seymour played well last week and kicked very well at goal - lets hope this continues.

To win this game the Warriors need to shut down Trent Barrett and maintain defensive concentration for the whole 80 minutes and in particular the last 10 of each half.

The TAB has the Warriors as shortening favourites in the live betting market ($1.42 as of right now) so lets hope thats right.

Mannering back for first home game of 2010 vs Sharks

Well the first home game of the year looms against the Sharks at Mt Smart. This one has to be a must win game with the Sharks one of the few teams in the comp the pundits rank below the Warriors. Seymour up against his old club should be interesting - he will know many of the players well. In addition the Sharks now boast star power in the form of Trent Barrett who used to be awesome but is getting on a bit.

Anyway it shapes up as a very winnable game at home in front of the Mt Smart massive. TAB has the Warriors as firm favourites which is always a bit of a worry.

I have my tix for the 7.30pm kick off Saturday night (Eastern Stand Lower section 31) and I hope to see you all there. After the game I will post a match report and hopefully some candid photos.