The Warriors may have one foot on the plane back to Auckland but Canberra halfback George Williams says his NRL team can’t afford to take them lightly on Sunday.

The Warriors’ hopes of a finals berth ended with last round’s loss to Cronulla and their skipper Roger Tuivasa-Sheck said players were counting the days until they could reunite with their New Zealand-based families they left at home in May.

But Williams said that meant the Warriors, who have won three of their past five games, were a danger in the GIO Stadium match.

“They’ve been great for the competition and I’m sure nothing will change on Sunday,” Williams, the England No.7, said.

“They’ve been playing for each other and we’re preparing like they’re going to bring their best game.”

The Raiders have scored at least 34 points in four of their past five games but Williams said the match that mattered most was the 18-6 loss in the grand final rematch against the Sydney Roosters.

“It was a bump in the road and our second half performance wasn’t good enough but we feel we’ve fixed that,” the 25-year-old said.

“Our attack has been pretty good.”

Canberra are fifth and need Parramatta to slip up to snatch a top-four spot but Williams said all that was in their control was winning their final two games.

“It sounds pretty easy but we’ve got two tough tasks against the Warriors and the Sharks,” he said.

“Ideally we want to finish fourth but we’ve got the belief we can go the long way we have to.”

Williams said that competition on the training paddock was fierce with players desperate to lock in starting positions with the finals looming.

Coach Ricky Stuart will give hooker Siliva Havili some extra game time, with impressive youngster Tom Starling coming off the bench.