The Warriors say they’re better equipped to stymie the Melbourne Storm if the NRL premiers are in the mood for another magical half of rugby league.
Nobody was more gobsmacked than the Warriors themselves when Craig Bellamy’s team raced 38-0 clear by halftime in their ANZAC Day drubbing.
The 50-10 loss is still on their mind heading into Sunday’s clash in Auckland.
Coach Stephen Kearney describes the first 40 minutes in Melbourne three months ago as like being “hit by a hurricane”.
Even Bellamy referred to it as “surreal” this week when reflecting on a game in which everything that could go right on attack, did so for his team.
Nine Storm players ran for more than 100m through a generous Warriors defence, bursting the Kiwi team’s early-season confidence bubble.
Kearney admits his players weren’t in an ideal mental space that week.
They’d come off their best performance of the season, an upset of then-leaders St George Illawarra, and were defying all expectations by sharing the competition lead through seven rounds.
“It was a good reminder for us of the intensity you need to play at,” Kearney said.
“We learned that when you’re sitting on the table where we are, then teams make sure they bring their best game of footy.
“I don’t think there was anything that they could do wrong in that particular game.”
The Warriors have slipped to seventh, five spots below Melbourne but only two points behind them in a crammed top eight.
Former Storm forward Adam Blair reckons his Warriors are a wiser outfit than in April as they build towards the play-offs.
They’ve had a handful of other heavy losses and are slowly learning how to cope with serious opponents, underlined by their 26-6 drubbing of the Broncos in Brisbane last week.
“We’re a different team from then, without a doubt,” Blair said of the Storm humbling.
“We’ve moved forward in the right direction. We’re playing a good style of football and hopefully we’ll see a similar style to what we played against the Broncos.”
Replicating the offload-heavy approach that was successful in Brisbane may prove difficult, with wet conditions forecast.
Also, the Warriors must overcome a worrying home record, having lost their last three games at Mt Smart Stadium.
STATS THAT MATTER
* The Storm are chasing a record sixth straight win over the Warriors.
* Storm skipper Cameron Smith will play his 30th match against the Warriors, the most by any player.
* The Warriors have failed to reach 15 points in their last five matches against the Storm.
Source: Fox Sports Stats
