Warriors storm into final with new belief

Often in the past the Warriors have been on the wrong end of turning points - like a learner driver at a busy Auckland intersection.

And despite their dominance in the second half of the NRL preliminary final on Saturday night, for a while it looked like they might again be rebuffed.

As the match built to a climax in the last 20 minutes the tension was unbearable in AAMI stadium, both teams sensing that the next try would clinch the game.

"I wasn't worried, said Ivan Cleary, "at least we were ahead. We had to be patient."

After forcing two repeat sets Matt Duffie found space in the in goal where there was none, to elude Manu Vatuvei. Minutes later, Vatuvei snared a perfect bomb, only for the Melbourne Storm to stop the giant winger from 4m out. In the 68th minute a Lewis Brown "try" was rubbed out for a fractional Kevin Locke knock on earlier in the movement.

It was fitting that tireless captain Simon Mannering engineered the final - and ultimate - turning point of the game. In the 76th minute, after receiving the ball on the 22, he charged to within centimetres of the try line, dragging in four Storm defenders.

His effort gave Shaun Johnson the space to work his magic on the next play and put Lewis Brown over for the match winner.

"He has done some special things this year," said Mannering of Johnson. "It was great to see him deliver like that when it mattered."

That essentially was the point; when it truly mattered the entire Warriors team delivered. In their biggest game of the year they came up with a true 80-minute performance. Errors were at a minimum and it was hard to find anyone who had a poor game.

Brown and Vatuvei were immense carrying the ball, almost guaranteeing the Warriors 20m at the start of every set.

The awesome foursome up front delivered, with Russell Packer in particular bringing raw energy while Ben Matulino bent the line at will.

"Winning the arm wrestle is not something we have been renowned for in the past but I always knew it we had it in us," said Micheal Luck.

"Melbourne tested us in the middle and we passed. It was a huge effort and one we will have to replicate [on Sunday]."

During the second spell the visitors regularly carved 60-70m from their sets, pinning the Storm in their own territory.

"We were pretty controlled," said coach Ivan Cleary, "Especially in the second half. We had to be patient and never wavered from our plan."

Last week the Warriors gave up only two points to the Tigers in the second spell; on Saturday they shut out the Storm completely in the last 40 minutes.

"Our defence has gone up another level," said Mannering.

After disposing of the Tigers and Storm in successive weeks, Manly will be a even tougher prospect on Sunday. They are the best all-round team in the competition and the young halves pairing of Daly Cherry-Evans and Keiran Foran seem to get better with every week.

"They have set a high standard this year," says Cleary. "We will go in as underdogs again but that's the way it is."

The Warriors have a poor record against Manly, having managed just seven wins in 20 matches since 1995.

Kiwi centre Steve Matai could miss the match through suspension and will join an inglorious list of players like Carl Webb and Cameron Smith that have been rubbed out of grand finals after being suspended. APNZ