By PETER JESSUP
If making the playoffs was highlight of the Warriors' history, then losing 18-30 to lowly North Queensland yesterday was the lowlight, the anti-climax of all time.
It was a lacklustre performance, a half-effort, some of the side just not turning up to play and skipper Stacey Jones admitting as much.
He did not feel it was the big effort in Melbourne that cost them, rather that having one eye on the playoffs next weekend, and the thought that they could score easily against the Cowboys resulted in them over-burning with excitement.
"We did some silly things and turned the ball over too much. It was frustrating and disappointing," Jones said.
The second defeat to the Cowboys this season leaves the Warriors in eighth place and with a sudden-death match with the high-flying Eels at Parramatta on Sunday afternoon.
It is not the worst playoff option - Warriors coach Daniel Anderson is familiar with the style the Eels will bring and how they will approach the game.
Immediately after yesterday's loss he was plotting the downfall of individual Eels, promising his players loads of detail on their opposites.
They beat the Eels 29-18 here in July, and lost 24-30 in Sydney in April. There will, hopefully, be plenty of Kiwi support.
The Knights in Newcastle might have been tougher.
A bigger loss might be due to injury. In-form hooker Monty Betham was taken off after 58 minutes with a suspected broken ankle.
And co-captain Kevin Campion left the game in the early minutes with a hamstring strain. He rated himself some chance of playing next weekend, but Betham's season is over. Coming back into contention are Ivan Cleary and David Myles, with Jason Death also up for selection.
"I thought we were out-enthused and out-muscled," Anderson said, summing things up neatly in seven words.
He agreed that Campion's loss had cost in tidying up the ruck area.
"We didn't want to get down and get dirty, and he's the type of player who does that."
He had tried to rein in the players' enthusiasm this week "but the whole country's been fairly excited." The crowd of 24,568 was the biggest since the inaugural season of 1995.
The final NRL regular season round produced no changes to the positions in the top eight, which means the Sharks and Brisbane will kick off the playoffs in Sydney on Friday night.
Parramatta edged past the Roosters 27-26 at the Sydney Football Stadium yesterday; the Sharks ran out easy winners against Wests Tigers, 36-12; Newcastle ensured they finished third with a 60-18 thrashing of Penrith at Marathon Stadium; and Brisbane secured fifth spot when they ended a six-match losing streak with a 42-14 win over the Northern Eagles, who were farewelling long-time servant Geoff Toovey.
At Bruce Stadium, Canberra coach Mal Meninga ended his 16-year association with the club on a positive note as the Raiders produced a 32-6 win over Melbourne.
Kiwi hooker Richard Swain again led the Storm's defence, becoming the first player to top 1000 tackles in a season.
He was 48 shy of the milestone before the start, but went on to pull off a staggering 52 tackles.
HOW THEY SQUARE OFF
The schedule for the finals (prefix denotes ladder position):
Friday, first qualifying final: 4-Sharks v 5-Brisbane Broncos at Toyota Park (9.40 pm NZ time). Head to head in 2001: Brisbane 35-16 home, Sharks 24-16 home.
Saturday, second qualifying final: 3-Newcastle Knights v 6-Sydney Roosters at Marathon Stadium (7.40 pm). Head to head: Newcastle 25-18 away, Roosters 18-8 away. Third qualifying final, 2-Bulldogs v 7-St George-Illawarra at Sydney Showground (9.40 pm). Head to head: Dragons 26-14 away, Bulldogs 24-22 away)
Sunday, fourth qualifying final: 1-Parramatta Eels v 8-New Zealand Warriors at Parramatta Stadium (4.05 pm). Head to head: Parramatta 30-24 home, Warriors 29-18 home.
Rugby League: Warriors hit low leading into playoffs
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