By PETER JESSUP
Warriors coach Daniel Anderson doesn't know what effect the State of Origin will have on tomorrow's game against the Roosters at Aussie Stadium.
"P. J. [Marsh] played very well for us after Origin, Campo [Kevin Campion] didn't play at all," he recalls.
Four Roosters will be backing up from the Origin game - Craig Fitzgibbon, Michael Crocker and Chris Flannery in the forwards and Justin Hodges from the backs.
"They're mostly young and at that age they think they're bulletproof, so I'm not banking on it making any difference to their game at all," Anderson said.
But he's hoping they might be mentally tired, and that one of them will make a mistake under pressure that might give his side a break.
The Warriors will have to score, because the table-topping Roosters are averaging 23 points a game.
But scoring will not be easy - the Roosters have the best defensive record in the competition, allowing in an average 12.8 points a game.
Anderson does not believe he will have to motivate his side, still smarting at its position on the lower end of the ladder.
"They're the premiership favourites and the competition leaders. We like playing them."
There was some gain in following the exact same routine they did for the Souths game last Sunday - same flights, same hotels, same training times, same kick-off time at the same ground.
The team is almost the same.
Centre Tony Martin pulled out yesterday after a long-term knee strain flared up. His replacement is Sione Faumuina.
"We rate ourselves a chance, of course we do," Anderson said.
"We're confident we can prise teams open. It's a matter of being motivated and composed."
He took some heart from the performance against Souths.
"We toughed it out each side of half time. The defence was motivated in the second half, the kicking game was good, the outside backs were more motivated."
But two of those outside backs, Martin and the suspended Francis Meli, are gone.
Anderson expects that with some of the ball-players such as Meli and Clinton Toopi out, the team will again take a more grinding approach.
"When we're motivated in defence, teams find it hard to score against us and I hope that will be the case on Sunday."
The Roosters lose impact around the ruck without Craig Wing. But Brett Finch and Brad Fittler offer them a halves combination equal to any, working behind a pack that can match any.
Fitzgibbon was a stand-out in Origin, making 48 tackles and 18 carries to gain 188m - nearly 10m every time he ran with the ball.
On Sunday it's on the cards he'll become the fourth forward in the history of the Aussie premiership to top 900 points.
He has scored 31 tries and 383 goals since he started playing in 1998 for Illawarra, and at age 26 can be expected to challenge Bernie Purcell, 1152, Wayne Bartrim, 1158 and Canberra's David Furner who is highest-scoring forward at 1218.
The Warriors have a size advantage out wide.
But what is going to happen up front makes it hard to see them being able to employ it.
There can be no expectation they will win this. They might do well to avoid an embarrassment.
* The Australian Rugby League has bowed to fan reaction and the opposition of the Queensland Rugby League by agreeing to review the use of the "golden point" rule in State of Origin.
After Wednesday's 9-8 result, the board wants to see the effect of the golden point on the outcome of the series before making any decision.
Origin One was watched by 953,000 viewers in Sydney, 805,000 in Brisbane, 1,169,000 in rural NSW and Queensland and 114,244 in Victoria and South Australia.
WARRIORS
Aussie Stadium 4.35pm tomorrow Brent Webb
Manu Vatuvei
Vinnie Anderson
Sione Faumuina
Henry Fa'afili
Stacey Jones
Lance Hohaia
Jerry Seuseu
Paul Dezolt
Richard Villasanti
Karl Temata
A Guttenbeil (c)
Wairangi Koopu
ROOSTERS
Chris Walker
Todd Byrne
Ryan Cross
Justin Hodges
Gavin Lester
Brad Fittler (c)
Brett Finch
Peter Cusack
Michael Crocker
Craig Fitzgibbon
Stuart Webb
Ned Catic
Luke Ricketson
WARRIORS: Mark Tookey, Iafeta Paleaaesina, Thomas Leuluai, Evarn Tuimavave
ROOSTERS: Anthony Tupou, Chad Robinson, Jason Cayless, Chris Flannery
Rugby League: Anderson hoping for Origin blues
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