By PETER JESSUP
The old owners of the Auckland Warriors backed up their replacements yesterday in the row over the performance of National Rugby League referees and urged fans to tell Bill Harrigan what to do on Sunday at Ericsson Stadium.
"It was just as heartbreaking for us [the ARL board] watching
Monday's game as it was when we owned the team - the only difference is we don't now have to live with the financial nightmare those sorts of upsets bring," said Auckland Rugby League chairman Selwyn Pearson.
He had often felt the Warriors would be seen as a bunch of whingers, endlessly bleating about unfair advantages to the opposition when they lost games as a result of poor refereeing decisions and then complained, Pearson said.
There was also a danger that the players would get a "down" on themselves, fall into a victim mentality, or go soft to avoid trouble with match officials.
"The Leichhardt crowd got the Tigers two points on Monday night - there's no reason why the Ericsson crowd shouldn't do the same against Brisbane on Sunday," he said.
He urged supporters to help the match officials to keep the Broncos back 10m to allow the big Warriors forwards to get on a roll, to alert Harrigan to any dirty play and to lift the home team with plenty of noise.
The Warriors are expected to reinstate centre Ivan Cleary, who is showing no problems after his concussion a fortnight ago, with David Myles returning to the bench.
For Brisbane, utility Phillip Lee cracked a knee at training yesterday and will have a scan on his cruciate ligament today, but is expected to be ruled out. Shaun Berrigan went to hospital with an infected elbow but is expected to play.
The TAB yesterday took even money on both sides, the Warriors paying $1.95 and the Broncos $1.75. Former Sydney City coach and Herald tipster Phil Gould rated it the toughest game of the round to call.
Broncos: Darren Lockyer, Michael Hancock, Ben Ikin, Michael Devere, Wendell Sailor, Kevin Walters (captain), Ben Walker, Petero Civoniceva, Luke Priddis, Shane Webcke, Brad Thorn, Gorden Tallis, Kevin Campion; interchange Phil Lee, Shane Walker, Tonie Carroll, Lote Tuqiri, Harvey Howard, Shaun Berrigan.
