Rugby League: Warriors primed for Shark attacks

By Peter Jessup

The Auckland Warriors will need a massive defensive effort to hold out the table-topping Cronulla Sharks at Ericsson Stadium tonight, the battle of two dominating forward packs the key.

The Warriors have improved out of sight in that department, everything from their tackling style through defensive patterns and commitment showing advance.

In the last four games they've had one bad half, against Canberra. Coach Mark Graham has demanded a Canterbury/Balmain/Brisbane-like performance tonight and the players are ready to give it.

Second rower Ali Lauitiiti admits he was part of the problem in the games where the Warriors played well for 20 minutes then slacked off to let in two tries in the next two.

Now he reckons he's part of the improvement and thanks both Graham and assistant Mike McClennan for individual coaching and the Aussies in the side for introducing some talk on the field that has helped to fill holes in the line.

"Mark asked us to be honest with each other. Now we look each other in the eye and it's like a challenge to see if you're ready and up to it.

"And we talk a lot more, telling each other not to switch off." Graham has asked them to knock the Cronulla pack backwards in the tackle, to win the ruck, and there was determination to do that, Lauitiiti said.

His form has been "all right" he says of recent off-the-bench efforts after an injury earlier in the season. "I have lots to work on, running different lines and with my tackling, and Mark and Mike are helping me."

Just turned 20, Lauitiiti is perhaps the most elusive man in the squad.

At drills, he can drop tackling team-mates like no one else and his try-scoring record close to the line bears out how hard it is to stop a guy who can make the top half of his body go one way and the bottom half the other.

He's a big part of the Warriors plans and is very happy about that, content with a life that is lots of football and with plenty of time to work and socialise through his church the Otahuhu Assembly of God. With father Magele and mum Finaugu and four sisters, his home is pleasantly full and he's not keen to move anywhere.

No pretentiousness, just a happy acceptance of what God gave him and how he can use it, like the ability to buy his dad a new car and mum some new furniture once he got his first bonus cheque.

The feeling in the Warriors camp is good, Lauitiiti said, and they have every reason to believe after the effort against Brisbane that they can match Cronulla. The crowd calls in recent home games have lifted them, he said, hoping for more tonight. And he had no fears about the Shark pack: "They're big, but not as big as us."

Graham has also asked them to ensure they complete their sets of six, particularly the likes of those they failed to nail in Brisbane's try zone last week. The defensive improvement had to come, he felt.

"We've been working hard on it all year, technique, body position, keeping it up for 80 minutes. Their pack is mobile, the intensity will be enormous. We can't afford to go to sleep."

Talite Liava'a ruled himself out after training yesterday, telling the coach his reconstructed knee wasn't up to it. He is replaced on the bench by Shane Endacott, whose calf tear was passed as healed by the medics.

Cronulla trained at Carlaw Park last night.

They have a 5-3 record over the Warriors including a 20-8 victory last year and are on course to record their best-ever season in round play, their 28 points just six short of their highest-ever 34 and with six games to go.

The unbeaten Auckland South side play Wellington in the national provincial competition curtainraiser.

From Sydney, Balmain's board was to meet overnight to consider two merger options, Wests or Parramatta, with a recommendation to merge with one or the other to go before a vote of the 91-year-old club's members on July 27.

Auckland Warriors: Lee Oudenryn, Odell Manuel, Boycie Nelson, Nigel Vagana, Sean Hoppe, John Simon (c), Stacey Jones, Joe Vagana, Robert Mears, Terry Hermansson, Logan Swann, Ali Lauitiiti, Jason Death; interchange Shane Endacott, Peter Lewis, Tony Tatupu, Jerry Seu Seu.

Cronulla Sharks: David Peachey, Colin Best, Andrew Ettingshausen (c), Paul Mellor, Brett Howland, Adam Dykes, Mitch Healey, Andrew Pierce, Dean Treister, Martin Lang, Sean Ryan, Chris McKenna, Nick Graham; interchange Nathan Long, Sam Isemonger, Tim Maddison, Preston Campbell.

Referee Sean Hampstead. Kick-off 7.30pm.