NRL: Next five games loom as crucial

Kurt Gidley has helped the Knights to a stronger-than-expected start. Photo / Getty Images

The Warriors expected to be breathing more rarefied air near the top of the NRL table at this stage of the season.

They were rated third favourites this season behind 2008 finalists Manly and Melbourne and genuine contenders for their first NRL title since the club was born in 1995.

With one-third of the season gone, however, the Warriors were 10th on the table, with only one win and a draw in their past six matches.

As serious as that sounds, it's certainly not that grievous. They have lost two of their last three by a solitary point and drawn the other.

"We don't feel like we are far off," says Warriors coach Ivan Cleary. "Our defence has been improving but our offence needs to improve.

"It's like a golf game - you might be able to drive well but you can't putt. We are just trying to get the whole game together.

"The last three years, we have always got to the halfway point behind the eight-ball and this year, it would be nice if we weren't. That means the next five games are pretty important."

The next five all loom as winnable, given they are against teams largely in the middle or lower reaches of the table.

The NRL is so close, that's unrealistic (only the Bulldogs had won their last five heading into this weekend's games but they were all against lowly sides) but three wins has to be the minimum to get their season back on track.

North Queensland CowboysWith only one win in their first five games, there were plenty of worried Cowboys ready to kick their trusty steed.

Three wins in their last four, though, including victories over the Sea Eagles and Dragons, have eased the tension.

It's come largely as a result of the resurgent form of Australian halfback Johnathan Thurston.

A night after scoring a double for the Kangaroos in the Anzac test, the two-time Dally M winner (2005 and 2007) had a field day against the Dragons, scoring a hat-trick and landing four goals in the 24-20 win against the competition high-fliers.

The Warriors haven't done very well against the Cowboys of late, winning only three of the last 10 matches between the two sides. Significantly, however, those came in the last three matches at Mt Smart Stadium.

Canberra RaidersCanberra have that ability to confound the so-called experts.

They haven't been particularly good for some time but finished sixth last season when they were many people's choice for the wooden spoon.

They aren't travelling all that well this season, with only two wins in eight games, to sit 14th on the table.

But they will fancy themselves against the Warriors, because history tells them they do well in this fixture.

The Raiders have won seven of the eight games played at Canberra Stadium, including the last three.

They also have a trump card in five-eighth Terry Campese, who leads the NRL in try assists (11) and is second in line break assists (8) and has shone since perennial bad boy Todd Carney was shown the door midway through last season.

Wests TigersStatistics, apparently, are like a bikini: what they reveal is suggestive but what they conceal is vital.

Perhaps, but it's hard to go past the fact the Wests Tigers are unbeaten at home this season, yet have failed to win away from the safety of Leichhardt Oval.

In many ways, the Tigers mirror their mercurial playmaker Benji Marshall - ordinary one minute but breathtakingly brilliant the next.

This was perfectly illustrated in the 26-24 win over the Knights, when Marshall turned a horror first-half performance into a match-winning one by orchestrating three tries in 12 minutes and then booting a sideline conversion.

The Warriors will be mindful of that but also take comfort from the fact they have had the wood over the 2005 NRL champions in recent times, winning five of the last six games between the two sides.Cronulla SharksIn the latest insult, Australia's TAB Sportsbet last week listed odds on when, or even if, Cronulla would win another match in 2009.

Some punters might even have put on a lazy tenner at $26 for the Sharks to go through the rest of the season winless.

Like the Warriors, they were supposed to be contenders this season but haven't won since their opening day 18-10 win over the Panthers. That's seven straight defeats before last night's visit to Penrith for the return match.

They have the worst attack in the NRL (13.8 points a game) and rank the worst on tries scored (2.4 a game), metres made (1173m) and errors (14.5).

Coach Ricky Stuart has had his annual feud with former mentor Phil Gould and the club also had their chequered past brought up again following revelations of a group sex incident in 2002.

Adversity either unites or breaks a club: it's up to them to decide which road they take.Newcastle KnightsIf the table was based on the last six rounds, the Knights would be equal top with five wins and a narrow 26-24 loss to a Benji Marshall-inspired Wests Tigers. That form has taken the Knights to third on points differential after last night's comprehensive 38-6 win over the Roosters.

Significantly, their recent wins have largely come against the better sides, including the Titans, Broncos, Dragons, Sea Eagles and Warriors.

Wily coach Brian Smith's rebuilding that started in 2007 is starting to bear fruit and in the likes of Kurt Gidley and Jarrod Mullen, they have the flair to go with the worker bees.

Newcastle beat the Warriors 24-22 in round five and will be difficult again but the Warriors can at least point to the fact they have won the last three games between the two sides at Mt Smart.