Hugh McGahan: Warriors have put in the work - can they deliver?

The Warriors' campaign officially commences today at Ericsson Stadium but it really started back in October when players started to make themselves unavailable (while others made themselves available) for the international Tri-Series against Australia and Great Britain.

It was the road to redemption for the club and commitment to the cause meant sacrifices to prove the same.

The long summer training program, in stark contrast to the previous one, will have its first real test today. A fitness regime was instilled to increase the players' capacity to last the distance physically and, more importantly, mentally.

Fitness has been the Achilles heel for the club, even dating back to its inception in 1995. The standing order for most teams was to wait for the Warriors to tire and you'd get them at the end.

Nevertheless, it is time for the team to show the fruits of their labour (literally) to those who have dedicated a season to venture out to Ericsson and who are desperate to see their team perform as promised.

Today will be easy for the Warriors to warm to the task for a number of reasons.

All teams wish to start the season off well with a win, especially at home. There is an injection of new and experienced talent who will want to prove their acquisition beneficial - Steve Price, Ruben Wiki, Nathan Fien and Todd Byrne. While the Warriors as a team will wish to erase the memories of last season as soon as possible.

However, this Manly team is not as bad as a lot of people are making out and the Warriors know exactly how good they are.

Last season they convincingly beat the Warriors at home and have enjoyed a very good record at Ericsson.

Manly have been written off as a contender for the premiership and is at short odds for the wooden spoon along with West Tigers. I cannot understand some of the logic behind this assumption.

Manly have strengthened in the forwards better than most with experienced Ben Kennedy aligning with Steve Menzies in a similar vein as Price and Wiki. Brent Kite adds punch in the ruck that will see both forward packs battle hard but it is in the backs where I believe the Warriors may have a slight advantage, despite the return from retirement of Terry Hill who will over-compensate for his loss of talent (and what talent it was) with a focus on aggression and intimidation.

The 2005 season will be a long one because the memories of 2004 will take longer than one win to erase. It will need only a couple of hurried passes, two or three dropped balls and missed tackles for that confidence to dissipate and it is at that point the experience of Price and Wiki will need to show through.

Their experience, unfortunately, needs to be delivered instantly. The pressure will not be felt by these two players as their natural and learned instincts will provide the leadership necessary.

But players need to trust and there has not been enough game time to trust anyone. Time is a luxury the club does not possess as instant gratification is part of New Zealand's social thread - ask any previous coach of some of our various national sporting teams.

A win for the Warriors today will be a relief for both the team and fans but the motivation for any future wins needs to go beyond exorcising the demons of last year.

The question is: Can we all wait for the resurrection?