Steve Deane: A season delicately poised

Simon Mannering celebrates scoring for the Warriors. Photo / Getty Images

No tough draw. No unbalanced schedule. There will be no excuses for the Warriors if they fail to make the top eight.

Forget about the injuries. Every club has injuries - and there will almost certainly be more following next Wednesday night's final Origin match.

The Warriors haven't had to deal with Origin stand-downs and post-match fatigue, and they are at least expecting some key performers back in the coming weeks.

On balance, the club can have few complaints.

With 10 games to go, the Warriors are in prime position to forge their own destiny. Of those 10 games, half are against teams presently in the top eight, half against bottom clubs. And exactly half are at home and half away.

It's hard to get fairer than that.

There is also a favourable wildcard thrown into the mix - the absence of the Melbourne Storm.

In the previous two seasons, 30 points - from 13 wins and two byes - were required to sneak into eighth place. With the Storm's demise that number will almost certainly be lower this season.

A 12-win, 12-loss record should get a team into the post-season. The 7-7 Warriors are right on that bubble, albeit sitting ninth going into this weekend's round because of a points differential that has taken a severe battering thanks to hammerings from the Tigers and Storm.

To make the cut, the Warriors will need to improve. Offensively, they rank in the bottom half of the competition in points scored and tries scored, metres gained and linebreaks. Defensively, they are near the bottom in points and tries conceded and missed tackles. However, those statistics are skewed by the combined 90-12 drubbing dished out by the Tigers and Storm.

In terms of metres given up on the ground, the Warriors defence actually ranks second in the competition. Offensively they have also made the fourth fewest errors, are the sixth-most prolific offloaders and rank eighth in tackle breaks.

Over the run home the club faces just one team twice, the Eels. Before the season started that appeared a daunting prospect. But with the Eels out of sorts and weakened by injuries and Origin commitments, Sunday's match must be marked down as one of the five the Warriors must win. A run of fixtures that then includes the Panthers (away), the Storm (home), the Rabbitohs (away) and Titans (home) makes victory on Sunday even more imperative.

To stay on the pace, the Warriors will need to win at least one of those four matches. Two wins would leave them well placed for the final run in.

The way the season has gone, you get the feeling it won't be that straight-forward. But if they are good enough they'll get there. And if they don't make it ... well, no excuses.