KEY POINTS:
All the focus in the Warriors camp this week was about improving their away performance.
"We have some big steps to take," coach Ivan Cleary admitted as he sought reasons for the heavy defeats in Melbourne, Manly and Townsville and prepared the team to face the Titans on the Gold Coast tomorrow.
He's having trouble working out why they did better last year when the squad as a whole were less experienced. They beat Souths, the Sharks, Tigers, Titans and Panthers in Australia and drew with the Roosters.
"We've been so bad away this year, last year we didn't get any floggings."
Before the season they planned changes to routine to ease the travel burden and improve their preparation for games across the Tasman and those had been put in place, including travelling to Brisbane and stopping a day there on the way to Townsville instead of doing two flights in one day.
"We're missing leadership but we have to accept that and deal with it," he said. "When things aren't going great for us we don't handle it. It's about getting tougher and handling adversity bit better.
"We've worked on this for the last two years and in the off-season and made really good strides, I thought."
This week, work had been done to reinforce that.
Leadership is certainly an issue with skipper Steve Price out. Frequently, the opposition will score last points in the first half and first points in the second spell while vice-captain Ruben Wiki is benched on the interchange. That's what stole the game from them in Townsville.
Cleary said it was a "mental thing".
Wiki agreed: "It's all about attitude." He was encouraging the younger players to find motivation individually and as a team and to play for each other, regardless whether they had crowds cheering or jeering.
Stacey Jones took the kickers through a video session this week. He works with the top-grade and under-20s side once a week. Jones said he knew the kickers and the team as a whole could perform at top level. The Warriors kicking game has suffered when the forwards were not dominant.
Halfback Grant Rovelli has been the subject of heat in some post-game analysis but was unruffled. He had no ready answer for why the completion rate dropped and the error rate rose in games in Australia. "We've got to get tougher mentally - that's about it really."
Before their game against the Eels the Titans made no secret of their intention to target the out-of-sorts Parramatta half Tim Smith, which they did, leading to a 28-20 win. Rovelli will likely get the same treatment.
The Warriors put lots of focus on defence this week. In Australia, the communication slips and the opposition has been offered attacking holes.
"That's what happened in Townsville, the boys became a bit isolated in themselves. We're working on improving that," Cleary said.
The Warriors beat the Titans in both contests between the sides in 2007, 22-6 on the Gold Coast and 30-6 at Mt Smart, so their coach John Cartwright is wary of the Warriors' unpredictability despite the Titans' table-topping position and four wins at home. "You can't really plan for anything. They have a lot of guys who can off-load and a lot of guys who can break tackles and they play second-phase footy off that," he said.
Titans lock Daniel Conn has been ruled out with an ankle strain suffered in training and Josh Graham takes his place, with Gavin Cooper coming on to the bench. Not considered were captain Luke Bailey (broken wrist), prop Michael Henderson (broken leg), wings Jordan Atkins and Chris Walker (knees), and five-eight Mat Rogers (suspended).
Titans halfback Scott Prince is the clear target for the Warriors. But in the end, said Cleary, it was their own performance that would determine the outcome.
NZ WARRIORS
Lance Hohaia
Michael Crockett
Brent Tate
Ryan Shortland
Manu Vatuvei
Michael Witt
Grant Rovelli
Sam Rapira
Nathan Fien
Ruben Wiki (c)
Simon Mannering
Logan Swann
Micheal Luck
GC TITANS
Preston Campbell
Ben Jeffrey
Luke O'Dwyer
Brett Delaney
Matt Petersen
Ashley Harrison
Scott Prince
Michael Hodgson
Nathan Friend
Brad Meyers
A Laffranchi
Mark Minichiello
Josh Graham
Warriors: Ian Henderson, Evarn Tuimavave, Epalahame Lauaki, Wairangi Koopu.
Titans (from): Aaron Cannings, Jason Stoic, Brenton Bowen, Gavin Cooper.
