KEY POINTS:
For a coach who doesn't panic and certainly doesn't do scary, Ivan Cleary was in an ominous mood on Friday night after his side threw away a golden chance to claim consecutive wins for the first time this season.
The Warriors boss has warned changes are imminent after
another defensive display that bordered on embarrassing as his side let slip a 14-0 lead to lose 35-28 to the Rabbitohs.
This season they have conceded a staggering 361 points, 51 more even than the Bunnies and over 120 points more than any team in the top eight, at a tick over 30 points a game.
At this stage last season, when they were just coming out of a six-game losing streak, Cleary's side had conceded 255 points at 21 points a game and only once had a team put more than 30 points on them (when Michael Crockett was sent off in the first five minutes against the Bulldogs).
"You just can't keep conceding that many points and expect to win games," Cleary said in a way that was moody for him. "I'm probably going to have to think about selecting a team with a view to defence. It's the way I'm feeling at the moment.
"If we could have got the points tonight, we would have gone into [the] halfway [stage of the competition] feeling that we might have been able to build something. It's not to say we can't, but it's a bit of a let down, a bit of a kick in the guts."
It looked like the Warriors might have solved their defensive problems last weekend, when they tackled like there was no tomorrow in the 18-16 win over the Knights, but the open-door policy returned after 20 minutes against the Rabbitohs on Friday night.
They missed 37 tackles - the NRL average is 14 - with Nathan Fien (six), Epalahame Lauaki (five) and Lance Hohaia (four) the biggest culprits. They weren't helped by others like Crockett and Jerome Ropati missing one-on-one tackles or misreading the player that allowed Souths to prosper down their left-hand edge.
"There are a few guys who are doing a great job every week, like the guy [Micheal Luck] next to me, but there are a few unfortunately who aren't," Cleary said. "Until we get the full team doing it we are going to have a few problems."
The Warriors' line speed has been an issue all season, allowing teams to make easy metres up the middle of the ruck. Cleary, refuted, however, that his side weren't fit enough.
"It's a full cycle. If you're not getting enough dominance in the play-the-ball your line speed suffers. That was the case tonight. It's the whole package. We're not defending well enough in lots of different areas [but] I don't believe it's a fitness issue."
The Warriors will at least welcome back skipper Steve Price and centre Brent Tate from Origin duty for next Saturday's visit to Cronulla and winger Manu Vatuvei (broken leg) and five-eighth Michael Witt (hip injury) could also feature.
Witt's goalkicking will be crucial, as part-timers Patrick Ah Van and Hohaia landed only two from six attempts.
But it is defence which will be the topic of most conversations this week.
"Until we get that right consistently, it's going to be an uphill battle," Cleary said.
The hill is already starting to look too steep.