View photosKEY POINTS:
Consistency and no regrets will be keys to the New Zealand Warriors' ambitions of making the National Rugby League playoffs, captain Steve Price says.
The Warriors got their campaign back on track with a comfortable 44-16 victory over St George Illawarra on a cold and windy Auckland on Saturday.
The result lifted them from 11th to seventh, with seven rounds of the regular season to go.
But defeat dropped the Dragons, who had come to Mt Smart Stadium on the back of two good wins over high-fliers Manly and over Canberra, down to third bottom.
The Warriors had started to turn their fortunes around over the past month with three victories in a row before they stumbled away to North Queensland.
Price said the points table was so compressed that a single win or loss could mean going up or down several places.
"We've just got to build momentum," he said.
"We had three weeks in a row where we started to go pretty well and then we had a bit of a hurdle.
"You have to get that consistency. You don't want to look back and have any regrets over not turning up."
The Warriors are away to Wests Tigers next weekend and Price said the Tigers, who sit one place higher on the table, would have plenty of motivation after a 34-4 loss to second-placed Manly.
A strong start by the Warriors proved decisive against the Dragons as they ran out to a 26-0 lead after half an hour at Mt Smart Stadium.
They ended up scoring seven tries to three, with centre Simon Mannering grabbing a brace.
Five-eighth Michael Witt's hot streak with the boot helped to keep the margin comfortable despite the Warriors' conceding a couple of soft tries before the interval.
Witt kicked eight goals, including two from the sideline in the difficult windy conditions, to take his tally of consecutive successful attempts to 25.
The sequence began with two goals in his only first-grade appearance for Manly last season.
With Tony Martin as first choice, Witt didn't begin kicking for the Warriors until five rounds ago.
Since then, his accuracy has made even coach Ivan Cleary sit up.
Cleary knows all about the skills needed to raise the flags. He holds the records for most points in a season (242) and most goals in a match (12) for the Warriors.
He said one of the reasons Witt was signed was because of his ability from the kicking tee, pointing to his high success rate when landing 60 goals for Manly in the 2006 season.
Witt had been getting instruction from kicking guru Daryl Halligan and the results he was turning in were impressive.
"It's amazing, he doesn't look like missing at the moment," Cleary said.
"Full credit to Witty. Marto was kicking earlier in the year and I know Witty likes to kick goals. He's got his chance and he's taken it.
"Let's hope it can continue. It's certainly pretty impressive at the moment."
- NZPA
