League: Price likely to be back in a fortnight

The New Zealand Warriors, whose National Rugby League (NRL) playoff prospects are looking shaky, will resist recalling skipper Steve Price any earlier than against Canberra in a fortnight.

Price, who had been inspirational for his new club before suffering a knee injury six weeks ago, is already well ahead of schedule in his recovery.

The injury, received during the 21-4 win over Wests Tigers in late May, was originally expected to sideline the Kangaroos prop for 12 weeks, or until the Warriors' last match of the regular season.

But he is now seen as a strong possibility to return as soon as the home match against the Raiders on July 23.

Coach Tony Kemp said he would not be tempted into drafting Price back in for the Warriors' only one fixture before then -- away to the Sydney Roosters on Saturday.

"He's well ahead of schedule as it is," Kemp said.

"He's on target to play against Canberra. As long as he remains on target, that will be the earliest he will come back."

The Warriors stayed four points outside the top eight after losing yet another close contest in Auckland yesterday, 24-26 to Price's former club, the Bulldogs.

But time is catching up on their hopes of making the semifinals and their own equation has extended to winning five of their last seven matches.

Kemp said every contest from now on in would be "a grand final" for the Warriors.

"We're running out of weekends," he said.

"There's only seven to go. The games are starting to back up that you must win."

The match against the Bulldogs was a seesawing contest that went down to the wire here at Ericsson Stadium.

Both sides scored four tries, five-eighth Braith Anasta getting a hat-trick for the visitors, and landed every shot at goal.

Warriors halfback Stacey Jones kicked four goals and Bulldog Hazim El Masri five, with El Masri's extra attempt being a 40m penalty that edged the Bulldogs ahead 20-18 with 16 minutes to go.

Jones, the stand-in captain in Price's absence, also turned on a superb attacking display that recalled his form of old.

He created two tries and scored another, which brought up his 600th NRL point.

Winger Todd Byrne was also among the tryscorers, dotting down for the 13th time in his past 13 appearances.

His effort came four minutes from fulltime and helped get the Warriors back to within two points.

The match finished with the home side hot on attack and the 12,822-strong crowd at fever pitch.

But it was another near miss in a season of near misses for the Warriors, with second rower Sione Faumuina held up over the tryline in the final minute.

They Warriors have now lost five times by the margin of a converted try or less.

Kemp believed his players did enough on attack to beat the Bulldogs but were undone by defensive lapses, especially allowing Anasta in for tries on either side of halftime.

Jones pointed to "silly mistakes" costing the Warriors.

"We put in a pretty good effort, but to lose when we had the chance to win at home -- it was all pretty disappointing."

Jones said conceding tries before the interval had happened a few times to the Warriors this year.

"We all speak about that," he said.

"But I guess we're probably too anxious with our defence and they get away on us with big plays."

- NZPA