KEY POINTS:
The New Zealand Warriors hope they are building enough momentum to not only take them into the National Rugby League playoffs, but to get there with a chance of progressing further.
Five wins in their last six games have taken the Warriors to 10th place, level on competition points with five other sides but below all of them thanks to a horrendous points differential.
The team showed they could match it with the best in their last two victories, beating the second-placed Melbourne Storm and fifth-placed Brisbane Broncos.
They get another chance to take out a top five team tomorrow when the Cronulla Sharks visit Mt Smart Stadium, and assistant coach John Ackland is confident they are peaking at the right time of the season.
"If we do get into the finals it will be clear that we will be going in with a lot of momentum," he said.
"We would have had some key players back for a number of weeks, but that's down the track really. In this comp it's game on every week and it's always hard."
The Sharks do not have the same aura about them as the Storm and the Broncos but they thrashed the Warriors 24-8 earlier this season and they are tied at the top of the table on competition points with the Storm and the Manly Sea Eagles.
"They've got players like Brett Kimmorley, Paul Gallen, Greg Bird, they've got a couple of big, hard-running centres, and they kick well and finish their sets well, all the things that we try and do really," Ackland said.
"A lot happens around Gallen and Bird, they've got a good player at fullback who's in good form in Brett Kearney.
"They're a tough team, but so are we."
The Warriors face a rare game without their hard-working back rower Micheal Luck, who is forced out by injury this week.
But they will again have star fullback Wade McKinnon, who came back from a six month injury break in style against the Broncos.
"I think he would have been a little bit sore after that game, but he's a good character," Ackland said. He certainly adds a lot to the playing group."
Five wins in their last six games have given the Warriors a chance of making the playoffs, wins built on a much sounder defence.
They have at times however had trouble turning territory into points recently, particularly in their loss to Souths two weeks ago and against the Broncos last week, but Ackland is confident the finishing will improve.
"I think the good thing is that we are creating chances and last week we virtually had a new backline, we had a lot of boys that were playing together for the first time in a long time," he said.
"You'd expect them to be a little bit rusty, and you'd also expect them to be a little bit better this week."
Though they are traditionally known for exciting football, Ackland also wouldn't mind if Mt Smart again provides cold, wet conditions for their Australian visitors.
"It's interesting that every time we play in the rain we tend to control the ball pretty well," he said.
"It's our ground, it's our weather, it's a winter game and it's our town. We'll play mud, snow, sleet, carpark, whatever."
- NZPA
