League: Wooden spoon threat fires Warriors' foes

As the finals cut-off looms for teams in the NRL the source of motivation becomes all-important.

For the Panthers playing in front of a home crowd at Penrith tonight it is avoiding the wooden spoon. For the Warriors it is sneaking into the finals series.

The clubs' approaches this week have been markedly different. Penrith are considering their end-of-year finishing place, the Warriors maintain they are living game-by-game.

The Panthers lost 38-18 last weekend, killing any finals chance they had, and subsequently called a team meeting to assess their goals in remaining games.

Their captain, Craig Gower, said he did not want the ignominy of carrying the spoon label for a year as the Panthers did in 2001.

But coach John Lang said he was working day-by-day, realising he would be under pressure if they ended up last, never mind the year to go on his contract.

"That's the reality of this job."

The Warriors won 24-16 over Canberra last weekend but coach Tony Kemp said they could have put on another 24 points, given the possession and territory they enjoyed.

Kemp said the team had done nothing different in preparation this week from the past three. While conceding they were gaining self-belief after notching two wins in a row for the second time this year, he said "consistency has been there all year, we've never not been in a game".

But now it is not just about being in - they must win all the remaining games to get to the minimum 28 points needed to make the eight.

Kemp also has a year to go on his contract but he seems far edgier in his job than Lang.

In the background, Ivan Cleary looms as the ready-made replacement, a situation that must be far from comfortable. Panthers assistant Peter Mulholland is not seen as a contender for Lang's job.

"Both teams have had similar seasons this year," Lang said. "We've both lost tight games.

But while the Warriors continue to squirm under the pressure from fans, talkback radio, newspaper and television critics and try to side-step, the Panthers have fronted the issue.

"We just haven't been good enough," Lang said yesterday.

"We've missed Tony Puletua [out with a pectoral injury since round five]. He probably won four or five close ones for us last year. He's a big loss to us across the park."

With Steve Price and Ruben Wiki up front the Warriors will get go-forward tonight. It is a matter of back-up from the second-rowers to produce breaks that suck in defenders then off-loads that put the ball past them. Crucial will be a good kicking game and chase, and support play from the confidence men, Lance Hohaia, Brent Webb, Nathan Fien and most of all Stacey Jones.

Penrith will rely on metres gained from Joel Clinton and Ben Ross, off-loads and support play from Frank Pritchard and Trent Waterhouse, and finish from their little men Rhys Wesser, Preston Campbell, Luke Priddis and captain Craig Gower.

"I've had the wooden spoon and I hated it," said Gower this week. It's something I'm going to tell [the younger team members] about so they are just as keen to avoid it."

* Panther Park, 9.30 tonight

Warriors
Brent Webb
Francis Meli
Clinton Toopi
Jerome Ropati
Todd Byrne
Sione Faumuina
Stacey Jones
Iafeta Paleaaesina
Nathan Fien
Steve Price (c)
Ruben Wiki
Wairangi Koopu
Monty Betham

Reserves: Richard Villasanti, Karl Temata, Lance Hohaia, Awen Guttenbeil, 18th man Louis Anderson.

Panthers
Rhys Wesser
Luke Lewis
Danny Galea
Paul Franze
Luke Rooney
Preston Campbell
Craig Gower (c)
Joel Clinton
Luke Priddis
Ben Ross
Frank Pritchard
Shane Rodney
Trent Waterhouse

Reserves: Frank Puletua, Matt Cross, Luke Swain, Joe Galuvao.