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Home / Sport / League / Warriors

NRL: Warriors coach Stephen Kearney looking for improved effort against Gold Coast Titans

David Skipwith
By David Skipwith
Reporter·NZ Herald·
14 Mar, 2018 04:10 AM4 mins to read

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Warriors coach Stephen Kearney speaks during this weeks media session.

Warriors coach Stephen Kearney wants his side to improve their focus and discipline ahead of their first home NRL game of the season against the Gold Coast Titans on Saturday.

Expectations are high following their impressive round one 32-20 upset win over South Sydney in Perth last Saturday and the pressure is on the team to continue their good start and register opening back-to-back wins for just the third time since the club's inception in 1995.

The Warriors are strong favourites ahead of the Mt Smart Stadium clash, having won 13 of their past 14 games against the Titans, including the last five in a row, while they also overcame the Garth Brennan-coached outfit 20-14 in their final pre-season trial last month.

A large media contingent attended Tuesday's training but Kearney said his side was not distracted by the extra attention and stressed the importance of replicating the strong build-up that served them well in the six-tries-to-four win over the Rabbitohs.

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"We've got a specific focus for ourselves again and its making sure that we prepare really well to perform well," said Kearney.

"It doesn't change with how many cameras are here or not - that's not our concern. Our concern is making sure that we prepare well."

The Titans also defied expectations last weekend, with former Warriors centre Konrad Hurrell's 78th minute try clinching a shock come-from-behind 30-28 win over Canberra on Sunday.

Kearney denied that result had put the Warriors on notice and said it reflected the competitive nature of the NRL and the need for his side to be consistent and build upon their performance at Optus Stadium.

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"I don't think you need a warning in this competition, that's just the way it is," he said.

"Whoever you're playing, wherever you're playing them, it's such a demanding competition that you have to be ready to go for 80 minutes and sometimes even longer, every time. It's no different this week.

"There was a period there in the second half where we went away from the game plan and then we found ourselves under a bit of pressure.

"Earlier in the game we gave too many penalties away and again put ourselves under a bit too much pressure.

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"The guys responded well to that but that's definitely an area of improvement for us."

Captain Roger Tuivasa-Sheck acknowledged there were positive signs in the first-up victory, but warned it was too soon to make any bold predictions and insisted the players are not getting ahead of themselves.

"It's too early to call," Tuivasa-Sheck said. "It's just the first game and we just want to improve each week.

"They're all excited and happy that they got the win but just after the review there's still a lot of improvements that we need to do.

"There's still a lot of small things that we can fix and against the Titans, the way they played last week and the win that they got, we need to step up again."

Tuivasa-Sheck was one of the Warriors' best last week, producing the last pass for two tries and making two line breaks, while he also made two try-saving tackles.

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The 24-year-old was pleased with his ball-playing and defensive work but was unhappy after he failed to take a kick-off on the full, and had to retreat to collect a Rabbitohs clearing kick that almost saw him trapped ingoal.

"I was pleased with the way I started but I feel like there were still a lot of errors that I put in, especially with my back-field positioning and catching the high balls and I want to improve on that."

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