NRL: Warriors focus on 80-minute man

Issac Luke is the man to stop if the Warriors want to win today. Photo / Getty Images

South Sydney's Issac Luke is the man to watch at Mt Smart today. Luke's form suggests the Warriors need to keep an especially close eye on his skill out of dummy half.

The 22-year-old has made hooker his own under new coach John Lang this season, playing 80 minutes in all but one match.

Compare that to last year where he played just one full game under previous coach Jason Taylor, in the final round against Cronulla.

"I wanted to work on getting a full game regularly," Luke says. "John gave me the chance to do that in a pre-season trial and I haven't looked back, although I did get taken off about five minutes from the end of last game [the 50-10 walloping of Wests Tigers] so I must have been slacking."

Luke is arguably the busiest number 9 in the competition and certainly one of the best.

Among hookers, he leads the NRL in runs and metres gained per game as well as line breaks, tackle breaks, offloads and try assists. It presents an intimidating CV to the Warriors as they look to back up last week's win at home.

"He's been the form hooker of the competition," says Aaron Heremaia who deputised for Luke in the Anzac test and is his opponent today.

"He's had a chance to showcase his skills behind a big pack. We've got to restrict the metres he makes out of the ruck and limit his options by stopping their forwards and starving them of possession - just like last week where we didn't waste energy on too many tackles in the first half.

"I know Roy Asotasi [shoulder injury] and Dave Taylor [Origin duty] are out but there are plenty of tall, rangey guys across the park."

Warriors halfback Brett Seymour agrees the Rabbitohs are solid across the park and they have plenty of strike-power, starting with Luke at dummy-half and John Sutton at five-eighth.

"Issac's game speaks for itself, he's taken it to another level by becoming an 80-minute man and demonstrating that ability to explode through the ruck.

"Sutton is also a target who dictates play well. Their wingers often thrive too, especially gaining ground out of their half."

It is hard to pinpoint many weaknesses in Luke's game at present but missed tackles is one. He ranks third for 2010 with 45, just behind Warrior James Maloney.

"Sometimes I get a bit slack trying to save energy and I slip off too easily," Luke says.

He did rectify that aspect of his game in the Melbourne test where his 40 tackles, including five one-on-one efforts was the highest in the Kiwis count.

Maloney, as one who should know, has also been working on that aspect of his game. He says it is critical against a bigger team like the Rabbitohs.

"We'll have a battle matching them physically in the middle of the park.

"That win over the Cowboys was a big improvement defensively but we have to control their forwards. By doing that we stop their momentum rolling forward which shuts down Luke. Doing that through the ruck will go a long way to winning the game."