NRL: Warriors in last-chance saloon

Warriors coach Ivan Cleary during training. Photo / Dean Purcell

If the Warriors are going to do it this season, they had better do it now.

Eleventh but just a win out of seventh place heading into the second half of the season, a victory over the Knights in Newcastle tomorrow would propel the Warriors back into the playoff race. Lose to a side that almost certainly won't feature in the post-season, and the Warriors will probably share the same fate.

The situation is so stark that even coach Ivan Cleary - a man not typically prone to dwelling on the big picture - is happy to discuss it. Sort of.

Cleary knows back-to-back defeats have pushed the win-loss tally to a critical point. But he is also keen to look beyond the competition points dropped in last week's narrow defeat to the table-topping Dragons and focus on the encouraging aspects of the effort.

"We know we are in a situation where it is getting closer to do or die but it is more about the performance," Cleary said.

"I am just confident that if we keep putting in [performances] like we did last weekend then we'll win our fair share of games."

He wasn't, he said, using an increasingly unhealthy ladder position as a motivational tool.

"You'd hope there were enough brains in [the team] to work that out. My main focus is on taking the positives out of last week into this game. Aside from a 15-minute spell before and after halftime in the Tigers game, the last month been a lot of positives.

"While we haven't got the points the last couple of games, it is important we take those positives into this game to get the points."

Whatever works. But the time for encouraging defeats is rapidly passing.

The Knights have been a favourable opponent in recent times, with the Warriors winning six of the last eight meetings.

This season the teams could hardly be more evenly matched. The Warriors have won one more game to sit a place ahead on the ladder, but the points differentials of the sides are even - the Warriors have scored and conceded two fewer points.

Both sides are also down on firepower. The Warriors have added centre Brent Tate to an extensive injury list, while the Knights are without captain Kurt Gidley due to Origin commitments.

Both sides will feel those losses. Gidley is the heart and soul of the Knights and one of their few players with a creative bent. Tate is a spirited competitor who brings out the best in those around him.

Tate's loss to a season-ending knee injury was fingered as one of the major factors in last year's blown season. This year he is just another star on an already crowded sideline.

"We are sort of used to dealing without our best team," Cleary said.

"He is just another one. I am happy with the side we have got. We played very well [last] weekend without Brent for most of the game."

Joel Moon replaces Tate, while the only other change is in the halves where Isaac John and James Maloney have swapped jerseys.

The switch should see the more vocal John dictate the game from halfback, while Maloney will be freed up to provide more of an attacking spark.

"I want Isaac to do a bit more of the play calling and that sort of thing," Cleary said. "He is a natural talker and having that one game under his belt he is up for it."

Much like the Warriors with Manu Vatuvei, the main threat from the Knights will be from a hulking winger. Fijian flier Akuila "The Thriller" Uate has made 17 linebreaks already this season - five more than the next best player - and scored 13 tries.

The Knights will also be just as desperate as the Warriors. Lose and their season is as good as over as well.

"Both sides have got a lot of reasons to play well and win," Cleary said. He will be hoping his side has just a few more.

NEWCASTLE v WARRIORS
EnergyAustralia Stadium, 4pm tomorrow

NEWCASTLE
Wes Naqaima
Akuila Uate
Junior Sa'u
Adam MacDougall
James McManus
Jarrod Mullen
Scott Dureau
Ben Cross
Isaac De Gois
Dan Tolar (c)
Zeb Taia
Cory Paterson
Matt Hilder
Interchange: Con Mika, Cameron Ciraldo, Richie Fa'aoso, Mark Taufua.

WARRIORS
Lance Hohaia
Kevin Locke
Joel Moon
Jerome Ropati
Manu Vatuvei
James Maloney
Isaac John
Jesse Royal
Aaron Heremaia
Russell Packer
S. Mannering (c)
Ukuma Ta'ai
Micheal Luck
Interchange: Ian Henderson, Ben Matulino, Jeremy Latimore, Lewis Brown.