Rugby league: The habits the Warriors need to break before the NRL finals series

The Warriors have now won 15 games this season. Photo / Photosport

Throughout the NRL season, resilience has been a key theme in the rise of the Warriors.

But with the finals series looming large on the horizon, captain Tohu Harris wants his side to show other parts of their game can be match-winners.

The Warriors got off to a poor start in their 29-22 win over the Manly Sea Eagles in Auckland on Friday night, conceding the opening try in the first two minutes, before a 20-minute hat-trick to Manly winger Jason Saab saw a 16-6 Warriors lead become a 22-16 deficit at halftime.

Even when they have started well this season, mental lapses have led to them leaking points and letting teams back into the contest, as was the case late in the first half against Manly.

When they came out of the sheds, the mental switch coach Andrew Webster had hoped the side would flick on from the outset was finally engaged, and the Warriors ground away defensively before finishing strong.

Harris said it was encouraging to know they can win in such a fashion, but is hopeful they will be able to break some bad habits over the coming weeks.

“It’s something we’ve shown that we can do all year. We’ve been in tough, tough spots at different times throughout the year and we’ve been able to find a way, and this was another example of that,” Harris said.

“We’ve got to do a better job at not putting ourselves in that position, but we’ve spoken about it to the team after the game; the fact that we can show some resilience, come out in the second half and get back to the grind and hold a good attacking side out, that shows we’ve got something in us.”

Both sides came into Friday night’s outing with plenty on the line; the Warriors needed a win to put their place in the top eight at season’s end beyond doubt and continue their hunt for a top-four finish. Manly needed a win to keep their season alive.

During the week before the game, Webster acknowledged Manly would come at them on attack and wouldn’t be afraid to throw the ball around in a bid to make things happen, and that proved to be the case.

However, it was alarming for the Warriors that Manly were able to create space on the Warriors left wing seemingly at will when they started to move the ball wide; resulting in three Saab tries in which the winger went over without as much as a threat of being tackled.

“That was issues with us,” Webster said. “All due respect to Jason, he just had to be on the end of some good football from Manly and he’s fast, so he’s good at that.

“They created some really good things and we didn’t defend it in our systems. The boys know it. They’re talking about it in there. It’s not us having to tell them; they know what they want to improve on. It was not by our standards, that left-hand side.”

With their place in the top eight secured, the Warriors will host the St George Illawarra Dragons in Auckland next weekend, before finishing the regular season away to the Redcliffe Dolphins. The win over Manly means a finish outside the top five is highly unlikely, but one win in their last two will secure a top-four finish.

While Webster wasn’t dwelling on that, he admitted it was hard to get away from.

“Literally everyone keeps telling me that,” he said.

“But we’ve got a big week ahead of us in terms of improving our performance. I say it all the time and am pretty boring with it, but we’ve got to fix the first half and get excited about what we did in the second half.”