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BroncoKiwi
Champ of the Week - New Zealand Warriors
July 29th 2008 06:29
Category: No Category
The Round 20 ‘Champ of the Week’ Award goes to the…
…New Zealand Warriors for raining (literally) on the Storm’s parade, with an 8-6 win last Sunday.
Even though the game was played in dreadful conditions, finished at one try a piece and was only decided by penalty goals it did highlight one thing - the Warriors’ new found mental toughness.
Not many teams can match the well drilled Storm for the full eighty minutes, let alone hold them to one try in the process.
The win would have also given the boys from New Zealand something equally as valuable. Confidence. Not to mention belief in their own ability, both as individuals and as a team.
On paper the Warriors have a reasonably strong line-up and, if their self-belief now matches their potential, there’s no reason why they can’t be in the top eight come finals time.
Undoubtedly, their strength is in the forwards.
In terms of quality work rate, there’s no better prop in the business than Steven Price. And if you add in the wisdom of Ruben Wiki, the tireless defence of Micheal Luck at lock, Simon Mannering’s wide running game and the youthful skill of Sonny Fai and Ben Matulino, you’ve got yourself one very balanced bunch of warriors (pardon the lame pun).
However, as always, the biggest test for the Warriors is how they perform away from home.
They have only won three from nine in Australia this season, with victories coming against the Knights, Tigers and Bulldogs – three teams in the bottom half of the competition.
Whether their poor performances are due to jet lag or an inability to adapt to Aussie conditions, it remains to be seen. But it’s a hurdle they’ll have to overcome if they want to feature in September.
The Warriors run home [Rabbitohs (Away), Broncos (Home), Sharks (Home), Dragons (Away), Panthers (Home) and Eels (Away)] isn’t exactly easy but a finals spot beckons if they’re good enough.
…
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