League: Pack leaders on mend as Warriors look to rebound

Issac Luke is one successful fitness test away from being named in the Warriors' side to play the Dragons. Photo / Photosport

Forwards Issac Luke and Tohu Harris are firming to take their place in the Warriors' line-up to face St George Illawarra in Saturday's NRL clash in Wollongong.

The pair joined the Warriors in camp on the northern coast of New South Wales on Monday, and are tracking well to face the Dragons at WIN Stadium.

Luke is working his way back from a calf injury that forced him off in the loss to Melbourne a fortnight ago, while Harris is returning after a month on the sidelines following surgery on a tear in his left knee.

Coach Stephen Kearney was optimistic both players would be good to go for what is a crucial game for both sides, but cautioned they still needed to come through Friday's final training session unscathed.

"They've both got through okay," said Kearney. "It will be something we monitor at the captain's run but at this stage they all seem good to go."

Kearney has been satisfied by the response of his players in the days after labelling their second-half performance in Sunday's six-tries-to-two defeat by Gold Coast as "soft".

Throughout an inconsistent campaign that's seen them lose four of their last five games, the Auckland outfit have generally managed to bounce back well after disappointing performances.

They face a big challenge in overturning the Dragons, who are similarly desperate after also losing three of their past four games, at a ground where the Warriors have gone winless in 10 previous visits.

The Warriors remain in eighth spot on the NRL ladder with the Dragons sitting fourth, five weeks out from the playoffs.

"Things have gone pretty well," Kearney said.

"We obviously addressed last week's performance which we were all disappointed with on Monday with our review process.

"They've done a pretty good job of [responding well] most of the year. That's got to start by, one, how you review the performance — and there was some honesty there — and obviously to how you train. And today there was some real good focus, real good energy at training."

The Warriors will today travel south to Wollongong after spending the early part of the week at the same isolated Kingscliff resort that the NSW Blues adopted as their home under former coach Laurie Daley during last year's State of Origin series.

Kearney believes the side will benefit from not having travel back and forth across the Tasman this week and felt the time together would help the players' preparation.

"When you're in close quarters together, it does give you an opportunity to bring you tighter. Off the back of Sunday's performance, it was probably even more important that we stayed together and worked our way through that."