League: Kiwis hope Warriors' dropsies not contagious

Warriors centre Jerome Ropati had a poor day with his hands against the Dragons. Photo / Getty Images

A stinging rebuke from coach Ivan Cleary in their ears, five beaten New Zealand Warriors joined their Kiwis league teammates in Brisbane hoping it was just a bad dress rehearsal.

The Kiwis have their first training session in Brisbane today ahead of Friday's test after the Warriors fell short by a solitary point in the week's first transtasman match - 11-12 to the Dragons in Wollongong.

Cleary was scathing of his players, Jerome Ropati in particular, saying they were distracted by the upcoming test where they look to make it back-to-back wins over the Kangaroos.

"Some of these guys were clearly off their game a bit today," the coach said.

"There shouldn't be dropped balls with the line wide open or dropped balls in the play-the-ball, on a perfect sunny afternoon. " It left the Warriors still outside the top-eight, with their fourth loss from eight matches in 2009 ahead of the bye this weekend.

Ropati, Manu Vatuvei, Lance Hohaia, Simon Mannering and Nathan Fien were all later confirmed in the Kiwis' 18-strong squad, as was their captain Steve Price in the Kangaroos, while fullback Wade McKinnon was named in the City squad for the State of Origin trial.

There was also concern from their opponents' camp when Dragons forward Jeremy Smith - the Kiwis' player of the year in their memorable World Cup triumph - limped off with a high ankle sprain after a tangle with Fien.

He and fellow Kiwis forward Frank Pritchard will be reassessed by team medical staff this week after providing coach Stephen Kearney some unwanted injury headaches.

"I'm not too sure but it's not too good at the moment. Fingers crossed I can get out there on Friday," a deflated Smith said.

Smith's Dragons teammate Jason Nightingale was more positive after he was named in the Kiwis' 18 for a potential fourth test appearance after a strong game at fullback.

Nightingale revealed his Dragons coach and last year's Kiwis assistant Wayne Bennett spilt the beans last Monday that he and Smith had been selected in the test side.

But some wise words from Bennett kept he, and the prospective Kangaroos in the Dragons side, more focused then their opponents.

"Wayne spoke to all of us and said not to worry about it, don't change what you're doing when rep jerseys are on the line. I tried to put a bit of that into play," Nightingale said.

"You don't clock off because you know you've been picked, you've just got to be mentally strong and approach the game as you would any other.

"Maybe it was in the back of their (Warriors') minds and Wayne told us to block it out. What's the point in changing something that's not broken? "

The Kiwis will hope that final statement rings true this week.


TEAMS

KANGAROOS: Darren Lockyer (c), Billy Slater, Israel Folau, Greg Inglis, Justin Hodges, Darius Boyd, Johnathan Thurston, Petero Civoniceva, Cameron Smith, Steve Price, Anthony Laffranchi, Paul Gallen, Glenn Stewart. Interchange: Kurt Gidley, Brent Kite, Luke Bailey, Anthony Watmough.

KIWIS: Benji Marshall (c), Lance Hohaia, Sam Perrett, Jason Nightingale, Manu Vatuvei, Jerome Ropati, Iosia Soliola, Nathan Fien, Jeremy Smith, Bronson Harrison, Greg Eastwood, David Fa'alogo, Simon Mannering, Frank Pritchard, Roy Asotasi, Adam Blair, Jeff Lima, Issac Luke.

- NZPA