KEY POINTS:
The Warriors may be boosted by the return of try-scoring machine Manu Vatuvei against Souths tonight.
The big man flew out with the squad as 18th man yesterday and was listed "a chance to play" after weeks recovering from a leg fracture as the Warriors go into a game they should face with a win-at-all-costs attitude. Wade McKinnon also travelled with then team but it was not known whether he was a chance to play.
A crowd well-weighted with Kiwis should be ensured at the Sydney Olympic Stadium after Auckland's mad league supporter Peter Leitch put up 5000 free tickets for anyone who shows they're a supporter.
The team felt a big boost from the Kiwi contingent added to the crowd when they were last at the Olympic venue three weeks ago to play the Bulldogs after Sonny Bill William's request that Kiwis and Pacific Islanders be let in free.
It's also the bookies' favoured outcome. The Warriors sit on 22 points and the other teams level with them going into round 21 of 26 were the Raiders, at $3.80 to beat the Broncos in Brisbane tomorrow, while the home team is $1.25; and the Titans who were $10 to win against the Storm in Melbourne last night, the home team $1.03.
Win tonight as $1.70 favourites over the $2.05 Rabbitohs and the Warriors come home to host the Broncos and then the Sharks in two games that they should list as definitely winnable. And with all the teams around them playing each other in coming weeks there is the opportunity for the Warriors to push up to as high as fifth _ which would make 2008 a remarkable mirror of the 2007 season.
In the past two wins against the Bulldogs and Storm the Warriors have scored first through their left side attack with big Sonny Fai on the wing.
Expect them to go to there again as they have now scored 21 tries down that channel as opposed to nine on the right. And helpfully, it is Souths' right side that has shown more fragility with 21 tries conceded down that avenue and 11 on the other side.
Vatuvei would aid that plan. The 112kg winger has eight tries from the eight games he's played in 2008.
The Warriors have beaten Souths in 14 of 18 encounters since they came into the competition in 1995 and have won the two games between the sides at the Homebush venue. But it was the Warriors who played the Rabbitohs into form this year when they came to Auckland with a one-from-10 record and turned around a 16-0 deficit to win 35-28. The Rabbitohs went on to beat the Titans, North Queensland, the Bulldogs and Eels before losing in the past two weeks to the Tigers and Knights. The Titans, North Queensland and Bulldogs are all injury-ravaged and the Eels are woefully out of form. The Warriors have beaten both the Tigers and Knights.
So this game stands as not just a must-win but also as a cannot-possibly-lose. Lose and they ditch the effort of four consecutive wins including the scalp of the Storm. Lose and they can watch the playoffs in September.
The Rabbitohs welcome hooker Isaac Luke back from suspension. He runs more metres than any other hooker in the NRL, steps off both feet, ducks ball-and-all tacklers and has good vision to deliver the pass to the right runner. It is Luke and the halves pairing of Chris Sandow and Craig Wing that the Warriors have to stop.
Their game plan should be simple _ keep it tight, defend as they did against the Storm, put pressure on the ball receiver and force errors.
The Auckland Vulcans v Newtown Jets game at Mt Smart today features a host of talent. The Vulcans field Warriors Ryan Shortland, Wairangi Koopu, Michael Witt, Epalahame Lauaki and Michael Crockett. The Jets, feeder side to the Roosters, have former Knight Sean Rudder back from England, former Warrior Tosh Laiseni and Israel Folau's older brother Tevita.
