NRL: Warriors satisfied with start

Russell Packer of the Warriors charges forward during the round four NRL match between the New Zealand Warriors and the Gold Coast Titans. Photo / Getty Images.

It's easily forgotten in the afterglow of a grand final appearance the Warriors lost their first three games last season.

For that reason, the club are reasonably satisfied with a two win, two loss start to their season under a new coach.

They were feeling even better after beating the Titans 26-6 at Mt Smart Stadium on Saturday night, not that coach Brian McClennan was singing his team's praises.

"It was a satisfying result," McClennan said. "Really pleased to get that result for everyone at the club.

"If you sat any one of the players down and said, 'was that a great performance?', they would all say, 'no, it wasn't the best we could do', that's for sure, especially the second half.

"I think the first half we did pretty well going into the wind, into the rain. I thought we managed that pretty good.

"The second half we were a little bit immature on how we managed the game."

In truth, they had virtually won the game by that point. They led 14-0 at the break and jumped out to a 26-point lead before the Titans scored a late try to get themselves off the dreaded nil.

There were a lot of things to like about the Warriors' performance. Their defence was excellent throughout - they were both aggressive and accurate - and they scored some good tries.

Things might have been different, however, if Gold Coast had scored just before the break rather than the Warriors, who went the length of the field after the visitors threatened their own line. A scoreline of 10-6 looks a lot different to 14-0.

Winger Manu Vatuvei came from the field early in the second half with a hamstring strain but the club are confident he will be fit for next week's trip to the Roosters. Fullback Kevin Locke has a cork above the knee and is said to be a doubt but they have an able replacement in Glen Fisiiahi, who scored another three tries for the Vulcans on Saturday to go with the six he grabbed last weekend.

The Warriors will stay in Australia after the Roosters game to prepare for a trip to Canberra and McClennan thinks it has come at a good time. He has said his side won't start to click until round six and having the players in camp will give him a good chance for him to impose his systems and philosophy.

He wants his side to express themselves but also play smart football. At times against the Titans, they overplayed their hand in the greasy conditions.

They made 15 errors - the Titans made 20 - but often these came early in the tackle count. It put them under pressure and meant they often had to scramble on defence, although the Titans weren't really good enough to make them pay.

Nathan Friend put in a good shift at hooker against his old club, Elijah Taylor was tireless in defence with a Micheal Luck-like 47 tackles, Ben Henry and Jerome Ropati were strong in the centres, Ben Matulino continues to impress in his converted role as a prop and Simon Mannering chipped in with a try on his 150th NRL game and 50th as Warriors captain.

For Mannering, it was a nice moment but he's not one to get overly emotional.

"Those are the things you look back on them when you finish up," he said. "At this point in time it was important for us to get a win and we did that. We still have plenty to work on but we are slowly improving."