Richie Barnett: Dangerous Panthers can be tamed

The Warriors need to get in Luke Walsh's face and make his job a great deal harder. Photo / Getty Images

Opinion

Hopefully the Warriors have learned their lesson from the last time they played Penrith. If they haven't, they'll get hammered again on Sunday.

The Warriors were just shocking in that round-six match, losing 40-12. Penrith are the most dangerous side in the competition when it comes to attacking kicks.

And yet the Warriors' pressure on Luke Walsh when he kicked was woeful and they failed utterly to get numbers around their wingers and fullback to help diffuse his kicks.

It looked like they didn't know what was coming, didn't have a plan. The Panthers kicked them to death right from the start and the game was all over after the first 20 minutes.

This time the Warriors must be better prepared. They certainly know what is coming. Walsh likes to place his pinpoint kicks between the left-hand post and the right winger for Lachlan Coote and tall centre Adrian Purtell to chase.

Those two will put all sorts of pressure on Lance Hohaia and Bill Tupou. The Warriors must get around those guys in numbers and provide plenty of support, and they also need to get in Walsh's face and make his job a hell of a lot harder.

If they don't it will be round six all over again. Penrith are a fantastic side and I'm picking them to go close to winning the whole thing.

Even so, the Warriors do have a decent chance of pulling off a victory on Sunday. The Panthers are backing up from a Monday night match and no team tends to play well after doing that.

They also have four key players straight out of Origin, which will have taken its toll and could leave them a bit flat. Tim Grant - who I rate as one of the best young props in the game - is also out with a knee injury.

That will put a lot more pressure on Petero Civoniceva to provide the go-forward, and will also mean the Panthers have to get a bit more out of their bench - although it is a pretty darn impressive bench.

Even with Grant out, I don't believe the Warriors can confront the Panthers in the forwards.

They are just too big and too physical. The Warriors will need to play a smart, up-tempo game, with the backs doing plenty of work out of dummy half to help out the forwards.

It's pretty much the game plan they took into the first match, but in that game they failed utterly to execute it, mainly because they made so many errors early on. If you don't start well and don't put the pressure on by playing a quick and up-tempo style, you are just asking for the Panthers to steamroll you.

But this is a pretty different Warriors team now so hopefully they won't repeat those mistakes.

They might still have a lot of players out, but the guys who have been playing have now had some consistent game time together. That has bred a huge amount of confidence, which has been there to see over the last three matches.

The players who have been doing the job might not be the big stars, but plenty of them have been putting their hands up. Lewis Brown has surprised everyone and now looks a real star of the future.

It's not just the new guys who have been outstanding. Jerome Ropati's effort at fullback last week was incredible. He really struggled last year and started this season pretty slowly as well, but now he is playing to the ability we all know he has.

Ian Henderson has been another standout. He really throws his body on the line. It's not always the things everybody sees that are crucial to a team. Henderson gives his all when he comes off the bench. He is competitive and aggressive and really gives the side a lift.

It's the type of effort the Warriors will need plenty of if they are to keep their winning run going on Sunday.