Richie Barnett: Making the finals is worth the pressure

Warriors coach Ivan Cleary. Photo / Dean Purcell

The run in to the NRL finals is all about pressure.

It gets cranked right up from here on in. It comes from everywhere.

A big part of the coach's job is to shield his players from external pressures. Ivan Cleary has certainly done that superbly this season. After last year's shocking season, Ivan would have been under the gun right from the outset this year.

But he is smart enough to know you have to put a different face on with the players. He probably learned that when we were teammates playing under Phil Gould at the Roosters. One season Phil was clearly under huge pressure from the Roosters board to deliver the results. As players we could sense the pressure he was under. It passed on down to the team and we played terribly.

It's a testament to Ivan that, even knowing his job was on the line, he has managed to cope with that pressure without passing it on to his players.

At this stage of the year its hard for players not to start thinking about finals footy, where they want to be. The media all start talking about it and it's easy for players to get caught up in the hype. But thinking too far ahead can be detrimental. Most of the players realise it's vital to keep focused on a game-by-game basis instead of thinking about the big picture.

You can't buy into the hype. If you start believing what has been said and written about you, you can get away from the fundamentals. Just look at what happened to Parramatta at the start of the season, or Newcastle last weekend in Canberra. The fall can be pretty swift and brutal.

With the Warriors on a hot streak right now there is a danger they could fall into that trap. They need to make sure they aren't thinking about how great they've been but are looking beyond that to how they can still improve.

If they do that they will be fine. The most impressive thing about their five-match winning streak is how hard the players have all been working for each other.

With only Sam Rapira still out the Warriors are also in good shape physically. Injuries play a huge part in how well teams go at this time of year. Just look at the Titans. They've got an extensive injury list, their resources are stretched and their fringe players really aren't great. So they're struggling and in danger of fading out of the playoff race.

At the same time the intensity of the competition is going through the roof. As the finals get closer it gives everybody a lift. Finals are what you train all year for. They are fantastic to be part of. They are the chance to show what you are really made of.

But first you've got to get there. If a team forgets that, the chances are they will miss the cut.