Ruben Wiki: Exciting side blooded for next season

Today brings to an end a rollercoaster year at the Warriors.

There was the salary cap breach, great wins over top sides, two players sacked, a couple of really bad performances and the development of some exciting youngsters.

People might say we would be in the race for the playoffs if we hadn't lost four points before the season started, but I don't look at it that way.

I prefer to look at the close games we lost that, if we had won, would have lifted us into the top eight - the Broncos and Bulldogs spring to mind. If we had won those two, the four points we lost would not have mattered.

I guess there is an argument to say we might not have picked up the last four wins on the trot if we had still been in contention. After the disappointing loss to the Panthers, the pressure came off because it was almost impossible to make the eight. From then on the only thing we worried about was our individual performances.

This is the approach we need to take into next year. I'm already thinking about the 2007 season and the top eight is the minimum we should be aiming for.

We are in a healthy situation because we have a young side and a really exciting side who now have a taste of what first grade footy is all about.

It probably helps that we don't have a team of stars because often that brings big egos and big personalities. What we have are guys like Micheal Luck and George Gatis who aren't afraid to do what I call the one per centers, the little things that don't usually get noticed but are crucial to a team's success.

There have been some good highs: the four wins in a row stand out but also the 66-0 thrashing of the Rabbitohs when we were ruthless. It's easy to pick the lows: the disappointing losses to the Sharks and Panthers when we were well below our best.

The sacking of Sione Faumuina this week was also another very disappointing situation. It's really sad for the player because he was a big part of the Warriors but I felt this had been brewing for some time.

This will give him the chance to get away and make a fresh start somewhere else because he needs to learn from his mistakes and it might help him to be at another club where he won't carry around the baggage of what has happened here.

I hope that we can go out in style today against the Broncos.

If we can, it will be a great way to celebrate Grant Rovelli's 23rd birthday.