KEY POINTS:
One of the biggest debates regarding the NRL finals system is whether the week off for winning is good for repairing injuries or bad because you lose momentum.
There are as many theories as there are outcomes over past playoff runs and tonight the Warriors will add another in their knockout match against the Manly Sea Eagles.
In Sydney yesterday there was horror at the prospect of a non-New South Wales grand final featuring the Melbourne Storm and the Warriors.
Manly were listed as THE team to beat, given the Warriors showed the Storm were not invincible and after they had their head chopped off with the loss of captain and game-runner Cameron Smith to suspension.
It's almost as if they believe they are already at week four. They lost last year and are exuding a belief they have a right to it in 2008 because you have to lose one to win one. There are plenty of teams that lost and never came back and others like the Eels that choked.
The Warriors have everything going for them - the momentum of 10 wins from 12, victories that count, including the Storm in Melbourne, the first time eighth has beaten first; they have their best team on the paddock; they will be boosted by the return of Wade McKinnon at fullback; and his return allows perhaps the NRL's most versatile utility Lance Hohaia more freedom to run in attack.
They have not been drawn up in the Sydneyside distractions, the Eagles having that weight of expectation on them, attending galas for the club old boys and also the "Sexiest Man in League" competition mid-week, their hooker Matt Ballin the winner.
This will not be a 52-6 hiding to the Eagles as it was in March. Then, the Warriors were without captain Steve Price and McKinnon.
Price's work in preparing the team cannot be underestimated. On the plane on the way over he sat with Ruben Wiki's heir apparent as starting prop, Sam Rapira. Wiki, approaching his 308th game, has been unusually quiet.
You can expect big games from the two veterans, who know what it means to seize the opportunity and have been instilling this in the young members of the squad.
If you do the man-v-man comparison and ask who from the Eagles you would have in the Warriors there is probably just two: Halfback Matt Orford and five-eight Jamie Lyon. Elsewhere, the match-ups even out or the respective players offer different assets.
Price and Wiki will certainly match Aussie test prop Brent Kite and their other starter Josh Perry, if not better them. Ian Henderson and Matt Ballin play different games from hooker but one is not startlingly better than the other.
In the second row, the Warriors have a Kiwi test prop in Simon Mannering, an exciting and unpredictable ball-player and a man who will be a test player in Ben Matulino and the test-hardened Logan Swann coming off the bench. The Eagles cancel that with Origin star Anthony Watmough and Glenn Stewart, who is one of the form backrowers of the NRL, with the veteran Steve Menzies off the bench.
At lock, Luke Williamson and Micheal Luck are tackling machines, neither a game-breaking attacker.
At left centre there is a Kiwi test player on each team, Steve Matai and Jerome Ropati, test player Brent Tate for us, Origin player Steve Bell for them.
Tate definitely has the speed advantage over all the Eagles' backs bar fullback Brett Stewart.
On the wings, Aidan Kirk has as much gas as does Micheal Robertson in the right/left face-off. On the other side, Manu Vatuvei has 18kg on "Wolfman" Williams.
It's sure Orford will use pinpoint aerial kicks to turn Vatuvei around and make him chase both the ball and Williams. And it's sure the powerful Jamie Lyon will fancy his chances of running around and over the top of Warriors five-eighth Michael Witt.
This game comes down to the time allowed Orford and Lyon. If you see them being allowed to run, crabbing, sliding angles between the defensive line and passing wide or kicking, the Eagles will score too many.
If you see the Warriors containing the Manly five-tackle ground-gain to 40 metres or less, they won't.
Defence, as usual, is all important. Fortunately for the Warriors, it is what they have based their run on. They are playing for each other. They don't want to let the opposition score, to face the displeasure of their mates. It is the best motivator of all.
