KEY POINTS:
Before the season kicked off, the Warriors targeted four wins from their opening six matches, including victories in their first three home games.
While it might seem an ambitious target given the draw they were handed by the NRL, and now in light of serious injuries to key players, those in and around Mt Smart Stadium expect good things in 2008.
It obviously got off to a difficult start last Monday night against Melbourne and the target will come under greater pressure today when a Parramatta side expected to be contenders descend on Auckland.
"We want to be in the top eight and to do that you need to win more than you lose," said Warriors hooker Nathan Fien.
"We broke the season down in to the first six. We have a tough start but we feel we can compete with any side and teams who play us are probably thinking they have a tough start to the year as well.
"If we could win all of our home games and get one or two away games [among that six], we would be in good shape for the rest of the season."
They would be but Monday night showed that replacing Wade McKinnon at fullback will be every bit as difficult as many predicted. Aidan Kirk will wear the No 1 jersey again today and, while he did nothing wrong against the Storm, he offered little on attack either.
His opposite, Billy Slater, scored a hat-trick of tries and was dangerous almost every time he touched the ball, illustrating the value of a creative fullback.
"Kirky had really good trial form and deserved his opportunity last week," Fien said. "Unfortunately, he didn't have the best of games and didn't get involved as much as we wanted. But he didn't get as many opportunities to chime in because of the mistakes we were making."
The Warriors are in a better position to cope without skipper Steve Price, who will be missing for eight weeks with a torn hamstring.
By the time he returns, his side will be in an easier run of games, theoretically speaking, with matches against Gold Coast, Canberra, Penrith, the Roosters and Newcastle.
The Warriors also showed last year that a run of poor results wasn't necessarily terminal.
Fien was optimistic they would still meet their target.
"We are very positive about the season," he said. "We still feel we can give it a shake throughout the year [without McKinnon and Price]. They are big blows but if we were ever to have these, I think the club is in a good position depth-wise to deal with it now."
